Who is your main Man Utd rival besides Liverpool?

[wangyu]

I personally grew up with the Ferguson/Wenger rivalry so for me Arsenal is the main rival besides Liverpool. I thought I got over it the last 10 years when both are teams weren't contenders but now that arsenal is likely to win the title I feel the rivalry flaring up again. Judging from the posts by other Caf members I have a feeling I am not the only one with this feeling.

It is also important to know that I am a foreigner. I feel no rivalry with both Leeds and Man City. My rivalry with Liverpool mainly exists because they're so close to us with the number of league titles, I also experienced the incredible run to catch up those league titles. It was Ferguson's biggest achievement and almost a miracle imo.
I also dislike Chelsea more than Leeds or City.

Internationally I dislike Real, Barca and Bayern because Utd tends to lose to these teams when they meet. They also tend to have this "we're better than the rest" aura both on and off the fields which I dislike enormously. The win vs Barca this season was the most enjoyable moment of the season so far for me.

 

[Who's Kissing Cameras?]

Liverpool.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Liverpool
City
Arsenal
Chelsea

In that order

 

[Herman Toothrot]

City. They're some distance behind Liverpool though. The Arsenal and Chelsea rivalries were great, Arsenal in particular, but they're more like disliked clubs than real rivals.

 

[2 man midfield]

First place is reserved for Liverpool. Second is dependant on the season, what we’re going for, who’s close to us etc. I couldn’t really give a shit about city.

 

[Wumminator]

Liverpool
City/Leeds
Arsenal

Also @OP - you should hate our local rivals even if you don’t coke from the local area IMO.

 

[SirAF]

Arsenal

feck them

 

[devilish]

Liverpool
City
Arsenal

 

[dinostar77]

Liverpool
City
Real Madrid (cause we sold them, becks, van nistelrooy, ronaldo etc).

 

[Tom Cato]

Liverpool
Arsenal
City

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Just Liverpool and City for me as a main rival that I really hate.

I've grown to dislike other teams that we compete with for titles / top 4 over the years - Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham - and Barcelona after they beat us in two CL finals.

But Liverpool and City are the club rivals for me. The others are just more competitive rivals.

 

[Man-United]

Leeds easily. Always hated them.

 

[wangyu]

@Wumminator
I do when we play them

 

[Giggsy13]

After Liverpool: Arsenal, Chelsea, Leeds and City in that order. City’s success is quite hollow so don’t really care when they do well.

 

[Ted Lasso]

Interesting perspective @wangyu

I am a " foreigner" too. I also grew up when the major domestic competitor for United was Arsenal. I also paid a lot of attention to and read about the history of the club and the things our manager and players would say. You hear players talking about the Liverpool games being the first match on the calendar players look for , some of the songs and chants against City and appreciated that even though Arsenal were more competitive at the time, Liverpool and City were what constituted our derbies.

A derby opponent is different than simply competing against another competitive team. Derby rivalries take generations to build and are quite often much more regional. Competitive rivalries stemming from football cycles less..a lot less.

You're well within your rights to find a deeper satisfaction beating one particular opponent than another even if it doesn't align with some of the historical rivalries of United. It's your club and your experience.

Just don't go rooting for any of them just because United isn't in the title race.

 

[JJ12]

I can't stand Arsenal, City, Leeds, Everton, Sunderland, QPR

 

[LARulz]

Arsenal

Your "typical United fan from the South" here. My school days were all out war between Arsenal fans

 

[OutOfTowner]

Liverpool
City/Leeds
Arsenal

Also @OP - you should hate our local rivals even if you don’t coke from the local area IMO.

So it doesn't matter if you buy coke from outside Manchester?

 

[rajds89]

Liverpool, obviously and then Arsenal as they were the team challenging us for league titles when I was growing up and being from down south I’m surrounded by their deluded, over emotional fans who’ll be unbearable if they win the league. Then it’s City in a distant third mainly because I only ever come in to contact with a city fan every now and then at work and to his credit, he was one of the 200k on the hill outside Ewood Park, or so he says. I don’t care enough about the rest to have any opinion on them.

 

[Edwards6]

Definitely Arsenal because it was us and them going for the title for so many years before Chelsea and City won the lottery

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Liverpool
City/Leeds
Arsenal

Also @OP - you should hate our local rivals even if you don’t coke from the local area IMO.

I don’t think you can rail against nation state ownership as passionately as you do, while also ignoring the way that City under their current ownership are not the same club/team as United’s local rivals from years gone by. They’ve become completely soulless and irrelevant. I can fully understand why someone would dismiss them as rivals in this era of oil state financial doping. No matter where that person lives.

Arsenal are 100% more legitimate rivals than City right now, as they compete on a level playing field. A league title for them will hurt much more as a result. Couldn’t care less what City do/don’t win and haven’t cared for years.

 

[TheReligion]

Liverpool
City
Leeds

 

[Nero]

Liverpool
City
Leeds

 

[TheLord]

In this century: Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Arsenal in that order.

 

[Salt Bailly]

Nothing matches the utter disdain for Liverpool.

 

[wangyu]

@Ted Lasso

Yeah i think that is why the liverpool rivalry came on top even for me because as a fan you obviously read about the club history etc. I remember having a utd encyclopedia which I would read through daily, especially the section of ex players and past results.

What I never did is learn the songs, to this day I have no real idea of most of the songs, I recognize the melodies from watching the games but not the lyrics.
Coverage of utd where I live is also minimal, the press don’t talk about them, the whole Glazer business hardly gets attention etc

So for me it has almost always stayed purely about the football on the pitch and much less the stuff surrounding the club and the local fans.

 

[glazed]

I don't really count City - they're just a financial artificial monstrosity.
Which is actually the biggest problem if we go the same way. It won't feel real.

 

[Ahmer Baig]

Correct me if I am wrong but I read somewhere that Man Utd main rivals had always been Man City. However during Fergie era Liverpool became the main rivals with SAF wanting to knock Liverpool off their fcking perch and succeeding in doing that.

 

[Castia]

City without a doubt

 

[Castia]

I don't really count City - they're just a financial artificial monstrosity.
Which is actually the biggest problem if we go the same way. It won't feel real.

This is something us fans say to cope with our rival being one of the best teams in Europe. The City fans give absolutely zero fecks what the others are saying whilst winning trophy after trophy playing some of the best football in Europe

They’re our biggest rival alongside Liverpool and nobody else is close

 

[Rightnr]

Liverpool
City
Arsenal
Chelsea

In that order

Yep, this.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

Liverpool
City
Leeds

Any other answer is wrong.

 

[Irwin99]

Rivalries in order are:

Liverpool
City
.
.
.
Arsenal
Leeds
Chelsea

Really Liverpool and City are above everyone else. Arsenal was fantastic in the Keane/Vieira, Wenger/SAF years but it has thawed a lot since then. I respect Arsenal and Liverpool a lot more than City though. On a smaller rivalry, Newcastle and us have some bad blood, starting in the mid 90s and then with comments from Keane and Ferguson down the years. It could become a bigger rivalry soon enough.

In terms of European football, I always felt that, aside from 99 ( ) Bayern have always had our number unfortunately. It'd be nice to meet and beat them sometime. Real Madrid too is a bit one sided.

 

[Red the Bear]

Continentaly speaking it has to be Barcelona, it's been rather one sided but hopefully we'll slowly change that if we meet them any time soon.

 

[PoTMS]

This is something us fans say to cope with our rival being one of the best teams in Europe. The City fans give absolutely zero fecks what the others are saying whilst winning trophy after trophy playing some of the best football in Europe

They’re our biggest rival alongside Liverpool and nobody else is close

It might be copium for you but for us OOT United fans, it's nowhere near as bad as a team like Arsenal who we grew up hating. As someone said earlier, it's the closest thing to no one winning it all.

 

[Skills]

Used to be

Liverpool
And whoever we're fighting the title for that season

 

[daveskimufc]

Arsenal

Your "typical United fan from the South" here. My school days were all out war between Arsenal fans

Same as this, feckin gooners.

Hate Liverpool too they are a close second.

 

[Castia]

It might be copium for you but for us OOT United fans, it's nowhere near as bad as a team like Arsenal who we grew up hating. As someone said earlier, it's the closest thing to no one winning it all.

Been a United fan for 30 years from Manchester and a ticket holder for 6 I’d rather see Arsenal win the league over City any day of the week.

That rivalry between us and them is long gone

Fecking ‘copium’ about City winning a league title over Arsenal….give your head a wobble mate that’s checking madness

 

[Reditus]

I don’t consider city a real team so they are my default option in preferring them to win over Liverpool, arsenal and Chelsea

 

[PoTMS]

Been a United fan for 30 years from Manchester and a ticket holder for 6 I’d rather see Arsenal win the league over City any day of the week.

That rivalry between us and them is long gone

Fecking ‘copium’ about City winning a league title over Arsenal….give your head a wobble mate that’s checking madness

You're the one claiming that all United fans dismiss City's success as a way to cope. Some of us genuinely could not care less. Granted, I'm from London and City are a minor irritation to me, I don't even know a single City fan. Meanwhile, I know tonnes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and even Spurs fans.

And for your quoted part, that's fine but don't speak for the entire United fanbase when it's clearly rubbish, especially with fans from outside of Manchester who don't feel the rivalry with City the same way you do.