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The rivalry between Manchester United and Manchester City goes beyond just city rivals.
Ever since Sir Alex Ferguson labelled them the noisy neighbours, City have taken great pride whenever they’ve gotten one over their more famous neighbours United.
Fans will not forget the reaction to Carlos Tevez leaving Old Trafford to move to the Etihad Stadium and the infamous ‘welcome to Manchester’ banner that accompanied his signing.
Since then, transfers back and forth between the club for players has almost ceased to exist. However, that’s not been the case for those behind the scenes.
Over the years, Manchester United have had a number of key staff join them from Manchester City.
We all know about the soon to be appointed CEO Omar Berrada, who will be joining the club in the summer after completing his gardening leave with City. United’s lead scout for emerging talents in Europe, Dave Harrison, joined from City in 2019 and is the man behind the team that recruited Alejandro Garnacho and Willy Kambwala. Harrison is now, in the post-Brexit world, in charge of recruiting players between the ages of 17 and 20.
At the same time as Harrison joined the Red Devils, Lyndon Tomlinson also defected from the Etihad, the two of which were regarded as some of the best coaches at City. Also Tomlinson has since moved on, he help to head up the youth recruitment programme on his arrival at United.
Another member of staff to join from City is Jarrad Ince, the man who manages the pre-academy for United.
And it seems that this trend is set to continue as United are set to get their pick of the City staff bunch according to new reports.
A senior source at Manchester United has reported to The Athletic: “Every time a role comes up at our club, we’re inundated with applications from Manchester City employees.
“Is that because of the atmosphere working at City?
“Because they feel it’s too regimented? Or because they just want a change and want to move on?”
Those comments seem to indicate that there are staff members who are seriously interested in moving across the City and joining United. United fans and former players have long lamented the lack of best-in-class staff to help push the club forward, with the contrast usually drawn with how City have approached things.
However, it now seems that United are doing a better job in this respect and it seems that the time is re-emerging again when more people within the city of Manchester would prefer to work for United than City.
