It's ironic that Manchester United is called, "The Yankees of the EPL" since they actually have a partnership with the Yankees and you can see Man. Utd. games on the YES network!
Anyway, I have to defend Manchester United as
my favorite team. I first started watching the EPL way before it was called the EPL on a little known (now defunct) channel named Sports Channel America back in the very late 80's (1989, I think) when Manchester CITY was finishing higher than Manchester UNITED. There really isn't any reason why I picked United over City (maybe I like red better than Blue), it just happened, kind of like why I prefer Chevy over Ford or Coke over Pepsi...things happen. But, I was definitely sold when Ryan Giggs made his professional debut in 1991. Wow! So, I wasn't just jumping on the Man. Utd. bandwagon after they won 7 of the first 10 Premier League titles!
I think everyone hates them because they were so good for so long. I'm included in that mentality as well. I hate the Bulls (maybe because I was a Knicks fan), Tiger Woods, the Yankees, etc.
Well, I'm not going to go into a 16 year history of Man. Utd. The article criticizes Man. Utd. for buying up all the
young talent...don't you want that? I don't think you're viewed as such a hawker than when you buy up established players from different teams, i.e. the Yankees or the Lakers. Beginning in the early 90s, Sir Alex Ferguson brought up Fergie's Fledglings that included Giggs, Scholes, Butt, and the Nevilles from the "farm team". I think that's pretty impressive. Aside from big name young talent in Rooney, Ronaldo and even Alan Smith, he has been very good at buying "under the radar" talent in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Luis Saha and even Roy Keane.
Man. Utd. ain't perfect, Ferguson can be a total [you know what] sometimes and they've been spoiled by past success. But I'll always be a fan of them and I've got the tattoo to prove it (of the abstract Red Devil)...even if they are owned by the Glazers (who happen to own the Tampa Bay Bucs, among other things

).
Aside from Man. Utd...
Newcastle (a good friend of mine who lives in Shrewsbury is a big fan of them, besides, we stole Andy Cole from them!)
Liverpool (I loved the old rivalry days when they had Ian Rush, Peter Beardsley and John Barnes...and who can forget Bruce Grobberlar!)
Arsenal (your enemy's enemies are your allies. Obviously, as a MU fan, I hated them, but that was before Chelsea bought their last two championships)
Fulham (McBride and Bocanegra)
Spurs (cool name, among other reasons)-those are horrible jerseys.