Football Manager Daily

With the Manchester derby set to take place over the weekend, the comparisons between the two sides have been further highlighted.

Over the last decade, the landscape of football within one of England’s biggest footballing cities has changed and is completely unrecognisable to what it had been in the past.

Manchester United were once the Premier League side to be feared as they proved to be one of the most successful teams in England’s top division, whilst Sir Alex Ferguson had managed to make himself a formidable foe for any manager.

However, 2008 saw the emergence of Manchester City as they went under a huge change and started their journey into becoming one of the biggest football clubs in the world; not just Manchester. As such, they have continued to remain as favourites to win the title in each season that takes place with bookmakers such as Betway.

Indeed, it was something that could have happened in one of the Football Manager games, as men like Robinho and Sergio Aguero started turning up at the Etihad Stadium; something that would have been unimaginable at the time as prior to 2008, the Citizens had gone through one relegation, one promotion and three bottom-half finishes in the Premier League.

Richard Dunne – who was the captain for the first season of Sheik Mansour’s reign at the club – revealed how things had virtually changed overnight and saw Manchester City become completely different.

“It just went from one end of the spectrum to the other,” he told Betway in one of their blog posts.

“The quality of players that came in for Manchester City made them improve and become a bigger and stronger side.

“They were of a different standard and at a different level.”

Unfortunately for Manchester United, they went in a completely different direction following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. High-profile managers David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho have each failed to bring Premier League success to the Old Trafford club – with the Portuguese manager even claiming taking United to second in the table was one of his best achievements, despite having won multiple titles with the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has since been given the unenviable task of trying to restore the glory days at the club, however he has since fallen short but retains the backing of those in charge at the top.

Whilst United fans might be wishing that they get some luck in the Manchester derby that could be akin to the kind that can be experienced when playing Football Manager, they may not need to fear too much as Solskjaer’s record in the last five meetings speaks for itself; having beaten Pep Guardiola’s side three times in the last five meetings between the pair.