Debates have raged for years about which city in England is the main hotbed for football – Manchester or London.
A quick look at the Premier League suggests London is the clear winner, with the English capital boasting seven top flight clubs. By contrast, Manchester has just two clubs – City and United.
However, when it comes to the true yardstick of supremacy in football – winning major silverware – Manchester is head and shoulders above London.
Fans betting with Paypal on Man City in recent years would have been laughing all the way to the bank, with the club winning 15 trophies in the past 10 seasons.
That tally puts them way ahead of Chelsea (six), Arsenal (four) and West Ham United (one), while Tottenham Hotspur’s failure to win silverware has made them the enemy of sports bettors.
Manchester’s dominance over London would potentially have been much greater had United lived up to what they achieved under former manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Red Devils have won four major trophies in the last ten seasons – a steady enough return, but nowhere near the levels they garnered during the Ferguson-era.
Man United’s cause has not been helped by off-field issues – most of which have centred around the ongoing uncertainty over their ownership.
The Glazer family have saddled the club with huge debt, thus hindering their ability to retain their status as the top football club in the world.
By contrast, Man City are the perfect example of how a football club should be run, although they do have some questions to answer regarding financial impropriety.
Putting those aside for a moment, a quick look at the club’s net spend on players in recent seasons highlights how they have not necessarily ‘bought’ their success.
Man City’s net spend from 2019/20 onwards is around £314 million – the second lowest of the so-called ‘Big Six’ clubs in the Premier League.
Only Liverpool (£218m) have a lower net spend during the same time frame and they do not factor into a debate involving Manchester and London.
Chelsea are the nearest challengers to City of the three London clubs that have won major silverware in the past 10 seasons, albeit at a respectable distance.
They have delivered winning returns for fans wagering on PayPal bookmakers on six occasions, despite largely operating in a scattergun manner.
Former owner Roman Abramovich pumped billions of pounds into the club, yet rarely showed much patience when it came to firing managers.
His mode of operation was in stark contrast to Man City, who have been a paragon of stability since Pep Guardiola was appointed manager in 2016.
This stability has unquestionably aided Man City’s cause, helping the become a hugely popular team with punters who enjoy betting with PayPal.
Their club’s mode of operation has looked even more impressive given the chaos that has unfolded since Todd Boehly replaced Abramovich as Chelsea owner.
Any punters betting on the Blues with PayPal bookies last season would have been left sorely out of pocket as the team finished in the bottom half of the Premier League.
Their questionable appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as manager this summer raised plenty of eyebrows and already looks to be an expensive mistake.
Pochettino failed to win any silverware with Tottenham during his previous stint in the Premier League and is struggling to make his mark at Chelsea.
While Manchester has held the upper hand over London in the past 10 seasons, the dominance may not be as pronounced moving forward.
Man City will likely maintain their status as a trophy-winning machine, but Man United still have work to do to restore their former glories.
With Arsenal investing heavily in their squad after narrowly missing out on the Premier League last season, it is not beyond the realms of possibility for them to emerge as the biggest threat to Man City over the next few years.
The latest PayPal sports betting odds for this year’s league title highlight that point to perfection, with the Gunners currently second favourites behind Man City to claim top spot.
Whether their efforts alone will be enough to dethrone Manchester in the title stakes is debatable, and the other London clubs will need to step things up for that to happen.
That point applies most to Tottenham, whose last trophy success was the League Cup in 2007/08.
They have not won the league title since 1960/61 and their status as one of the ‘Big Six’ in the English top flight seems based purely on the size of their stadium.
As things stand, London plays second fiddle to Manchester in English football – long may it continue!
