Mention the word ‘Manchester’ among soccer enthusiasts, and what instantly comes to mind are the teams going by the same name: Manchester-United and Manchester-City. These as it turns out, are big names in the world of soccer. So big are the names in the soccer world, in fact, that there are many people who don’t know that what they share is the name of a city in Britain. What many of their international fans imagine is that the ‘M-word’ is just the name of a couple of big football teams (of course with the different suffixes); not knowing how the teams came to have the name.
Of the two Manchester-based teams, Manchester-United seems to be more popular internationally. Indeed, in some parts of the world, Manchester-United enjoys an almost fanatical following with televised matches where it is on play drawing huge crowds. Manchester-City, on the other hand, is considered more or less a ‘filler team’ in the premiership: the sort of teams that exist solely for the purposes of being won against by the big teams: Manchester-United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Surprisingly, inside the city by the same name, it is Manchester-City (rather than Manchester-United) which is many resident’s favorite; its modest fortunes notwithstanding. Maybe it’s because of its name which directly refers to the city, or it is because of pity (thanks to its underdog status): but they really love it.