Former Manchester City defender and now talkSPORT pundit Danny Mills has claimed that the Etihad Stadium outfit are still a smaller club than their Old Trafford neighbours, despite City’s plentiful success over the last decade.
The radio station’s Twitter channel @talkSPORT shared a clip of Mills’ comments about his former club, who he says lag well behind Liverpool and Manchester United in terms of global support and status.
"If you go to most countries outside of Europe, the 2 biggest supported clubs are #LFC and #MUFC."
"CIty are a long way behind that, at the moment."
"They need to either win the #UCL a few times, or sign a Messi-type player."
Danny Mills claims #MCFC are still behind Man Utd. pic.twitter.com/YzcSWUthxH
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) October 8, 2019
The 42-year-old added that Manchester City would need to win multiple Champions League titles and “sign a Messi-esque type player” if they are to “get anywhere near that sort of status” of the other Premier League clubs he mentioned.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Mills said: “If you go to most countries outside of Europe, the two biggest clubs supported-wise are Liverpool and Manchester United, and that’s because of history. Manchester City at the moment are still a long way behind that.
“To go to that next level, City have got to win the Champions League two or three times, or they’ve got to sign a Messi-esque type player to put them on a global level to get anywhere near that sort of status.”
Former England international Mills played 52 times for Manchester City between 2004 and 2008, during which the club’s highest league finish was eighth in the 2004/05 season, and despite winning four Premier League titles since 2012, the Champions League has continually eluded City.
However, these Manchester City fans took to Twitter to react with scorn towards Mills’ comments:
Dont think there are too many utd fans who think they’re ahead of us a the moment
— 1894 (@RodriBiscuits) October 8, 2019
Depends on what age group bracket you’re looking at ! Over 35s Liverpool over 15s United and 0-10 years its all kids in City shirts !
— Mellis Ellis (@mellis6025) October 8, 2019
Why would we want to be a big club like united? I love the fact we have a smaller fanbase than those two clubs, actually gives the club a soul, old traffords a tourist attraction on game days its awful. Being a mega club is not all its cracked up to be. Small club + trophies pls
— Surgeio @gwearo (@HRHkingkun) October 9, 2019
He certainly didn’t help City become a bigger supported club in his time there !!! Useless, one of the worst players I’ve seen Do you need to be the biggest supported team tho ??
— STUART SMITH (@STUARTSMITH66) October 8, 2019
Who cares what a load of plastic foreign fans wearing fake kits and never spending a penny on their club thinks. I would rather win trophies than have a billion fans in Asia and Africa
— Sky Blue Centurion (@C80192134) October 8, 2019
Good point Danny, Utd and Liverpool have only had success over the last 40-50 years so how could city’s fan base be so far behind after a few trophies over last 9 year
— Simon mullarkey (@simmylikes2) October 9, 2019
What did you make of Mills’ claims about Manchester City’s worldwide standing? Join in the discussion by commenting below!
