Liverpool v Manchester United - The Rivalry

This is a game of the kings. It is the ballet of the brave, choreographed on a wooden slang. Promise yourself one thing, accept only ultimate glory as your prize. Note, that losing and winning are black and white. Master this game and you will make the final move. After all have fallen, you will stand alone. Crown intact!

Liverpool v Manchester United Anfield | Sunday, 23rd September 2012

When the fixture list for the new season comes out every year in July, it is one fixture that every football fan across the world looks for. The two great dynasties of English football going head to head one more time.

Manchester United, with 19 league titles, are the most successful side in English football and there’s one team in particular they like to remind of that particular fact. But, Liverpool fans have their own facts to boast about. With 5 European cup triumphs, Liverpool are the most successful English club in Europe.

It is simple, Liverpool fans are brought up to hate United and United fans are brought up to hate Liverpool. It is one team that both sets of football fans wants to beat every year both home and away. This is a rivalry that’s all about those 30 miles; the distance that separates these two great English clubs. It is always emotional, passionate and bitter when these two clubs meet, so much so that the fixture is usually played at midday due to huge media interest and to discourage fans from drinking before the game. So, what is the rivalry all about?

Primarily, it is all about the football history, and these two clubs have written their name indelibly into the annals of the English game. Between them, they have won 119 honors; 60 for Manchester United and 59 for Liverpool. United were successful in the 50′s and 60′s during the Busby Babes’ era, who were tragically killed in an air crash, and yet they managed to win the first European Cup for an English club few years later. Liverpool then rose to the occasion and took over in 70′s and 80′s when they won 4 European titles and a plethora of domestic honors. But, Manchester United turned the tables again and they have now been dominating the English football since 90′s.

So, it has always been the case of one club in the re-building phase and waiting for its time to surpass the achievements of the other. It is the jealousy and the hatred that grows within each set of fans, who live just 30 miles apart, on seeing the other team claiming all the honors in their respective eras that make this rivalry epic. And it’s not always about football. This can be seen from the fact that when Liverpool was announced as the ‘European capital of Culture’ in 2008, it did not go down well with United supporters, who then replied by displaying a banner at Stretford End of Old Trafford that read, ‘European capital of trophies’ after they completed a Premier League, Champions league and Club World Cup treble that year.

But before football, there’s another deep element to the Manchester-Liverpool rivalry, the roots of which go back to the Industrial Revolution. Both cities were the giants of the revolution and Liverpool, being the region’s port, was better positioned than their neighbors. But, this was until Manchester built their own shipping canal (also embossed in the club’s crest) which bypassed the Liverpool docks and connected them to the Irish sea and commercial opportunities, which in turn led to lower dues for Liverpool’s merchants and consequently resulted in resentment from the people of Liverpool. So, the industrial heritage, coupled with the football history, has added to the decades of bickering between the players, the supporters, the managers and, sometimes, the directors as well.

While the industrial heritage still looms large, it’s the football that has taken over as the major export. Nowadays, it’s the great football managers, rather than the industrialists, who celebrate more here. Sir Matt Busby started it all when he took over at United in 1945 and went on to build that fabled team called “the Busby Babes”. He won the coveted European Cup for the first time ever for an English club in 1968. It was after 1968, when United went into a relative mediocrity, that Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley took over at Liverpool in the 70′s and 80′s and surpassed all expectations and took Liverpool to the pinnacle of English and European football. Manchester United, meanwhile, tried a number of managers but none could replicate the magic of Sir Matt Busby before another Scot, Sir Alex Ferguson was announced as United’s new manager in 1986.

He picked up the vibes from the supporters and defined from the outset that it was Liverpool that he wanted to surpass. Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous quote of knocking Liverpool off their perch still echoes around at Old Trafford. By 1996, United had become the team to beat as they defeated Liverpool in the FA cup final and completed a DOUBLE of Premier League and FA cup and thereby making Alan Hansen (TV pundit) eat his own words (The infamous “You can’t win anything with kids” quote, aimed at United’s inexperienced team). Rafa Benitez of Liverpool accused United and Sir Alex Ferguson of being unfairly favored by the FA and the referees in his famous ‘That’s a FACT’ rant in Feb 2009 when Liverpool was challenging for the title after a long time. However, United pipped them to win the 18th league title and United supporters replied to Rafa’s rant in the similar fashion by displaying banners that read, ’18 titles and that’s a fact’.

When the managers themselves get out of the hand, how can the players be far behind.

The animosity between the players came to the fore in one of the most recent round of fixtures last season. In the first league meeting at Anfield, Liverpool striker Luis Suarez racially abused United’s Patrice Evra and as a result was banned for 8 games by the FA. Things got worse in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford when Suarez returned after his 8 match ban and refused to shake Patrice Evra’s hand in the pre-match handshake. United went on to win 2-1 and Evra celebrated in front of home supporters with Suarez nearby. Sir Alex Ferguson later described Suarez’s behavior as “an absolute disgrace” while Liverpool’s manager, Kenny Dalglish denied having seen the missed handshake. However, Liverpool FC later issued a public apology to Manchester United FC about the incident.

In addition to the above two players, there have been other iconic players of both clubs who have been quite public of their hatred towards the other club. United striker, Wayne Rooney, a former Evertonian has described how he grew up hating the red half of merseyside while Liverpool icon, Steven Gerrard, once stated of having a collection of opposition players’ swapped shirts at his home but that none belonged to a Manchester United player and never would. Also, former United captain Gary Neville has always expressed his dislike towards Liverpool quite openly. In a league fixture in 2006 when United scored an injury time winner in front of the KOP, Gary Neville was seen celebrating and taunting the Liverpool supporters by kissing the United crest and shouting angrily in front of them.

Transfer of players between the two clubs is thus considered as a cardinal sin, so much so that no player has ever been transferred between the two clubs since Phil Chisnall was transferred from United to Liverpool in 1964.

Another key issue in the United-Liverpool rivalry is the glamor quotient that has always been attached with Manchester United. United have always carried that charisma since the days of Matt Busby and Busby Babes and then the holy trinity of Denis Law, George Best and Bobby Charlton, which made Liverpool supporters perceive that the media always focussed more on Manchester United even though their team were by far more successful than United at that time. And this became even more bitter as the years have gone by with knighthoods being granted to Matt Busby, Bobby Charlton and Alex Ferguson and none to any player or manager from Liverpool.

Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo added even more shine to the United’s glowing charisma. Liverpool simply hate them for being glamorous, the seeds of which were sown in the 70′s and 80′s and they haven’t recovered from that as yet.

MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM – MAY 29: The holy Trinity

All these stories have led to great deal of resentment between the fans and players. As well as physical violence, sections of the clubs’ fan bases often taunt each other with unsavoury chants about the Munich air disaster and the Hillsborough disaster respectively. There were other incidents too, such as one after the 1996 FA cup final, when an unidentified Liverpool fan spat at Eric Cantona and threw a punch at Sir Alex Ferguson after not being able to digest Liverpool’s loss to their fiercest rivals. Also, after another FA cup match in 2006; an ambulance carrying United’s injured player Alan Smith was attacked by Liverpool’s supporters. Therefore, this fixture is always a bomb waiting to explode.

Although, many people might argue, with the rise of Manchester City, that the Manchester derby might eclipse the North-West derby between Liverpool and United in the coming seasons, but as of now, it still remains the biggest game in the English football calendar. And it will be nothing less when the two sides meet again this weekend to add another chapter to this epic rivalry. And as said by the legendary Sir Alex himself – “These are the type of the games I live for” and long may it continue!