The online civil war in our fanbase

DoomSlayer

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Whoever is familiar with football Twitter and particularly the dynamics of our fanbase on it, knows that this is 100% true. It's been going on for a few years now, with Mourinho cultists, Pogba FC, Martial FC and all the rest.
 

Judas

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I genuinely have no idea why anyone would waste a second discussing football on twitter, unless they legitimately aren't too bright themselves. Fine if you want to have a poke around for some juicy transfer gossip, but its just a bunch of over the topped energy drink fuelled kids talking shite the majority of the time.
 

pastyfool

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I’m Bruno FC/Ole In, Pogba FC/Ole Out, non-binary.

When they do well, I cheer them on. When they do poorly, I support them.

There’s a clue in the name of the club... I’ll give you a hint, it’s the second of the two words.
 

OL29

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In my defence I don't have a go at people for saying Pogba is a natural talent because I agree with that. He clearly is. I have a go at people who grossly exaggerate how good he's been for us. His level of performance over the last 5 years isn't what I'd hoped it would be. I expected a world beater and we didn't get one. That's not to say he's a poor player because he clearly isn't. I just think all the baggage he comes with just isn't worth it anymore.

I think most of the SKY, BT pundits are fair on him personally. They all agree there's a top player in there somewhere when you strip back all the circus stuff that comes along with him.
I’m not even talking about the Pogba stuff, I can understand that, even if I disagree with your stance. I’m talking about calling people plastic fans (or Tories) for criticising certain players, or insulting all of our foreign fans over a difference of opinion, whilst you’ve been shitting on some of our other players all season. It just adds to the toxic atmosphere.
 

Robbie Boy

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The side that are totally undecided on Ole and worship Phil Jones and Brandon Williams are the absolute worst of the lot.
 

Nou_Camp99

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I’m not even talking about the Pogba stuff, I can understand that, even if I disagree with your stance. I’m talking about calling people plastic fans (or Tories) for criticising certain players, or insulting all of our foreign fans over a difference of opinion, whilst you’ve been shitting on some of our other players all season. It just adds to the toxic atmosphere.
Come on.....the hatred towards Rashford this year has been embarrassing on here. He's our second leading scorer and got the second most assists at the club. Him coming out against the tories has definitely rattled some folk in this country for sure.

Meanwhile the same people who were lauding Pogba playing in Rashford's position fail to mention Pogb'a last PL goal came in January and he only managed 6 goals and 6 assists all season in all comps.

I'd rather have 21 goals and 11 assists (I thought it was actually 12 assists but he seems to have had one taken away) than 6 goals and 6 assists any day of the week. Rashford had a far bigger impact on our season than Pogba did and he was playing injured most of it.
 

anant

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I'm pretty sure most of our fans like most of the players and want them to do well. I'm Ole In, love Bruno, Shaw, Rashy, Maguire but I also hope Pog stays (although not at some insane wages), think martial and VVD will come good again.

This was a lot more prominent during Mou's days when Mou supporters were all Anti- Shaw, Martial, Pogba, Rashford.

What you see on Twitter is the voice of a minority of the fan base, and having shit opinions=more engagements => those posts pop up a lot more on your timelines
 

OL29

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Come on.....the hatred towards Rashford this year has been embarrassing on here. He's our second leading scorer and got the second most assists at the club. Him coming out against the tories has definitely rattled some folk in this country for sure.

Meanwhile the same people who were lauding Pogba playing in Rashford's position fail to mention Pogb'a last PL goal came in January and he only managed 6 goals and 6 assists all season in all comps.

I'd rather have 21 goals and 11 assists (I thought it was actually 12 assists but he seems to have had one taken away) than 6 goals and 6 assists any day of the week. Rashford had a far bigger impact on our season than Pogba did and he was playing injured most of it.
All of that has nothing to do with what I said though. The abuse for Rashford is embarrassing, and the same can be said for Pogba, and any other player in our squad. You can’t justify one whilst acting sanctimonious about the other. If you do then you’re no better of a fan than the foreign fans or any other supporters that you claim give the club a bad name as far as I’m concerned.
 

Glorio

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I’ve noticed this for a while but the euros seemed to amplify it. There seems to be 2 sides who all love/hate the same players

Bruno FC / Ole In
Bruno, Rashford, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay

Pogba FC / Ole out
Pogba, Martial, Fred, van de Beek, Bailly

has anyone else noticed this? Twitter is infested with it. I literally saw “United fans” wishing the worst for players like Bruno & Maguire at the euros, of course with the obligatory Pogba profile pic. What’s weird to me is they all parrot the exact same opinions as each other, particularly the Pogba side, they all hate Rashford & Bruno, they all think Maguire is a fridge & Shaw is fat, Bailly & Telles are better etc. If someone reps Pogba you can guarantee they love Martial and think Rashford/Bruno are shit. The other side are slightly less toxic but still unbearable, particularly with scrutinising every move Paul Pogba makes & making deluded claims about McTominay’s ceiling.

I don't believe that it's that simple, from your list I particularly like (in addition to others like AWB, Mason):

Bruno: what's not to like? Even if he had me feeling frustrated towards the end of last season by how wasteful he was being - I put that down to tiredness

Rashford: what a man and one of ours. That said I can categorically say I was unimpressed last season despite the numbers, prior to that, you could always count on Rashford to work hard, seemed to drop off a cliff in terms of work off the ball and decision making, but I reckon that's due to injuries. Match winner

Martial: I used to be a hardcore member of Martial FC but I tendered my resignation last season - the boy needs to work harder and mature in his mental resilience, simple as, but there's a very special player there, just not sure how much longer we can wait for the penny to drop though. If Rashford's performances had me feeling frustrated, well Martial was just infuriating. Still have a massive soft spot for him and with expectant fans and a more normal schedule, I think he'll surprise many and regain form

Shaw: Superb player - enough said

Maguire: Brilliant player - we know his weakness (speed) which is why we need another who complements him

Fred: Love him, love his hard work and tenacity, the amount of times he wins the ball back high up the field, wish he'd calm down sometimes though - he can also be worryingly erratic with his passing or fouling - he can be improved upon but I appreciate his work


I'm not sold on:
Pogba: Supremely talented, great friendly energy, and someone I really want to stay and flourish but he just doesn't appear that committed to the cause - I'm just not convinced he can stay motivated for an entire season and then you have all the drama with his agent. I think he's brilliant at LW in games we expect to dominate though, there was only one game I felt he wasn't great there, however, it was the kind of game that required quick and direct players. Every other time, he was mint at that position.

McTominay: I just don't think he has the required technical ability to be a dominant midfield player at this level. In addition, I don't feel he particularly tackles well, presses well, or positions himself well defensively. While he strikes the ball sweetly and makes powerful runs from time to time, I don't think that's enough. Shouldn't be a starter.

DVB: just hasn't had that many chances to show much, and when he has done, he's not exactly lit up the place. Which is understandable if you only play sparingly.

Ole: Club legend and has done a brilliant job in very difficult circumstances - in for now. I reckon it will become clear soon enough if this is the highest point he can take us to. I do wish he'd use his squad better, and not run certain players into the ground. As a person who seems to draw a lot of experience and nuggets from his playing career, I wonder if him not being a consistent starter means he doesn't have first hand experience in terms of how much tiredness can affect a player's performance. He's been in football his whole life though, so not really an excuse.

So a mixed bag there - I guess I have a positive outlook generally so while I definitely have favourites, I don't particularly slag off any one of them
 

jem

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I... I dont understand this post.
Just like I dont understand the gatekeeping by some on here. "you're not a true United supporter if you dont support England"
Surely no one says that, do they?
 

Irwin99

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Surely no one says that, do they?
They sure did over the Euros :lol: It's as if the old United fan songs about Ronaldo making "England look shite" or the Argentina chants never existed . We all have to be strong English patriots you see.
 

jem

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They sure did over the Euros :lol: It's as if the old United fan songs about Ronaldo making "England look shite" or the Argentina chants never existed . We all have to be strong English patriots you see.
So ridiculous! I was delighted that Italy won!
 

MattyLT

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It's like 5 people living in their moms' basements against 5 other people also living in their moms' basements. Nobody else is involved in any sort of "civil war".
 

MUFC OK

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I don't understand any of this "X player FC" stuff - it's a weird manifestation of football twitter. The generalisations in the OP seem crazy and are clearly shaped by his perception of a lot of the crap posted on the platform.

I have no idea who mans these accounts but I find it hard to believe they aren't kids or people of low intellect. The whole of twitter is basically one-upmanship and people will use as many vectors/topics to achieve this as they can possibly think of.
 

tenpoless

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Guess I'm a part of both group then. So its not really accurate. But hey at least these two groups, if they exist at all want the best for United eventhough they have conflicting views and different ways to express them. By the end of the day its all about whats best for the club, based on their own opinions.

What's worse is Messi vs Ronaldo civil war, they arent even our players and some posters dedicate their lives to defend them on RedCafe The Leading Manchester United forum. Its only normal if theyre either Portugese or Argentinian but if not then its just fanboyism to the maximum.

And don't compare Caf to Twitter. Twitter is unmoderated and 10x worse.
 
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Giggsyking

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If this is true, then it goes to show that the Ole In group is more sensible. How on earth can people not rate Bruno, Maguire and Shaw?!
Are you seriously thinking of counting this theory as evidence for "how good is Ole" :lol:
 

Ali Dia

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I like a different combination of things to most other fans. I like fred James and lindelof. They work hard and provide platform for the rest to shine. the 11 don’t have to be world class. Lindelof and James are good squad players. Fred is as useful of a box to box as there is in the PL at the moment.

I enjoy Pogba when he works hard and doesn’t jog around the pitch. When things are flowing for him he’s something to behold but It doesn’t happen often enough. He’s also injured for half of every season and he’s wanted to leave since 2018. Not worth 400k to us because he can’t consistently play the box to box no matter who’s behind him and Bruno took his best spot. Im watching with interest to see what Ole does. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him get the DDG/Rooney contract and then to be slowly phased out around the middle of the deal with us covering lots of wages…

Bruno: love the guy and the energy and commitment. Yeah he loses the ball for fun but we were screwed passing it around to nowhere without him. He’s been transformative.

Ole in all the way but rotate and flex the squad. His use of players last year was some of the worst I’ve seen.

I think our attack is majorly overrated and the main problem with the team the last few years. Low desire and workrate and way too similar and predictable whatever the numbers. Cavani made an example of them all with his desire and workrate when he got fit. That’s clearly what we’ve been missing and Cavani is gone beyond his prime. Think about it.
 

L1nk

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What you're not seeing is that this is all tied into how everybody has come to terms with dealing with everything for around 7 odd years now really, it's rampant in politics and naturally it's spilling over into everything else, what I mean is that everything now has to be dealt with in a black and white manner, there are no shades of grey anymore.

You HAVE to lean one way or the other, context etc does not matter and you cannot agree with a point on one side but disagree with the rest you are either 100% one way or the other. If you disagree with someones opinion on the other side they basically get massively upset about it because nobody can handle different opinions and debate anymore, and you get called an Olesexual, or on the other side, somebody who isn't a real fan because you clearly don't want Ole to succeed. Well maybe I do want Ole to succeed but I don't necesarilly believe he is the man to take us to great heights again.

I've been guilty of getting swept up in the debate myself so I'm one to talk, but it's just how everything is nowadays, you draw a battle line and you stay there and be ready to do war against someone with a different opinion.
 

Jeppers7

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I like a different combination of things to most other fans. I like fred James and lindelof. They work hard and provide platform for the rest to shine. the 11 don’t have to be world class. Lindelof and James are good squad players. Fred is as useful of a box to box as there is in the PL at the moment.

I enjoy Pogba when he works hard and doesn’t jog around the pitch. When things are flowing for him he’s something to behold but It doesn’t happen often enough. He’s also injured for half of every season and he’s wanted to leave since 2018. Not worth 400k to us because he can’t consistently play the box to box no matter who’s behind him and Bruno took his best spot. Im watching with interest to see what Ole does. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him get the DDG/Rooney contract and then to be slowly phased out around the middle of the deal with us covering lots of wages…

Bruno: love the guy and the energy and commitment. Yeah he loses the ball for fun but we were screwed passing it around to nowhere without him. He’s been transformative.

Ole in all the way but rotate and flex the squad. His use of players last year was some of the worst I’ve seen.

I think our attack is majorly overrated and the main problem with the team the last few years. Low desire and workrate and way too similar and predictable whatever the numbers. Cavani made an example of them all with his desire and workrate when he got fit. That’s clearly what we’ve been missing and Cavani is gone beyond his prime. Think about it.
Why do you persist with the ‘I enjoy/likePogba’ line? It’s fine that you like different types of players. James, Lindelof, Fred. The only annoying thing is reading you say you like Pogba, then in the next breath literally try to discredit anything positive.

You were rampant in the Pogba thread during the Euros when he wasn’t even playing for United trying to discredit everything he did in the tournament. There’s no basis for anyone who enjoys Pogba playing well to not have enjoyed watching him at the Euro’s let alone attempt to discredit his entire tournament on the basis that he got tackled.

I guess you do it to attempt to seem more credible, but it doesn’t work because like above you start out with half a sentence claiming to like him, and end up writing paragraphs that show that you don’t.

It’s fine though. Just say you don’t like him.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Whoever is familiar with football Twitter and particularly the dynamics of our fanbase on it, knows that this is 100% true. It's been going on for a few years now, with Mourinho cultists, Pogba FC, Martial FC and all the rest.
It's true for most online fanbases because twitter attracts people who collectively share a single braincell between them. You think Arsenal's twitter won't be full of pro/anti Wenger, Arteta, Aubamayang etc? The problem is in equating someone who rates/doesn't rate a player or manager as belonging to some category who you've just assumed to hold specific positions that fit the narrative you've built.
 

GueRed

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is it still cool to trash and disrespect Maguire at every opportunity despite him having a couple of good seasons with us?
 

The Boy

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Surely no one says that, do they?
No no one really said that, I think the point that was made was how could you could you celebrate England going out and slag them off like that when United players were so involved. A bit dodgy but nothing like "you're not a true united supporter if you don't support England.
 

Robbie Boy

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No no one really said that, I think the point that was made was how could you could you celebrate England going out and slag them off like that when United players were so involved. A bit dodgy but nothing like "you're not a true united supporter if you don't support England.
Nah, was far more forceful than that. Some totally lost their shit.
 

Zlaatan

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Come on.....the hatred towards Rashford this year has been embarrassing on here. He's our second leading scorer and got the second most assists at the club. Him coming out against the tories has definitely rattled some folk in this country for sure.

Meanwhile the same people who were lauding Pogba playing in Rashford's position fail to mention Pogb'a last PL goal came in January and he only managed 6 goals and 6 assists all season in all comps.

I'd rather have 21 goals and 11 assists (I thought it was actually 12 assists but he seems to have had one taken away) than 6 goals and 6 assists any day of the week. Rashford had a far bigger impact on our season than Pogba did and he was playing injured most of it.
Everyone would agree with the bolded if you were comparing two players who played the same amount of minutes in the same position. That obviously wasn't the case with Pogba and Rashford though and anyone would know that unless they weren't really a true United fan and only watched a couple of games per season.
 

Ali Dia

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Why do you persist with the ‘I enjoy/likePogba’ line? It’s fine that you like different types of players. James, Lindelof, Fred. The only annoying thing is reading you say you like Pogba, then in the next breath literally try to discredit anything positive.

You were rampant in the Pogba thread during the Euros when he wasn’t even playing for United trying to discredit everything he did in the tournament. There’s no basis for anyone who enjoys Pogba playing well to not have enjoyed watching him at the Euro’s let alone attempt to discredit his entire tournament on the basis that he got tackled.

I guess you do it to attempt to seem more credible, but it doesn’t work because like above you start out with half a sentence claiming to like him, and end up writing paragraphs that show that you don’t.

It’s fine though. Just say you don’t like him.
I do like him. I wasn’t rampant in the pogba thread during the Euros at all. I let you guys have your few weeks slagging everyone else off where he was looking class. All I could see were people saying Bruno is terrible, it’s our other players fault we can’t get Pogba to play like this when it’s not true. I jumped in after France got cut through by a poor team because it proved my initial point. It’s not just his teammates. He can easily be got at. He surely had to develop some defensive nous and street smarts over his career. Every manager has asked that of him and in the end he’s always kind of shrugged it off. It costs his team and it’s not his teammates fault. Most reasonable posters in the middle can see it’s the major flaw in his game that essentially makes him a luxury player. It shouldn’t be risky playing a 90 million midfielder in central midfield whatever the system
 
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AltiUn

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is it still cool to trash and disrespect Maguire at every opportunity despite him having a couple of good seasons with us?
I don't think so. If anything I think he's massively enhanced his reputation across Europe with the tournament he's just had, same as Shaw. They were getting nothing but praise from fans of other nations on Reddit and Twitter.
 

Jeppers7

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I do like him. I wasn’t rampant in the pogba thread during the Euros at all. I let you guys have your few weeks slagging everyone else off where he was looking class. All I could see were people saying Bruno is terrible, it’s our other players fault we can’t get Pogba to play like this when it’s not true. I jumped in after France got cut through by a poor team because it proved my initial point. It’s not just his teammates. He can easily be got at. He surely had to develop some defensive nous and street smarts over his career. Every manager has asked that of him and in the end he’s always kind of shrugged it off. It costs his team and it’s not his teammates fault. Most reasonable posters in the middle can see it’s the major flaw in his game that essentially makes him a luxury player. It shouldn’t be risky playing a 90 million midfielder in central midfield whatever the system
You jumped in because you dislike him. That’s fine. Again you’re simply looking for the negatives, if you like him and enjoy watching him why would you wait for him to get tackled in a game where he performed superbly. Youre Right you weren’t rampant throughout the tournament but you were when he got tackled, which long and short was what happened, and it does happen. I’m not sure what that has to do with Bruno not having a good tournament. You can critique one without the other can’t you?
 

Ali Dia

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You jumped in because you dislike him. That’s fine. Again you’re simply looking for the negatives, if you like him and enjoy watching him why would you wait for him to get tackled in a game where he performed superbly. Youre Right you weren’t rampant throughout the tournament but you were when he got tackled, which long and short was what happened, and it does happen. I’m not sure what that has to do with Bruno not having a good tournament. You can critique one without the other can’t you?
Not all criticism is dislike. It’s like you take personal offence on his behalf sometimes. This is a guy who hasn’t nailed down a best position that probably wants to be the highest paid midfielder in the PL to stay or is about to leave on a free for a second time. We’ve tried to build a team around him. We’ve sacked a manager for him. None of that has changed much. I thought the posters going after our other players who had played a lot more games and gotten us to second was bad form and I still do. I have you guys tellin me at every opportunity that he’s world class but only if we do this or that. He needs to stay fit and deliver for a whole season for a start. The fact that we are still sitting here talking about how to unlock him and what his best position is after 5 years says it all. If he was a world class player who consistently provided that value to us then people would be clamouring for news about a new deal. Most just seem indifferent at this point.
 

Mickson

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I don't think so. If anything I think he's massively enhanced his reputation across Europe with the tournament he's just had, same as Shaw. They were getting nothing but praise from fans of other nations on Reddit and Twitter.
From all over the place except Sweden. Many can't stand Maguire, mainly because they see a rivalry between him and Lindelof. They feel that Lindelof gets treated unfairly by English people :D Didn't help when Bojan Djordjic, as a pundit, said that Maguire was like a fridge on the pitch.
 

AltiUn

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From all over the place except Sweden. Many can't stand Maguire, mainly because they see a rivalry between him and Lindelof. They feel that Lindelof gets treated unfairly by English people :D Didn't help when Bojan Djordjic, as a pundit, said that Maguire was like a fridge on the pitch.
I wonder how they reported on Lindelof stopping a thief and Maguire getting arrested last summer :lol:
 

Jeppers7

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Not all criticism is dislike. It’s like you take personal offence on his behalf sometimes. This is a guy who hasn’t nailed down a best position that probably wants to be the highest paid midfielder in the PL to stay or is about to leave on a free for a second time. We’ve tried to build a team around him. We’ve sacked a manager for him. None of that has changed much. I thought the posters going after our other players who had played a lot more games and gotten us to second was bad form and I still do. I have you guys tellin me at every opportunity that he’s world class but only if we do this or that. He needs to stay fit and deliver for a whole season for a start. The fact that we are still sitting here talking about how to unlock him and what his best position is after 5 years says it all. If he was a world class player who consistently provided that value to us then people would be clamouring for news about a new deal. Most just seem indifferent at this point.
Yes….you like him. It’s clear as day :lol:
 

dalriada

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Don't want to sound naïve, but I take the view that I support any player who plays for Utd unless he undermines or brings the club into disrepute. That includes players who are routinely described as "dross", "deadwood", etc. It includes the Valencias, Fellainis, Ashley Youngs and so on.
That's not to say that I won't criticise their performances or conclude they're not good enough, but in particular I'm not inclined to discard players who have a bad season, a bad patch, are developing (i.e. youth players relatively new to the first team) or need to improve aspects of their game.
So I will never get involved in "sides" within the team/club, although I may like to see one player chosen over another, knowing that it's the manager's call at the end of the day and I'll accept his right to make those decisions until it reaches the point that it looks as if it's damaging the club (e.g. Mourinho). What's the point in having antagonism between supporters of the same team?

Twitter has some good uses but, on balance, there's more bile and malice on it than there is goodness, so personally won't go anywhere near it.
 

Gator Nate

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There are two kinds of MUFC fans:

1) Those who believe there are two kinds of MUFC fans.
2) Those who do not believe there are two kinds of MUFC fans.