Sky Sports figures show Man City can't compete with Liverpool no matter how many titles they win

Sunday was an emotional one for Liverpool fans as Jurgen Klopp bid his farewells to Anfield after a remarkable nine-year stint at the helm.

The German boss, who delivered Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, and UEFA Super Cup success to the club during his time in charge, saw the curtain fall on his time on Merseyside, the final leg of his farewell tour ending with a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in front of an emotionally charged Anfield.

Down the M62 there was another important occasion taking place, with Manchester City claiming a fourth Premier League title success in a row with a 3-1 home success over West Ham United, with the triumph the sixth Premier League title of manager Pep Guardiola’s illustrious, trophy-laden reign.

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Only Liverpool have been able to break the Manchester City stranglehold of English football in the past six years, and the rivalry that has been created between the two clubs, and between Klopp and Guardiola, has been one of the Premier League’s most compelling stories in recent seasons, something that helps the League when it comes to marketing itself as a product globally.

Manchester City’s wealth is well documented, and the club has been turned into a financial juggernaut under the ownership of the Abu Dhabi-based City Football Group, with the club posting Premier League-record revenues of £713m earlier this year.

There is the elephant in the room when it comes to the 115 charges that they face from the Premier League over historical breaches of financial rules, something the club robustly denies, with that case to be heard by an independent commission later this year.

But for all City’s wealth, for all the titles that the club has been able to deliver at such a key moment in the Premier League’s quest to be the biggest and best football league in the world and to win the hearts, minds, and wallets of fans globally, it has still found itself with some work to do to try and get the same level of brand awareness and recognition that the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United do.

On Sunday, two stories were in play. One was the final farewell of Klopp, and the other was the destiny of the Premier League title, although that ended up being almost assured to end in the hands of Manchester City before a ball was kicked on Sunday.

Blinkfire Analytics data showed that Liverpool’s final day was the most engaged that any Premier League club had seen all season, with 26million cumulative engagements across all social media platforms. That was 5.2m higher than the next on the list, Everton against Manchester United. Manchester City’s title win was third with 19.4m cumulative engagements, just 300,000 more than fourth on the list, Liverpool’s dramatic clash with Fulham earlier this year. The Reds’ two Newcastle United games also featured in the top eight, with Liverpool games accounting for 50% of the top eight engaged games.

Over the weekend, Liverpool were the most engaged Premier League club on social media with 39.2m cumulative engagements, with Manchester City second on the list with 27.1m, a figure 45% lower. Seven of the 10 most engaged posts were Liverpool posts.

The data showed that Liverpool remained on top of the pile when it came to cumulative engagement for the season with 1.4bn, with Manchester United and Manchester City in second and third place respectively with 1.2bn.

The power of the Liverpool narrative was also demonstrated by the figures for the Sunday games shown on Sky Sports.

According to official Sky Sports data, provided to the ECHO, while the Manchester City match itself on Sunday, shown on Sky Sports Main Event, claimed a bigger audience split of 54% to 39% compared to Liverpool’s clash with Wolves on Sky Sports Premier League between 4pm and 6pm, there was a major shift in audience behaviour following the game.

More people tuned in to watch the Klopp farewell than Manchester City’s title celebrations, with a revenue split of 56% to 37% in favour of the aftermath of the Liverpool game between 6pm and 6.30pm, with that growing to 64% to 29% for 6.30pm to 7pm.

Liverpool remain a powerhouse of the English game, one that continues to cut through with a compelling narrative across the globe, something that Klopp himself has helped grow.

The challenge for the club moving forward under new boss Arne Slot will to be to ensure that it remains as compelling to allow it to win a greater audience share in new markets to unlock greater revenue potential which, in turn, will aid the club’s ability to invest in the product on the pitch in the sustainable manner to which it has been accustomed.