28 Sep 2014 18:39:11
There is a discussion further down the page about united meaning more to a supporter if there from manchester.
whats peoples view on this and on the 2 comments below.

" I'm not saying anyone is any less of a United fan for living outside Manchester and I'm not saying they don't love the club. But having not been there, grown up with it, lived it, breathed it, taken socks off your die hard city fan mates from early school upwards etc, it is not the same experience, like it or not."

"i have no problem with out of town/country supporters, unlike some. But, for me, unless you have grown up immersed in the club and grown up along side other local united/city supporters and the huge rivalry that it brings, i don't feel you can understand it fully."

1.) 28 Sep 2014
28 Sep 2014 19:26:13
Well personally Jred I agree totally, couldn't have put it better myself.

2.) 28 Sep 2014
Jred

I grew up in the Manchester suburbs from the very early 60's onwards. Having those who support your greatest rivals close by every day can be challenging because you have to defend the club and its results every day both at school and at work.

I don't think United means more to a local supporter but the local supporter has to be more proactive every day, deal with the local rivalries. You immerse yourself in the great city that Manchester is and the rivalries. I have always found City fans to have a chip on their shoulder, always trying to play a oneupmanship game they couldn't win, they had a touch of arrogance I found hard to understand but I lived with it every day and it makes you deal with the rivalry in a sharper way. You have to remember through my youth there was no social media like there is now, things were sorted locally the next day at school or work where everyone else, if not United, was generally a City or Liverpool fan. Having taken daily stick you are more vulnerable to the results locally and that is probably why people say it means more. I know having lived away from Manchester for some time there is a different dynamic to daily life when you are not immersed in the banter locally.
Hope that helps answer your question

3.) 28 Sep 2014
Redman
I see what you are saying and agree with most of it but the op discussion was more to do with what the team means to a supporter outside of manchester as opposed to a local .rather than united/city rivalry

4.) 28 Sep 2014
28 Sep 2014 21:12:29
Exactly what I was trying to get at Redman, going through everything we did daily, the thought of anyone doing what Rooney and others have, is unforgivable.

5.) 28 Sep 2014
On the other hand, most of the match going reds along with our superb away support keep singing his name. He even got a standing ovation after getting sent off. Rooney Rooney chants at the Chelsea game last year when people like Brendan wanted him sold paint a diff picture. Or may be Brendan is going to shift the goal post and say supporters from X locality of Manchester are the only ones who can understand the clubs culture and ethos. By the way, what Rooney done is far far better than saying that I am being treated like a slave. But then you can cut the player you like a lot of slack.

Deeps.

6.) 28 Sep 2014
28 Sep 2014 21:35:45
Can I just add in my eyes to the end of my last post. Don't want to be misconstrued.

7.) 28 Sep 2014
Brendan

Actually living in Manchester would make you more supportive of someone doing what Rooney did because you band together against the rivals trying to belittle the club. I was in Manchester when Cantona did what he did at Palace and we all got behind him because like Rooney he is or was one of our own. Social media has spread this wider than the locality of Manchester

8.) 28 Sep 2014
99% of Manchester United supporter live outside Manchester.

Speaking as one of them I am appalled by any sort of spurious reflected glory based on residence or regional purity. Smacks of racial purity.

Old Trafford is not even in Manchester.

9.) 28 Sep 2014
As someone who wasn't born and raised in manchester i have constantly had to defend my support of the club to friends and neighbours.

At times I have been ridiculed for supporting the club due to me not being a local lad. However it doesn't stop me loving the club any less than any other fan.

I saved up the money i earnt from odd jobs and allowance for almost 9 months to be able to afford that first trip to old trafford. To feel the atmosphere in the build up, the excitment on peoples faces, the smell of the city and to then see the inside of the stadium where i had watched my team on tv so many times are all experiences i will never forget and still cherish today.

I wil not stand he and say i am more of a supporter than a local kid and vice versa. I do know that if we win it makes my week and if we lose my partner knows to treat me extra sensitively for a few days.

I hope one day that these pathetic debates will stop as we all love the same team.

As any true fan I will however cherish the moment i get to take my son to the ground as much as the next father and even though he is only 1 week old i am already making plans for the trip and hope to be stood next to a number of you singing my heart out with my son in my arms while he wears his first united kit.

10.) 28 Sep 2014
28 Sep 2014 22:02:07
More supportive of Rooney holding the club to ransom twice? Really Redman?

11.) 28 Sep 2014
28 Sep 2014 22:04:39
Basingstoke you sound like a City fan.
Where were United founded?

12.) 29 Sep 2014
As a Liverpool fan who was born and raised within a mile of Anfield I think you raise an interesting point. Personally I don't believe that those fans who were raised miles away from the city, and support the club for reasons other than citizenship of the city, can ever truly grasp the true feelings, passion and belonging one feels towards their local club.

They may think that they do, but they don't. This is not to say that they are not true fans, or that they don't love their club, but there is sense of community, comradeship and belonging involved with those who were raised in the middle of the local rivalries, and are born with it in their blood.

I think this is even more apparent in the poorer working class areas of the north, were a lot of peoples lives revolved around their local club.

{Ed007's Note - (puke)

13.) 29 Sep 2014
I envy your football culture like most of the World. And despite being a fan of Manchester United since I was ten years old and Peter Schmeichel came to the club, I know that my love for the club cannot be compared to yours. In terms of being a genuine Unitedfan I am a *******.
That said I too have to argue against Liverpool and Arsenal fans every day.

14.) 29 Sep 2014
Brendan

Whilst Rooney tries his hardest for the shirt I will back him. Selective memory operates with Rooney because for example both Keane and Rio agitated (to get better deals), it wasn't a new phenomena.

15.) 29 Sep 2014
Let's not forget some of manchester uniteds biggest rivals are not just teams local to Manchester. I'm not from Manchester but I've supported them all my life and honestly feel my love for the club can not be topped by anyone. I get to games whenever possible and spend a considerable amount of money in doing so with having to travel. I've grown up with day to day rivalries with Leeds United fans because of the area of Yorkshire I'm from, and trust me it's not just your normal footy banter with some of them, they genuinely hate anything Manchester United with a passion. I know where worlds apart in terms of football now but the rivalry is still massive, mainly to them of course. There is of course still a large population of man utd fans in my area and also Liverpool, so to say just because someone lives outside Manchester means they haven't grown up with rivalries and stuff is completely false. Obviously there are no city fans I know of though haha but the banter with Leeds and the scouse is enough for me

16.) 29 Sep 2014
What a ridiculous argument, I wasn't born in Manchester, but lived here since I was 8. So does that make me some sort of second rate supporter? Ask my wife and friends about my love for United, and they'll all tell you that I become some sort of mad man when united are playing or any conversation about united. I have got two children both of whom support united. I've got on grandchild living in London and he's only 2 years old and I have nicked the arsenal gear that his dad bought him and replaced them with united gear.
Alex Ferguson wasn't born in Manchester, but have we not all seen what United mean to him? Same goes for a lot of the ex players who have come from elsewhere, they all love and defend the club at every given opportunity.
To try and differentiate between supporters is counterproductive and actually it is sad in the extreme.

17.) 29 Sep 2014
29 Sep 2014 08:43:30
And both lost my respect when they did Redman, Rio meeting Kenyon was a disgrace, we should have told him to do one in my eyes, Keane lost my respect as a man years ago too. I just don't get how anyone can say they love a club but then are happy to ignore things like that. Results are obviously more important than the history and integrity of the club, not for me.

18.) 29 Sep 2014
29 Sep 2014 08:58:30
Everyone is taking what was said out of context, in ores to have a rant. Here is what I said

'It's not difficult watching Deeps, as I support everyone on the pitch 100%, doesn't mean that off it I am happy with every player though. I suppose it depends how much the club mean to you. If, you grew up just a few miles from the ground and were surrounded by it day in and day out, in school and out, and would have given your right testicle to play for them then a player doing what he has twice is unforgiveable. No matter what you think of him on the pitch. In that sense I agreed with K loot, even if he ranted a lot :-)'

Everyone, please note the full stop after the 'I suppose how much the club mean to you' but. The next sentence was nothing to do with that statement. What I was getting at was that if the club mean absolutely everything to you, then how can you accept someone doing what Rooney has done twice, and others have done, when we would all play for nothing and he is getting paid ridiculous money anyway.

The next part was just my opinion as someone who grew up just miles from the ground, immersed in it every day since a toddler, at home, at school, out of school, everywhere. It was a daily battle with City fan mates, going to watch the reserves just to see United, going to watch the reserves at Maine rd because it was still a derby in our eyes. Everything for us as was United and everything for our mates was City, and being from the same city it makes it so much bigger and intense. I hate Liverpool as much as Liverpool fans hate us, but with City it is on another level, for me anyway and that is because of my experiences since I can remember being on this earth. It is totally unforgivable for me, whether anyone agrees or is upset by that, I don't care, that is how it is.

Never did I mean any fans not from manchester support the club any less, just that their experiences are different. As mine would be if I supported the NY Yankees as I said.