Two proud clubs are situated within a few miles of each other yet there is an absolute chasm between them when it comes to their fundamental cultures. Manchester United is without doubt the biggest football name in England while Manchester City is hell bent on taking over that mantle. It’s a fight to the death as far as the blue half is concerned but throwing hundreds of millions of pounds at the challenge may only succeed in winning a few battles rather than a war. If you listen to those who have experienced life at both clubs from the inside, you begin to see how wide those cultural differences really are.
Stephen Ireland joined Manchester City as a 15 year old but after eight years had fallen out of favour during the second half of last season having previously been a key player under Mark Hughes. He does not believe he was given a fair chance after Roberto Mancini came in as manager and admits it was a difficult period. “I did feel unwanted and didn’t feel part of the team” said the 23 year old “I was neither happy nor sad if we lost. I don’t think loyalty is much in anyone’s mind at Manchester City”
Compare that unhappy Ireland experience to that of Barcelona and Spain defender Gerard Pique. He remembers Sir Alex Ferguson immediately taking him under his wing upon his arrival from Barcelona’s youth system “When I arrived there I was 17 and it was really hard for me to leave my family, to change club, to change all my friends” he said “for me, Sir Alex was like a second father. He helped in all the ways, not only in football terms but also how to find a house and all my relations out of football. I think that, for me, he was a really helpful person”
When Pique was faced with the difficult task of telling his manager he wanted to return to Spain, he recalls the emotional response from a character better known for his ruthless nature. “I remember when I went to his room to say that I wanted to leave because Barcelona was coming for me. It was my town, it was my club when I was young and I wanted to come back. He didn’t want me to leave and said I had a future at the club and he expected a lot from me. But I wanted to leave and he wrote me a letter saying that it was really difficult and really hard for him to let me go to Barcelona.”
That, in short, is a perfect comparison which highlights the difference between the two clubs. One went to City as a schoolboy from Ireland, the other to United from Spain. Both eventually broke into the senior team as youngsters, yet while Irelands years at Eastlands ended in heartache and bitterness, Pique speaks highly of his years at Old Trafford and his ‘second father’ to this very day.
As another former disillusioned Manchester City player Martin Pertrov confessed after he moved to Bolton Wanderers on a free transfer in the summer “The human relationships are lost and the trust is lost too. At City nothing is clear. The team is looking for identity.”
Would you have liked Gerard Pique to remain at Old Trafford?
Cultural Chasm? ….Don’t disappear up your own arse now!
Get behind United and together we can rule the World.
Would you like egg or beans with your waffle?
What an illiterate bunch of inbreds you ridiculous Norwich fans are, and I mean Get behind United and together we can rule the World, Frank the wank, and Brian.
You three in particular are a proper set of gorps and no mistake.
Are you representative of all manure fans? I sincerely hope not, because if you are, God help your club when Sir Baconface succumbs to the obvious Alzheimer’s he’s displaying symptoms of, and when the banks start asking for their dosh back.
Why don’t you start a breakaway club if you don’t like your current owners?
Oh wait, already tried that and they suck too.
What you gonna do when Brian Giggs takes the Welsh job eh?
You are so screwed.
Piqué was raised in a wealthy Catalan family. His father is a lawyer, and his mother is the director of a medical institute.His grandfather, Amador Bernabeu, is the former vice-president of Barcelona. he was 19 when he left united. Ireland was dragged up in cork and stuggles spelling his own name and was 24 with 3 kids when he left city….Two very different men…you knob
love ow man citey obsession getrs them to comment on every united blog going, the author makes a good articl and typical gloryhunting rags from stockport come along and turn it into a united hare page. Always in our shados city huh, hurts doesnt it knowing you will never be as big as your own academy team lol, man you like the 7th best team in manchester.
1.Manchester United
2. United reserves
3. United academy
4 city reserves
5. fc united
6 city academy
and finally
7. man city
God that must be a kick in the teeth, 3-years, 3 flop-teams, half a billion spent on the squad and still you puppets cant even buy the league cup, embarrassing. Dont worry thou im sure the new rules wouldnt harm your chances of a top-4 finish…lol…never gona happen, the rules will stop your sugear daddy and considering you have no cash oof your own……..Relegation AWAITS.
Don’t worry, the people of Manchester still stand by proud, supporting they local team…Manchester United.
(2.5million population and over 1.5 are reds so grow up and stop with the bullshuit myth)
MANCHESTER IS RED….FACT
Unfortunately for us, it’s the Glazier’s club, not ours. I hate city because all them northern monkeys I get in my cab seem to support them.
City just got lucky by getting a great owner, while ours are shit. City think they can get more fans just by doing stuff for the community. We have no problem filling OT, which is why we don’t do anything for Manchester.
I’m happy for City to be the family club. You don’t win anything by being nice. You need to surround the ref and get in his face like our players, go down like you’ve been shot if someone touches you.
City can keep their underdog status. Utd are a bullying global force, tapping up players, walking over smaller teams. That’s the way it’s always been, and the way I like it. The only reason we fleece the fans is because people want to watch us. If shitty kept putting their prices up, the council house would be empty
Serves Rooney right for not sticking to the thai girls who keep their mouth shut. Som nong na!
I used to drive around some thsi girls for an agency here, and I always used to hear “roo-nee”. Of course, being a utd fan, my ears used to prick up.
They always used to say that roo-nee means “hole” in thai, and then giggle. It turns out they were fibbing to CR. They’ve all had the ugly beggar.
He should have stuck to the girls organised for him by the club for their “parties”. Those girls are paid extra to keep their mouths shut. Rooney had to go freelance, didn’t he? the scouse dipstick.
the united foundation does alot for manchester, sir alex and the players do alot for charity, united as a whole gives alot to the community so dont claim we do shit coz utd are helping not only charities in england but all around the globe. we help alot of benifits rise money and do alot of family friendly events, such as our open day trainning session every august which is a nice family day out, we host a charity race round old trafford, we work with unicef…united aid alot of people and do alot of good.
as you can see im a city supporter ,ive never come on a rag website to slag you lot off,and i dont suppose many of the blues who have wrote on here have iether,the only reason we have wrote on this drivel of a story is because it came up on NewsNow/manchestercity.com web site.ok we havent won anything for 34 years but heyho times are changing are i think you lot must be getting a little bit worried,i would if i was supporting a team with that much debt and my skint neibours came into loads of money.just one more ,if the m6 and m1 got blocked at say the south of birmingham on a home fixture for you how many seats would be empty in the swamp,answers on a post card please.
I’m going to open an early learning centre next to Lou Macari’s chippy and flog reading aids to the retarded adult population of Trafford that attends the matches sometimes twice a week in peak season.
Going to be richer than the Sheikh I reckon, loadsamoney!
I actually agree with Melon Man to a large extent we can all bicker and come up with players that support our cause from either side. Certainly if you read the book about the tragedy that was the Munich Air disaster & i never forget that ex-city player was killed and these poor young men from United. I have never once joined in with the chants about that. The irony is that the Club (United) did a great job for the Derby but spoiled things by a) their historic treatment of the survivors and the families of the deceased & b) then got sponsorship for the memorial too. I know a lot of right minded United fans who were disgusted by that too. The facts for a) come from the book written by a United supporter – The Lost Babes – Jeff Cooper.
As a South Manchester born fan i know that at my school it was 40:40:20 fans of City:United:Stockport/others. City were at that time popular with Stockport fans because of City’s free support when Stockport were faced with a winding up order from the Inland Revenue. United said they would play them, but wanted wages and expenses out of the receipts. City came for free. I am sure there are many examples of United being very nice to others over the years.
Your only talking about us because as Cockney Red rightly says we fell into the hands of 2 good owners. Thaksin cos he was mates with the Sheikh is fine by me.
We can’t buy your immediate history but boy watch us buy the future !!!
Get behind United and together we can rule the World.
Get yourself a girlfriend mate.
To Melon Man – what are you on about? Roughly equal in success?
City have won 9 major honours, 2 of which were top flight football league.
United have won 39 major honours, 18 of which were top flight football league.
That’s 30 more honours in United’s favour.
Seems very equal to me (that’s sarcasm).