Unfortunately - the 1983 FA Cup Final notwithstanding - it has nothing to do with any sense of rivalry. It has everything to do with:
1. a ridiculously arrogant manager
2. an annoying fan base (though many in the EPL are annoying, Spurs, LFC, etc.) rife with glory-hunters the world over
3. an organizational sense of entitlement towards winning everything all the time
4. a fan base that knows little and cares less about Bill Foulkes, Robert Charlton, Georgie Best and Denis Law, yet everything about Ronaldo and Rooney
5. a 20-year hyper-inflated transfer budget propped up through the franchising of bars in Singapore
6. the massive overpayment for talent over the past two decades (Veron, Forlan, Berbatov, Ferdinand, Carrick, Hargreaves, A. Young, Saha, Barthez, Taibi, Nani, Anderson, etc)
7. the realization that 60% of their fan base is based in the footballing mecca of South east asia.
This is very similar to something that can be referred to as the New York Yankees phenomenon. It is more than merely disliking the top team because they are the top team. It is much more nuanced than that and has more to do with the financial rules they play by and how that affects the overall health of the league they play in. Throw in the unsavory glory-hunting fan base and that Scottish w*nker Fergie and it really is quite simple.
|