Manchester derby overshadows other clubs in the region’s football tapestry
Manchester derby overshadows other clubs in the region’s football tapestry. A derby in Greater Manchester is like the dawn breaking over a sleepy town. Trains have been dumping their loads into Piccadilly and Oxford Road streets all morning.
Crowds of people fill the bars, causing them to rumble. It appears that even those who don’t have anywhere to be are on the move.
Then the mass horde arrived, a sea of red and blue swept through the city, propelled by songs, San Miguel, and tense energy that picked its way with caution around the vendors selling scarves in two colors. This city becomes the epicenter of the footballing world for a few tense hours.
Of course, it is by a lot of different standards.
At 2 o’clock on Sunday, the entire globe will be watching the newest chapter in the City/United rivalry.
Facts
Neither Milan nor Madrid nor London can claim to be two clubs of comparable size and fortune. As many as a dozen languages will be spoken throughout the conversation.
Almost every country can see the Etihad Stadium’s curving curves and coiled towers.
Welcoming you to Manchester! …or at least a small amount of it. Because there are other sections to this city’s magnificent football tapestry. Only now do they feel somewhat less central to the total picture.
Oldham is getting ready to host Wrexham in the National League several miles east.
Bolton, located to the west, is playing Lincoln City on Saturday in League One as they aim to rebuild under new head coach Ian Evatt’s progressive passing philosophy. Stockport County, still elated after their return to the Football League in 2011, takes on Walsall at Edgeley Park in the south.
All of these people were formerly major figures in the English game. Bolton, Wigan Athletic, and Oldham cities all had Premier League teams.
Bury and Stockport County were on the verge of dropping into the second tier in a brief moment.
Macclesfield Town, located just across the border, consistently outperforms its expectations. Manchester, with its abundance of underdog small-town clubs, served as the heart of English football 15 to 20 years ago.
Each one has fallen, some more than others. The towns of Bury and Macclesfield vanished completely.
Greater Manchester cities, including Oldham, Bolton, and Stockport, came perilously near to falling off the world’s edge.
Seasons
Despite being a rock in prior seasons, Rochdale is last in League Two. As of the 2020 season, there were just four clubs from Greater Manchester competing in one of the top three divisions, the fewest since the early 1980s.
There have been unique regional characteristics, such as malicious proprietors and poor decision-making. The bigger image, though, is one of a region striving to maintain its identity and relevance in the face of the powerful gravitational pull exerted by the two superclubs at its center.
When exactly the tide started to turn is unclear. Since 2012, when Bolton and 2013, when Wigan was relegated, there have only been two Manchester teams in the Premier League. Stockport and Macclesfield both ended their long runs in the Football League simultaneously.
Even though Macclesfield would eventually make a comeback, the financial strain they experienced during their promotion season in 2017–18 would ultimately be their undoing.
It was clear that Bury’s issues had been building for a while before they eventually collapsed; under former owner Stewart Day, the club incurred unpayable debts that were collateralized by the Gigg Lane stadium.
Players
There was never any indication that Day or Steve Dale, to whom he sold the club in 2018, would be able to rescue Bury from their dire situation. Thus, in the end, it crumbled; 134 years of collective history were simply erased.
With their relegation in May, Oldham’s humiliation was complete.
After enduring winding-up petitions, transfer embargoes, a carousel of managers, and fan protests against the despised ownership of Abdallah Lemsagam, they were the first team to be relegated from the Premier League to non-league football.
As with Bury and Macclesfield, their demise was due not just to poor management but to widespread neglect as well. There simply weren’t the necessary systems in place, and basic care wasn’t being provided, for the game’s guardians to notice that something was wrong.
MAN
Just to be crystal clear, neither Manchester City nor Manchester United is solely to blame for this. Like any other major club, its primary goal is expansion and consumption.
Instead, their neighbors’ situation reflects broader trends in the city, which has benefited from a surge of wealth and investment that has, unfortunately, not been evenly distributed.
Manchester’s outlying towns, characterized by stagnation and underinvestment and featuring deteriorating main streets and rising inequality, stand in stark contrast to the city’s glittering glass developments.
The signals of life are there. In the summer, local entrepreneur Frank Rothwell took over as owner, and now, with David Unsworth as coach, Oldham has turned the page.
Stockport has announced ambitious plans to revamp Edgeley Park, bringing the venue’s capacity up to 20,000.
Success
Wigan won League One with a vengeance last year.
The success of Salford City shows that amateur football can thrive with smart marketing and financial backing. Also, both Macclesfield and Bury have rebuilt under new ownership, proving the adage that it is difficult to wipe out a football team permanently.
Everyone is holding on, but nobody is thriving.
And as the hours count down to Sunday at the Etihad, questions arise as to whether or if this huge show begins to drain the oxygen from its surroundings as it grows larger and more publicized. We have no plans to change directions.
However, perhaps this weekend is a time to reflect on how goodwill and fond memories alone will not be enough to sustain the clubs in our little towns.