The city of Manchester boasts not only two clubs, but two Premier League clubs, and two English giants – Manchester United and Manchester City. The rivalry has been going on since the clubs were formed, but over time, one club became too big for the other, and the rivalry lost its magic. The same thing happened with two Manchesters. United went on to become one of England’s top brands and began its rivalry with Arsenal (during the Arsene Wenger era) and especially Liverpool, while City became the ’other club’ in the city, similar to Everton in the city of Liverpool.It was celebration time for Manchester City on Monday evening! 🥳Thousands of fans lined the streets as the open-top bus parade made its way through the city centre to celebrate the team’s Premier League title success. Find out more here 👇 #BBCFootball #ManCity— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 24, 2022 But, when the Emirates-based City group bought Manchester in 2008, things began to change. After all, the Citizens have just won their fourth Premier League title in five seasons and are regulars in the Champions League knockout stages. The popularity of the club rose significantly in the last decade or so, but when coach Pep Guardiola calls for fans to fill in the Etihad Stadium ahead of some important games, he knows what’s he talking about.How time changes pic.twitter.com/2a3RlICxJl— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) May 23, 2022 Manchester City (much like Chelsea just after they were bought by Abramovich in 2003), has often been accused of having ’plastic’ fans, which is a derogatory name for football fans who support a team with whom they have no obvious affinity. And recently, the club’s officials admitted that only 1 per cent of their fan base comes directly from the UK.„Our response from a club perspective is to cater for all fans and that is why we have to understand what they expect and how they want to engage with the club. At Manchester City we know that one per cent of our audience is in the UK. Those who dream about going to the Etihad one day may have the opportunity to engage with the club in a way that makes them feel closer to the experience, makes them feel immersed as to what it feels to be in a stadium full of fans…We are experimenting… fans in US and China are interested in the day-to-day of fans going to Manchester to the games“ said Chief Marketing Officer of the City Football Group, Nuria Tarre in a discussion at the Business of Football summit, organised by the Financial Times earlier this year.Watch out, Haaland – Julian Alvarez’s historic six goals as a message to PepIt’s such remarkable information, considering the fact that the vast majority of fans around the world probably won’t have the opportunity to visit Etihad Stadium in the recent future (or ever). That means that if you are working for the City’s marketing team, you have to be very, very creative in order to entertain the vast majority of your fan base, who are not even in England. The City is now pumping out online features in 14 languages, and not just translations of the material it produces for an English audience. The club creates content in those overseas markets that are relevant to people from that country or region, for example, a focus on particular players.(3.20) Al AHLY CAIRO (2.65) WYDAD CASABLANCA (2.55)Another way of gathering revenue is from their fan base away from Manchester, which in the City’s case is what it should count the most since they have only 1% of fans inside the UK. Other big clubs also have those types of fans, and they are increasing their numbers at the stadium. Home fans, who have season tickets are not big spenders, but foreign, or outside the city are. They are coming to the match almost as tourists, they spend their money on the ticket, but also visit the club shop (as they are not living in Manchester), and if they are coming for the first time, they want to have a stadium tour.Meet the Premier League’s most ineffective players of the seasonFor example, just over half of Liverpool’s home crowd are local supporters, about one third come from elsewhere in the UK and 10% from overseas. According to the club’s annual report, City’s match-going fans have an average of 20 years of support behind them and 70% live within a 50 kilometres radius of the Etihad.
