Ha. OK, so I was exaggerating a little and it was written tongue-in-cheek, but I maintain Edmonton does generally suck.

And I maintain that it sucks just that little bit less than Calgary

One thing to keep in mind is that it's much easier to get to Calgary from the UK than it is to get to Edmonton. We've got family over at the moment, and they flew to Calgary. A 3hr drive isnt a big deal, but doing it there and back with 2 kids is a pain in the arse. For travelling family, a 3hr drive after a 9 hour flight isnt great either.
Stuff like this may or may not be important, but in hindsight, we probably should have thought about it a bit more...

It's also about as right wing as it gets (Ralph Klein legacy), has the same stores, bars and restaurants as Edmonton (reallly, where's the difference there?), is a cultural backwater and has an equally rubbish hockey team now (if you take Iginla out of the equation) ...

By the way, on the superiority issue the Oilers look down upon the Flames with such a sense of satisfaction that their cousins in the South will NEVER achieve what the Oilers achieved in the 80s and early 90s. In fact, the Oilers have also made it to a Stanley Cup final more recently than the Flames (2006) so I'd say it wins the superiority argument pretty comprehensively. Just to be sure, go and visit the Hockey Hall of Fame in TO and see what mention there is of Calgary there (footnote) compared to the SECTION on the Oilers down the corridor where it says 'Dynasties'

All that being said, this post, like so many here, indicates the strong rivalry between these two cities (I was born/lived there for a few years) so anyone reading this thread should bear this in mind. There is actually a lot about Calgary that I like a lot and I have some excellent friends there. We just don't talk about hockey ...

They do fly direct from Edmonton to Heathrow every day you know

That's great if you live near Heathrow, but for people in the North, it's a choice of either driving down to London (3hrs ish) or driving up from Calgary (3hrs ish).

You can go via Manchester to Heathrow, the code share airline is BMI. Suits me as I live 20 minutes from Manchester, but im sure there are also other airports yo can go from via code share agreements.

Manchester and Edmonton... how delightfully grubby!

Like Edmonton, Manchester also has great sporting heritage, both are City's of champions. Unlike like Galgary.

Dont think Edmonton comes close to Manchester with regard to sporting heritage... Edmonton city of champions? my arse

The Oilers have had more success than the flames so compared to Calgary Edmonton is a city of champions, but I agree not on the scale of my beloved city of Manchester.

A better comparison would be Edmonton to Nottingham Forest. Used to be good (for a short time) but a long time ago.

Whereas a useful comparison, in sporting terms, for Calgary would be to Newcastle: Passionate but completely deluded fan-base who always believe they'll be successful in spite of the fact that they've never really had ANY, and can never quite understand why the next (inevitable) failure occurs.

I'd consider Maple Leafs to be a closer match to Newcastle. For both teams fans would have to be in their 50s to have any first hand memories of success. Good marketing operation by them both though.

Calgary and Edmonton are both minnows - smallest markets for the NHL aren't they. If Edmonton are Nottingham Forest then Calgary could be Ipswich - now and again they have a successful season and the occassional triumph against the big teams, but generally one of the also rans.

PMSL