Liverpool may be racing towards their first English league title in 30 years, but it is Manchester United, the club that has dominated much of the Premier League era, that remains the best-supported football team in the Republic of Ireland, according to research carried out for a forthcoming book. Between them, the research suggests, the two clubs have over a million supporters in this country.
For the survey, conducted by Empathy Research for An Atlas of Irish Sport, to be published by Cork University Press in the coming months, 1,033 people were interviewed.
Forty-six per cent said they supported a team and, of those, 33 per cent say they follow Manchester United, with 29 per cent describing themselves as fans of Liverpool. The figures suggest that the two clubs have 535,500 and 464,100 adult supporters respectively in the 26 counties. Those numbers do not, however, include minors.
It is quite a way back to Celtic in third place, on 14 per cent, and Arsenal on 10 per cent. Two Airtricity clubs feature in the top 10, with Cork City in sixth position on 7 per cent of those who described themselves as a supporter, and Dundalk, who are tied with Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur for eighth position, on four per cent. Shamrock Rovers come in next along with Leeds United.
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/so...d-still-top-league-among-irish-fans-1.4185728
