Does Anyone Care If Manchester City Win?
By Ryan Brolly
After completing four English Premier League titles in a row and six championships in seven years it is clear that Manchester City are the best team within England and with multiple other trophies outside of these league crowns including the lauded ‘Treble’ of the English Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League they have become a dynasty within the world of football rivalling such teams as the Boston Celtics of the 1960s who won the NBA Championship eight out ten years in that decade or Baseball's New York Yankees of the 1930s. These teams were feared and hated due to their success but the same attitude is not taken toward Manchester City with most fans in the English Premier League preferring they lifted the championship trophy this season over their closest competitor Arsenal who have not won the league since 2003/04. This begs the question: do people care if Manchester City are successful?
First we must look at the circumstances surrounding the success of Manchester City, founded 1894 the club achieved two top division titles and four FA Cups alongside a European Cup Winners Cup in 1970 before the takeover carried out by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008 which turned the Club’s fortuned on its head leading to 21 major honours since which could become 22 with the addition of the 2024 FA Cup as they go into the final as bookie’s favourites.
The Abu Dhabi United Group established the City Football Groups in 2013 acquiring multiple clubs across the world in four continents utilising the popular Multi-Club ownership model. Some of these clubs include: Girona who have had their best season ever in La Liga in 23/24 qualifying for the UEFA Champions League this story is worth an entire article of its own, New York City FC who became an MLS franchise in 2013 and won the MLS in 2021 remaining a contender since with players who have gone on to improve other City Football Group clubs, and Melbourne City and Mumbai City who remain contenders in Australia and India respectively.
Cleary very successful owners, with the exception of their ownership of ES Troyes AC who got relegated from France’s second tier in 23/24. Overall though they are without a doubt the most efficient perpetrator of the multi-club ownership model, as it can be catastrophic for other clubs when they are purchased by these companies, like the Pacific Media Group who own English side Barnsley FC who have been relegated to the EFL League One under their watch, German giants Kaiserslautern who flirted with relegation in the 2. Bundesliga in 23/24 despite reaching the final of their domestic cup the DFB Pokal and KV Oostende who face bankruptcy and expulsion from senior football as they fail to get a professional licence in Belgium.
The Success of Manchester City under the City Football Group has a giant elephant in the room however, with the Premier League still yet to reach a verdict on how to deal with the 115 charges of alleged rule breaches from 2009 through to 2018. This could have an impact on the perception of their success with the integrity of the league on the line if the club is found to be guilty of these breaches creating a sense of apathy from other clubs and fans over their success until clarity is reached over this matter.
Also the quick and meteoric rise in success of Manchester City whilst having local rivals in the form of Manchester United they find themselves without a great historic rival making it so fans would rather have Manchester City win over their historic derby or rivalry. Liverpool could be argued to be a great rival of Manchester City as they slugged it out for League titles in the 2020s thus far however, it seems Manchester United and Everton still fill the space of Liverpool’s important bragging rights based fixtures leaving no room for Manchester City. Tottenham Hotspur fans preferred City to see victory in the league over their hated rivals in the North London Derby Arsenal, the other clubs in the league with no geographical significance to Manchester and a lack of resources to reasonably compete with Manchester city again would feel no animosity to the sky blue club.
With all this said people do care if City win, the faithful of Maine Road who packed out that historic ground and were there when Manchester City were in the third tier of English football are seeing the fruits of their support right now and supporters who have come on board since 2008 with their increased success definitely do care. Outside of that however, there does not seem to be a fan base that gives an emotive reaction to the unbelievable success that they have seen over the past 16 years seeing them almost as a lesser evil in terms of success making them somewhat irrelevant when they do well in the wider sporting landscape.
Ryan Brolly is Sport Editor at The Scoop