Manchester United

[Porque]

They are by far the best marketed club in the world. They are a huge brand in Asia despite the lack of success. Most of their fanbase is in London and Australasia.
Ever since I was a kid back in the 70s I despised them. A delusional fanbase too...even back than.
After spending that kind of money, they have no success and even less of an identity. If the English speaking media didn't make a fuss about them noone would give a fuck about them.

Asian fans don't count. They all wear fake jerseys and contribute nothing bar the tv subscription.

 

[Maradona37]

Yeah I am starting to reassess me thinking this can go on indefinitely. Surely they will come back at some point? Then again, they might just be a finished club, who knows.

And yes @BJJ , their fanbase is very delusional. Constantly wrong in the assessment of their players. Bias only accounts for so much of it - they're generally just poor at spotting a good player. They have no eye for a player or a coach.

 

[jamrock]

Asian fans don't count. They all wear fake jerseys and contribute nothing bar the tv subscription.

Lol said the same the other day while watching reactions to Barca vs Madrid.

So many fans from Africa, middle east and Asia in our Jersey's celebrating.

Every single one fake lol.

If those bastards bought Jersey's we would fix barto's mess in 1 season.

A fair amount were also watching on laptop's, so we know that's also free.

 

[Porque]

Lol said the same the other day while watching reactions to Barca vs Madrid.

So many fans from Africa, middle east and Asia in our Jersey's celebrating.

Every single one fake lol.

If those bastards bought Jersey's we would fix barto's mess in 1 season.

A fair amount were also watching on laptop's, so we know that's also free.

To be fair I am speaking more of South East Asia than Japan/Korea (though I suspect China would be more similar to SEA than Japan/Korea in terms of fakes).

So the major incomes for the EPL clubs would be global tv rights, and friendly tours which would be paid for by companies and governments rather than actual ticket sales.

So any global fanbase figures (and this would include Barcelona) in emerging markets and SA would be greatly exagerrated in terms of dollar impact that it actually brings, and would be more as a metric for regional sponsorship deals negotiations than actual shirt sales. Especially when they have exposure to the factories that produce the original jerseys, creating an oversupply of the "fakes" at a much lower price.

One of my suggestions would be domestic exclusive official fan jerseys at a lower/mid price point. So for example Singapore has their own domestic Barcelona jersey, Malaysia has another and Indonesia has another. Sure these may have knockoffs created if the production time is long, but on the other hand you may increase income by having fans in this region wanting their domestic editions, plus collectors wanting all of them.

They could be authenticated by NFT with localised perks for example.

I don't know why I am giving them this world class advice for free

 

[Maradona37]

Most reputed sports organizations and websites rank them as the biggest club in the world since time immemorial. City are a tinpot club with no fans. There's no comparison.

I am not sure that is quite true, to be fair. City were arguably the bigger club (or at least had decent parity) in Manchester until maybe the 40s or 50s. Read about Newton Heath, John Henry Davies and James Gibson, and City letting them play at Maine Road after Old Trafford was bombed during the way.

They've really only been a huge global club since Munich and the death of some of the Busby Babes, when lots of people around the world felt sympathy for the club. In fairness, though, it was hard to be a 'global club' pre 1958 anyway as the world was an infinitely smaller place than it is now. Then George Best came along almost a decade later and people gravitated towards his pop star lifestyle. Then as you say, that continued with more big names off the pitch in Beckham and Ronaldo.

But I do get your point. I just don't think it's fair to call them 'the biggest club since time immemorial' or call City a 'tinpot club' (even though I don't like them). City do have a good history even if their best era by a mile has come post Mansour.

 

[Horatio]

Lol said the same the other day while watching reactions to Barca vs Madrid.

So many fans from Africa, middle east and Asia in our Jersey's celebrating.

Every single one fake lol.

If those bastards bought Jersey's we would fix barto's mess in 1 season.

A fair amount were also watching on laptop's, so we know that's also free.

more real than some of the “fans” returning to the forums.

 

[Iniesta Ultra]

more real than some of the “fans” returning to the forums.

name names

 

[Rassvet]

They are by far the best marketed club in the world. They are a huge brand in Asia despite the lack of success. Most of their fanbase is in London and Australasia.
Ever since I was a kid back in the 70s I despised them. A delusional fanbase too...even back than.
After spending that kind of money, they have no success and even less of an identity. If the English speaking media didn't make a fuss about them noone would give a fuck about them.

United's clout as a club is simply massive. Ten Hag leaving dominated the news cycle even after a Clasico and Ballon d'Or drama.

By contrast the managerial changes at likes of Chelsea, Bayern, and Barca were barely a lead story for a day.

Yeah I am starting to reassess me thinking this can go on indefinitely. Surely they will come back at some point? Then again, they might just be a finished club, who knows.

And yes @BJJ , their fanbase is very delusional. Constantly wrong in the assessment of their players. Bias only accounts for so much of it - they're generally just poor at spotting a good player. They have no eye for a player or a coach.

PL clubs have much better ability to withstand weaker eras due to popularity of the league. Italian clubs became kind of irrelevant as soon as they stopped competing to win CL titles.

 

[Maradona37]

United's clout as a club is simply massive. Ten Hag leaving dominated the news cycle even after a Clasico and Ballon d'Or drama.

By contrast the managerial changes at likes of Chelsea, Bayern, and Barca were barely a lead story for a day.

PL clubs have much better ability to withstand weaker eras due to popularity of the league. Italian clubs became kind of irrelevant as soon as they stopped competing to win CL titles.

Also, the decline of Serie A has come in the information age, where PL has been marketed heavily. That has a direct effect on Serie A. I would bet lots of hardcore fans of Serie A in the 90s now watch PL exclusively.

 

[MontenegrinCuler]

United's clout as a club is simply massive. Ten Hag leaving dominated the news cycle even after a Clasico and Ballon d'Or drama.

By contrast the managerial changes at likes of Chelsea, Bayern, and Barca were barely a lead story for a day.

PL clubs have much better ability to withstand weaker eras due to popularity of the league. Italian clubs became kind of irrelevant as soon as they stopped competing to win CL titles.

I think you're making these conclusions purely based on your own perspective. Italian clubs are maybe irrelevant to you. Even outside of Italy there is a ton of people still emotionally attached to Juve, Milan etc despite their recent struggles. Best example I can give is Montenegro where Italian clubs are still most followed and supported in big 5.

 

[Maradona37]

I think you're making these conclusions purely based on your own perspective. Italian clubs are maybe irrelevant to you. Even outside of Italy there is a ton of people still emotionally attached to Juve, Milan etc despite their recent struggles. Best example I can give is Montenegro where Italian clubs are still most followed and supported in big 5.

I think he means on the macro level. relative to the PL.

Obviously many people around the world still love Serie A. I think that decline on popularity and relinquishing the top league to PL is what rassy meant with 'irrelevant', placing in context. Admittedly though he might have been clearer.