For generations, Manchester United fans have been taunted about their not-so-local supporters.
Successful spells under Sir Matt Busby and, more recently, Sir Alex Ferguson have ensured that the club’s fan base has swelled far beyond Manchester’s city limits.
Whenever a team from the capital plays at Old Trafford, you can almost guarantee that a chant of “We’ll race you back to London” will rise up from the away end at some point in the game, directed at the home supporters.
Contrastingly, another footballing stereotype would suggest that Manchester’s other team has a fan base made up entirely of Mancunian supporters, dwarfing United’s local support. Even Edin Dzeko commented on it when he signed for the club in 2011.
“I hear a lot about the fans — that most of the people from Manchester are Manchester City fans,” the Bosnian remarked.
As pointed out by this tweet from John Brewin, it now seems that things are changing as City’s success attracts more and more supporters from beyond Manchester boundaries.
Ahead of their Champions League second leg clash with Dynamo Kiev, City appear to be making inroads (or inrails) into United’s London demographic by offering supporters based in London the chance to travel to the game in a special chartered train.
We’ll race them back to the capital…
This just dropped through my door. I have no idea why. #mcfc now chasing down #MUFC's London demographic. pic.twitter.com/M1KawRCX9B
— John Brewin (@JohnBrewin_) March 7, 2016
