Why Have Manchester’s Teams Dominated the Premier League?
Teams and come and gone from the top flight, including two clubs (Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City) that were league winners and then relegated just a few years later. We’ve also seen player salaries jump shoot to the moon and stadiums become ever bigger and more extravagant.
Another major change has been in betting. Both in England and countries like the USA, we’ve seen significant growth in demand for football betting, thanks in part to the internet and smartphones making it easier to place wagers on games. Another driver has been brands like DraftKings offering free bets to new customers as a way to build market share in the sports betting market.
However, one thing has remained constant throughout these more than 30 years — Manchester is a city that dominates English football.
Manchester City - Champions of England, Champions of Europe
In 2023, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City achieved a rare achievement in English football, securing trophies in the Premier League, Champions League, and the FA Cup, putting them at the top of both main domestic competitions and the continental-wide tournament.
For the Citizens, winning at home was just a case of de ja vu, having already lifted the FA Cup two other times since 2010 and topped the Premier League table six times since 2011. However, becoming the champions of Europe was a key achievement as it had been something that had alluded the team.
Picking up all three trophies in the same season means that Manchester City has joined a very exclusive club. Across the continent, only eight teams have achieved a league, cup, and Champions League win in a single year. Of those eight, only one other club comes from England - Manchester United.
If you’re relatively new to watching football, you might be forgiven for not knowing that Manchester’s red team were once a nearly unbeatable force that seemed to just hoover up silverware. Back in the 1990s, they were just formidable as Guardiola’s men today.
Manchester United - The Original English Treble Winners
It was in 1986 that Manchester United began to be shaped into England’s most successful football club. When relatively unknown Scot, Alex Ferguson arrived in the city, the Red Devils hadn’t won a league title for 20 years and had even been relegated in the meantime.
After a few years of getting his ducks in a row, Ferguson put together one of the most formidable team sheets the sport has ever seen with its legendary Class of ‘92. After winning the FA Youth Cup for the club, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville, and Paul Scholes were moved into the senior team and immediately saw success.
Between 1992 and 2013, when many of these players and Ferguson had moved on and/or retired, Manchester United secured 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, six league cups, 11 Community Shields, and two Champions League titles.
During this period of dominance, Manchester United were a club that struck fear in their opponents. Just turning up at the Theatre of Dreams would be enough to make an otherwise talented team of players crumble.
In many ways, City and United share many of these same traits. Sustained dominance of a sport over a decade or more is enough to create a psychological edge that’ll cause any opponent to at least doubt their chances just a little bit.
But why is Manchester the only place in England to create such teams?
A Working Class Sport for a Working Class Region
In reality, Manchester doesn’t quite have a monopoly over footballing dominance. Nearby towns and cities have also enjoyed plenty of success in the decades before the creation of the Premier League.
Most notable of these is Liverpool, a club that has 19 league titles since 1900 and more Champions League trophies than any other English team. Its scouse neighbour, Everton also enjoyed a period of success through the 1960s and 1980s.
As a sport that was traditionally enjoyed by working-class people in England, the north of the nation, a region that was awash with factories and mills for centuries, became the football heartlands.
It’s why, of the top-ten most successful English clubs, seven come from the north and nine of the next ten best teams also represent towns and cities from this region.
Therefore, Manchester, as the largest and wealthiest northern English city had the people and resources to grow a successful football club or two.
Manchester Loves Football
While United and City get all of the attention, Manchester is actually packed with football teams. Across the metropolitan region of Greater Manchester, there are seven professional clubs in the top four levels of the English pyramid. On top of that, you can find a further 12 semi-professional teams in levels 5-8.
One of these, F.C. United of Manchester was actually only founded a few years ago, following the sale of Manchester United and protests by its fans. It has, therefore, had its own significant achievements over that time to make it to the seventh tier of the sport.
There are also 59 other clubs in tiers 9-12, and over 30 women’s football teams across the first eight levels.
In comparison, Merseyside has three professional teams, four semi-professional clubs in levels 5-8, and nine in tiers 9-10.
Therefore, Manchester has the skills and infrastructure needed to attract, develop, and deploy footballing talent. United’s early Premier League success, which came from a quality academy programme, is one of the best examples of this.
Manchester Has Money
Of course, success in modern football also relies on having big enough pockets to be able to buy the best players in the sport. Of course, Manchester City’s money came from some wealthy owners that bought the club and ploughed cash into it to fund a buying spree.
But this wasn’t initially the same for United. The club didn’t enjoy the lucrative television money or a wealthy investor to pay for its players, but having the fifth-highest GDP in the country (and third biggest outside of London) helped Manchester’s residents to pay for match tickets.
The Verdict
Overall, Manchester’s success rests of a string of different factors, and it is entirely possible that had one not been present, the city’s sporting successes may not have been so noteworthy. Footballing pedigree, a wealthy local economy, and a passion for the beautiful game all helped to lay the foundations for Manchester’s record-breaking football success.