Utd killed the 90s/00s in particular and you now believe they have usurped Liverpool as the biggest club in the country.
So clearly, winning and building your brand on the back of success is ultimately all that matters. Congrats on being able to do that before the likes of Chelsea, Man City etc.
nah not clearly .. i actually think that liverpool are bigger than man utd when it comes to sustained international success .
and there is a case to say liverpool are bigger overall .. although i don't agree with it.
it is close.
the one thing that man utd have that liverpool lack is glamour. and liverpool will never have that due to scouseland.
that is what makes man utd a bigger media club which is pushed by the media more, therefore garnering more fans.
and man utd was still the top club in the UK before fergie.
you cannot replicate the 60's and the global recovery of normality after the total destruction WWII now. you cannot replicate england's one and only world cup win. these things are seared in history and these things are part of the man utd story. like fergie came up with the globalisation of football, man utd came up with the television and popularisation of football and the glamour of the swinging sixties. we see film of man utd and best in the sixties. we don't see the same for arsenal in the 30's. man utd were the first glamour team due to their come up in the age when glamour totems in mass media were first created. that works to their benefit.
"the golden age of hollywood" is just that and will remain that as long as hollywood is as it is now. likewise that 60's cool/beatles/worldcup win/fashion icons aand all the other societal trends are bound up with the story of man utd and work to man utd's favour.
when we move to VR-footy the then dominant teams will have their chance to write their football achievements into the firmament of major cultural, societal and technological shifts. for now man utd will remain (in england) the masters and dominant team in our current shared zeitgeist. even with natural attrition it would take decades to change that.
even now adverts and media constantly refer back to the "cool 60's" because it is an important cultural period within the western world. probably the most important positive one for the last few hundred years.
when was the last time you read or heard of the "glamour of chelsea FC or man city" in the press. it is a constant refrain when it comes to man utd and whether you like it or not, this history bolsters man utd's preeminence in addition to the bigger numbers, larger media presence, income, trophies etc.