Just a few months ago, Manchester United won their 19th championship, surpassing Liverpool, who've been stuck on 18 since 1990. With the new season due to kick off on Saturday, they're favorites to take a 20th title and the huge fan base is clear about why.
"United's biggest factor is Alex Ferguson," said world-ranked Limerick boxer Andy Lee. "He knows how to win titles.
"I think they have a great chance of winning it again. Ferguson has bought young players that'll bring new energy to the team. Paul Scholes will be a big loss but I think the players that are already there can cope. I hope Anderson can step up now and fill the void left by Scholes.
"It will be harder to replace Edwin Van Der Sar. United have bought [David] De Gea, but he is still young and may take time to settle," Lee said.
"But with Rooney and Hernandez banging in the goals, it should be title 20 for Manchester United," he concluded.
Lee believes that Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea will provide the main threat to United in 2011-12.
Kevin Grogan, director of the New York-based school Metro Soccer, grew up in Dublin supporting Liverpool but switched to United after he was signed by Ferguson as a youngster.
"I'm definitely a true United fan," he said.
"I know that Sir Alex wants to get another one under his belt. And they'll always compete with such a fantastic manager," said Grogan, whose career was ended by a chronic injury and who managed the Irish team in the recent Copa NYC.
Still, he feels everybody is interested to see what Liverpool will achieve this year. "They've reinvented themselves under Dalglish," he said. "It's exciting times at the club.
"Arsenal have a super manager in Arsene Wenger, but the team just isn't consistent enough," he said. "The biggest threat to United still comes from Chelsea."
Echo's sports writer and Chelsea fan Jay Mwamba said: "New boss [André Villas-Boas], same old players, I think the jury's still out on the Blues ahead of the new EPL season."
For many some long-suffering fans of some clubs it's a case of the same old board.
"It very frustrating from a fan's perspective. We have the nucleus of a great team, but the chairman refuses to make any signings," said Everton fan Mark Taylor.
Any team outside of the new Big Five (Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and now Manchester City) have long odds with the bookies. Everton are seventh favorites at 250/1.
"If we finish in the top 10, it will be a successful season," Taylor added.
The main bright spot is the young talent coming through. Seventeen-year-old midfielder Ross Barkley, Taylor predicted, will be as big as Wayne Rooney, who began at Everton.
Everton are a club that has a worldwide fan base beyond their home in Liverpool, Taylor's native city. Some New York area fans are known to gather for games in Mr. Dennehy's bar in Greenwich Village. However, Taylor's wife Mary, a native of Connemara, Co. Galway, is seven months pregnant, so he'll watch from home this season.
"She's a convert," he said of his spouse. "Being from Galway, she was into Gaelic and hurling, but she's a fan now. She had no choice."
Brooklyn artist John Spinks was born in his mother's County Clare, but was raised in Newcastle. Family support for Newcastle United goes back at least to the early 1920s when his father was a youth.
"Always the bridesmaid," he said. Spinks, who has just become a grandfather, has go back to his early childhood in the 1950s for major honors for his club.
Like Taylor, he's not happy with his club's owners. "They got all that money [from Liverpool] for Andy Carroll but there's been no shopping," he said. "The board are more interested in the coffers."
But there's a general problem with money in the game, he said, with some stars drawing five- and even six-figure weekly salaries, while people are getting £80 to £100 on the dole.
Nonetheless, he's a loyal fan who caught an estimated three-quarters of the matches last season. "If you've played it and you've done something on the field, you'll always come back to the game itself," said Spinks, who was a "terrier-like" player in the amateur Sunday leagues.
Beyond Newcastle, he'll be watching out for Manchester City's Argentinean signing, and Maradona son-in-law, Sergio Agüero.
Musician Joe Hurley's West Ham United are another club with an international support base. It included, he pointed out, that other Irish Londoner Alfred Hitchcock, who followed the team's fortunes from California during his 40 years there. Keira Knightley, another screen legend, is another high-profile fan.
The Hammers slipped down a flight in May to the Championship, but the New York-based rocker is very confident that their stay outside of the English Premier League will be the briefest of intervals. "Runaway champions by an East-End mile," Hurley said. "I think it will all be over by Feb. 24, Bobby Moore's anniversary. Sewn up early, honoring the King in style."
