Hate Man Utd

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?