You know, I'm just wondering...if say like...we were called Liverpool United, and Everton were called Liverpool City, how I'd feel about a similar situation arising as has occurred with the two Manchester clubs? In spite of a large family of blues I pledged my troth to Liverpool at the tender age of 7 having [ironically] seen King Kenny playing against FC Bruge and grabbing that winner.
Even now, I still like to remind me Dad (blue) that we live in "Liverpool" and not Everton. Nobody in the family lives anywhere near Everton. So in terms of footballing representation of where we were born and were we live, it's within the boundaries which comprise the city of Liverpool etc..
Anyway, so much for that argument in this day and age of 'global' followers, but yeah...in old money, I've definitely got me 'red' credentials very firmly established and am fortunate to follow a club based on where I live, and the broader affection I have for Liverpool as a home, not just as a football club.
However, if there were TWO teams which bore the "Liverpool" ident...and they distinguished themselves by being either United or City, I think I'd really struggle not to want success for both of them, merely based on the fact that either one of them is capable of bringing glory and repute to "Liverpool" which as a parochial supporter, is all I'd really care about. I would not be conned in the slightest by the fact that there are two teams with the Liverpool ident, or any supposed rivalry and ill feeling which had been garnered between the two.
My support is not for any 'club' per se, as a corporate entity, my support is for my City, my home, the place were I was born, were I live. The name that's on all the mail that arrives at my house. I'm just blessed that Liverpool FC are the sole footballing representatives of the place I happen to have been born, and lived my life in. This makes my alignment feel very normal and natural. My investiture is also 'logical' based on this premise.
However, if there was no Everton FC and instead, there was Liverpool United, and Liverpool City, and if Liverpool City were taken over by oil money, making them a modern day powerhouse to rival Liverpool United, I still think I would smell a very large rat. The first thing I would be absolutely certain about would be the fact that the word "Liverpool" was now being used as a brand, and that "Liverpool City" were definitely piggy-backing on the back of Liverpool United's successes by means of an association which was already built into their own name, and was utterly ripe for 'branding' exploitation.
I'd definitely feel like my home city was now being used and exploited by global forces who had absolutely no real reason to plant any flags within my city boundaries other than to further their own dark interests. I do not believe that these same 'said' forces would be interested in a club called EVERTON. There's no immediate branding there for them to exploit. That would be like pumping money into a club like OLDHAM Athletic. I mean. What's the point of spending billions trying to put them 'on the map' in footballing terms? Honestly?
I think Manchester City are being 'used' and I also believe that the only thing they possessed that their investors identified as an asset was the word "Manchester" in their club's name. And why would that name be such a huge asset for a company to try and market into a global state? Quite simply because Manchester United had already done the bulk of that work for them by virtue of their sustained success and their well earned 'global' reach as Manchester's TRUE footballing ambassadors.
But surely two successful clubs are better than one when it comes to bringing glory to a city? Even if one of them is just a fake, financially engineered exploitation of the original club's global reach? Well this has not happened to us in Liverpool yet...for reason's I've already outlined. If it ever did however, I'd like to think I could identify which club had heritage and was bringing pride to my city, and which club was being used and exploited and (trophies aside) bringing nought but shame and mockery to it.
