Manchester City, in recent years, have been a better performing club than their local rivals Manchester United, especially since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure. However, Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel, who also played out a brief spell at Manchester City, believes that the Citizens will never be able to match the popularity of the Red Devils.
Schmeichel further raised the tempo of the comparison by calling Manchester United the biggest club in the world, without an argument, ahead of the Manchester derby.
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"There's no doubt, nobody can argue that Manchester United is not the biggest club in the world. It is," he told Omnisport ahead of this weekend's Manchester derby at Old Trafford, when both sides will put their 100 per cent records on the line.
“It's the club with the most fans, supporters and there are numbers out there which are official numbers so you can't argue that.”
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It seems Peter Schmeichel is either not active on social media or doesn’t consider it a credible source of information. In terms of popularity on social media such as Facebook, Real Madrid and behind Barcelona in a close race for the most number of followers way ahead of Manchester United.
Although they might not be the most popular European football club in the world, Manchester United leads the fame charts for any English club.
Despite poor results in the last three seasons, Schmeichel further believes that the club’s glory will soon be restored. Manchester United finished seventh, fourth, and fifth in the Premier League well below their local rivals in each season, while City even won the title in 2014.
"But is it the best club in the world? It hasn't been for three years, it hasn't been even anywhere near the best club in England. Manchester City have been there or thereabouts. This is something you learn as soon as you walk through the doors at Old Trafford that you're never better than your last performance.
“You always have to improve on your last performance. When you look at the last three years it has been very, very poor. Seventh, fourth and fifth – that's not Manchester United. But Manchester City has been there or thereabouts so you can argue that they are the bigger club in Manchester at the moment in terms of results”, he said.
Schmeichel further continued by expressing an opinion that the Manchester City fans wouldn’t enjoy. He added, "But in terms of popularity they've got no chance of being anywhere near the biggest in the world."
Manchester City travel to Old Trafford in the first derby of the season that will also be a clash of the new managers Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho on the 10th September.
