They've always been a bunch of hoofers.
Printable View
Absolutely bang on mate and especially your point about Man City, even when they had plummeted the depth and Man United were sweeping all before them they were getting crowds of 30,000 if that isn't loyalty I would like to know what is, now these 30,000 get unfairly lumped in with the fitba tourists and glory / glamour hunters who have attached themselves to the club and you can absolutely guarantee that when the billions kick in a Newcastle, one of the most extraordinarily loyal supports possibly in world football, exactly the same will happen.
From Real Madrid to East Stirling every club is a 'proper' football club .... Yes some are far more successful and 'glamorous' than others and therefor attract the floating fans who only follow success or glamour, but that doesn't diminish in the slightest the core fanbase or thick or thin fans who have always been there and always will.
I use 'glamour' quite a lot here because especially in the EPL that seems to be a new thing. Look at the likes of Fulham, Cardiff City, Reading etc. When these clubs are in the EPL they get big crowds willing to pay top dollar to watch them get pumped by Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea week in week out, but when they inevitably drop back to a league where they can win at home reasonably regularly their crowds still plummet .... clearly for some 'fans' basking in the warm glow of being in 'the worlds biggest and most glamorous league' trumps having to watch the team you profess to support getting its arse handed to it on a regular basis.