As the Premier League makes its return after a horrifying two and a half month absence, we take a look at two of its biggest, richest teams – Manchester United and City.
What with their fame and success, you may think you’ve heard just about everything about the two clubs, but we decided to soldier on any way and scoured every corner of the internet to try and prove you wrong.
Here are the 10 weirdest, wackiest and down-right astonishing facts about Manchester United and City.
1. Even discounting the £148 million they’ve spent this summer, United have spent more on transfers in the last three years (estimated £455 million) than Ajax have since World War Two (estimated £379 million, adjusting for inflation). Ajax still have one more Champions League trophy to show for it.
2. With the signings of Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker, Danilo and Ederson costing them almost £160 million, Manchester City have spent more on defence this summer than 47 actual countries.
3. United’s Denis Law scored 18 hat tricks in the First Division, two more than City have ever managed in the Premier League.
4. The Manchester derby was a very one sided affair in the 1990s – City went the whole decade without once beating United.
5. Legendary United manager Sir Matt Busby didn’t sign a single player between 1953 and 1957 and only brought in 16 players between 1945 and the Munich Air Disaster of 1958. In that time, he won three First Division titles and an FA cup.
6. City are the only English topflight team to ever win the league one season and then be relegated the season after. They’re also the only team to ever be relegated with a positive goal difference and the only team to be relegated as the division’s top scorers.
7. ‘Own goals’ is United’s fifth-highest score in history. Only Sir Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Wayne Rooney and Jack Rowley have scored more times.
8. City are technically the only team in Manchester, since Old Trafford isn’t based within the Manchester city limits.
9. Both United and City’s highest ever home attendance was at City’s old stadium, Maine Road. 84,569 fans – still the all-time record in English football – flooded in to watch City play Stoke in 1934, and 14 years later the grounds did United some good when 83,260 crammed in to watch them play Arsenal in the First Division.
10. Man City once scored and conceded over 100 goals in a single season. They finished fifth.
