The World's Most Valuable Sports Franchise?

Manchester United’s Fans Are Many, and Merciless

By JERÉ LONGMAN
NYT

MANCHESTER, England — More than halfway through a soccer season in which the world’s most valuable sports team has yet to lose a match, the singing and banners proclaim, “We’re Man United, we do what we want.”

If such a declaration seems arrogant, perhaps it is because the haughtiness has not yet been fully earned. Through 24 matches, Manchester United is in first place in the English Premier League with 15 victories, 0 defeats and 9 ties, even though the team has not yet wholly coalesced.

Still, the Red Devils are seeking to become only the third top-flight English team to finish undefeated since the Football League was established for the 1888-89 season. It is now widely considered the world’s most competitive soccer league. Preston North End built an 18-0-4 record that inaugural 19th-century season and Arsenal finished 26-0-12 in 2003-4 with a team known as the Invincibles.

The nearest American comparison, though imprecise, might be the Los Angeles Lakers, who won 33 straight games during the 1971-72 season but were not perfect.

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