Hate Man Utd

A recent posting on Man United Devils blog about Glory Hunters has inspired this posting! The blog article discusses Man Utd “fans” who don’t live in Manchester or the surrounding area which are often called glory hunters, because they don’t support their local team. That blog’s stance is they do not agree, you will not be surprised at Hate Man Utd blog supports the idea that the majority of Man Utd fans are glory hunters, read on to hear the evidence.

A quick search of the Internet revealed plenty of details on the definition of Glory Hunter.

A glory hunter is a term used by people who are jealous of another persons team success , or who are suspect to, supporting a particular football club due to its size, quality and/or popularity in the media.

It is the latter point which is particularly relevant to Man United fans; supporting a team due to it’s size and popularity in the media. People with an inferiority complex in normal life feel they need to associate them selves with some thing big and popular, so they feel that “they belong”. As for popularity in the media, how many pages per day in a tabloid national newspaper are dedicated to Man utd; 1,2,3??? Not to mention the amount of TV coverage, not just live matches but on Breakfast TV as well, for example.

The media: responsible for the Glory Hunters.

 The article on the Internet goes on to state:

“Glory hunters usually live outside the town or area where a particular team is from, and may, in fact, live in a different country altogether. It is common for a person from a town to support their nearest most successful club as opposed to their actual town’s team. Manchester United have by far the most supporters of any English club, not only within England, but worldwide. This is due in part to their domestic and European success coming simultaneously with the introduction of televised European Cup football in the mid-1950s. Manchester United’s second coming coincided with the huge increase in the amount of televised football due to the introduction of satellite broadcasting in the early 1990s.”

With the availability of replica shirts and other merchandise, the concept of ‘the glory-hunter’ has evolved. And we all know how many Man Utd shirts we see worn on the streets of our Towns and Cities, don’t we?

Availability of merchandise - too wide spread.

 The article goes on to describe Second Generation Glory Hunters:

“People who are, or who are suspect to, supporting a successful football club although having no obvious affiliation with the team and giving their reason for supporting such team as it also being their fathers chosen team. Second generation glory hunters usually live outside the town where a particular team is from, and may, in fact, live in a different country altogether.”

Please take a moment to complete the Hate Man United Survey.

Much to my amusement I’ve found something, or more accurately someone that Manchester United fans hate - Paul Ince. Apparently it stems back to when he was playing for Liverpool and celebrated a goal against Man Utd (how dare he!). Enjoy these pictures

Image details: Paul Ince of Liverpool served by picapp.com

Image details: Paul Ince of Liverpool served by picapp.com

Should add some spice to the Blackburn games this season.

 Please take a moment to complete the Hate Man United Survey.

Picture source: Flickr Spare seats available

Manchester United “fans” who say they have never been to Old Trafford to watch a game claim it is “impossible to get tickets”. Why was the stadium capacity of 76212 never reached for Premirship League games in 2007/08 season; attendance minimum 75055 and maximum 76013? Are the spare tickets not made available for sale?

I’ve just been reading a couple of thought provoking articles concerned with the differences between watching a match in person or on TV. The original article and an article based on the original, in summary draw on differences between the analytical preference (TV) compared with the emotional preference (attendance at the game). For Manchester United fans there is no shortage of TV coverage to analyse over; the abundance of Premier League games on Sky, dedicated TV channels like MUTV, every match in Europe on some channel or other, normally a featured match in the FA Cup and not to mention daily updates on national Breakfast TV. Could I just point out here that “smaller teams” or teams from lower leagues do not get this same level of TV exposure and thus fans of such teams tend to go to the match in person an become exposed to the emotional side of the game. As hatred is an emotion, is this why so many people hate Manchester United?

As there is a vast army of armchair Man Utd fans who get their daily craving for data analysis satisfied via TV and yet have their emotional side unfulfilled, is this why they tend to behave in a superior manner to other fans? When in discussions with other fans, are they feeding their emotional side by gaining a sense of self importance by being assured that their data analysis is complete and likely that they are more informed than supporters of teams without such access to information?

Image details: For I Am Vulcan served by picapp.com

Mr Spock of Star Trek was famed for his lack of emotion and logical factual analysis. Is he a Manchester United fan in disguise? The devilish ears are a clue maybe. The disguise being he was always in a Blue shirt.

24% of Man Utds fans will not renew their season ticket. This is based on cost and not the quality of the football. Or is it that these loyal fans are just plain bored with the predictable winning and arrogant over payed players or are they joining the armchair massed ranks? Empty seats next season?

Image details: Red stadium seats served by picapp.com

Comments on supporter loyalty please…..

Here is an interesting point made by Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager ahead of the FA Cup final between Portsmouth and Cardiff.

 ”I couldn’t believe it last year. The final whistle went, and suddenly the stadium was half empty! The Manchester United fans couldn’t bear to see the other team [Chelsea] lifting the cup.”

He went on to explain at the same group of teams and fans are reaching the final each year and becoming too familiar with the event. This is making the FA Cup lose it’s magic and devaluing the occasion. Harry has asked for both sets of fans to give a full ovation for the lap of honour for both teams at today’s match.

The scene when Man Utd lose?

Dave Whelan, the Wigan Athletic chairman is anticipating problems with segregation at the Wigan v Mau Utd fixture and anticipates large numbers of fans without tickets to be locked out. There are stories of Wigan fans selling home end tickets for the price of next season’s season ticket. Man United’s official allocation of 4,928 is, not surprisingly sold out.

What price the equivalent ticket for the Man Utd Match?

In the event of trouble as a consequence of poor segregation I wonder what punishment will be dished out to Man utd and Wigan?