Liverpool v Manchester United More Than A Game!
I have an admission to make. I do not hate and have never hated Manchester United Football Club. I do not hate them simply because I have never been in fear of or intimidated by the institution/ propaganda machine of Manchester United the SECOND most successful club in England. I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who wrote that ‘Hatred is the cowards’ revenge for being intimidated,’ and for the last few decades since my first visit to Old Trafford in the early 70’s and numerous subsequent visits, I have failed to subscribe to the hype from down the other end of the M62.
I have been amused and bemused by United’s obsession and hatred of all things Liverpool- but never have I been intimidated! This enmity of course is based on success and which club is the biggest/most famous/most successful. Well I can answer that quite easily; they have got the biggest ground but we are the most successful - you’d have to ask an Eskimo which club is the most famous! It’s reminiscent of two heavy-weights slugging it out on the ropes looking for the knockout punch that never comes and the referee declares a draw.
This bitterness and rancour is purely a modern phenomenon, a Liverpool season ticket holder since the 1950’s commented ‘rivalry did exist before the 70’s but that’s what it was, a healthy rivalry, devoid of real hatred.’ This is highlighted by a poll conducted in 1966 by a supporter’s magazine ‘The Kop’ naming Matt Busby as captain of a team of all-time Liverpool greats even though the ex-Liverpool midfielder had been United’s manager since leaving Anfield in 1946.Oh how things have changed!
It was my dad’s idea to give me a birthday treat by the way of a trip to Old Trafford in September 1973 the season United were relegated to the old Second Division. Bill Shankly’s second great team had won the Championship the previous season, whereas United were a shadow of the 1960’s outfit and were a club in turmoil. Their fans knew it – their empire was crumbling in dramatic fashion.
Just before kick-off hundreds of tartan clad Stretford Enders resembling an army of Bay City Rollers fans invaded the pitch to attack Liverpool fans in the Scoreboard End. As a wide-eyed youngster it was a baptism of fire! Fighting was going on all around the ground and on the pitch. It was 1970’s mayhem, the age of innocence was well and truly dead and now I knew what this fixture meant to United fans- JEALOUSY and pure unadulterated HATRED! As Liverpool FC continued to collect trophies their loathing increased accordingly!
Little did they know that this period would be the catalyst for nearly twenty years of domestic and European dominance for Liverpool and would herald a similar period of humiliation and false dawns for the self styled glamour/biggest club in England? To really comprehend why United fans are so obsessed with Liverpool Football Club and sing about Scousers at nearly every given opportunity it is important to understand this period.
Liverpool’s main rivals during the 70’s and 80’s were Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, Ipswich, and in the mid 80’s Everton. Apart from the odd cup competition United were not on the radar. During this period United’s only saving grace for their green-eyed fans was their ability to raise their game against a rampant Liverpool and this became United’s raison d’etre. Is it any wonder that United fans want to wipe out this period from their selective memory banks as Liverpool went on to dominate these decades at home and abroad.
Mancunians though are pretty used to jealousy. In the 1960’s Liverpool spawned the Beatles and shaped popular culture worldwide whereas Manchester danced awkwardly to Freddie and the Dreamers. People might argue ‘what about The Hollies’ but just like Gary Neville that ‘uber-Manc,’ they weren’t really from Manchester but mainly from satellite towns surrounding Manchester.
Since the 80’s things have been more even and both cities have left indelible marks on the canvas of popular music but it was a pretty one-sided affair in the 60’s.Municipal rivalry commenced well before Beatlemania as it always does between two major cities 30 miles apart but I don’t buy into this Manchester Ship Canal v Liverpool Docks revisionism nonsense as the reason for the Liverpool/Man United rivalry. If this was the case why don’t Liverpool hate Manchester City or United hate Everton. I’ll tell you why, because they are no threat whatsoever to either of the heavy-weights.
In the 19th century Liverpool had sea-shanties, bustling docksides clipper ships and the romance of the sea whereas Manchester was epitomised by dark satanic mills, black-pudding, morris dancers and clogs.
Liverpool has always possessed a certain je ne se quoi which Manchester simply doesn’t have. Manchester is fundamentally a small, damp, ugly, looking industrial city surrounded by mill towns creating a Greater Manchester with no discernable land marks apart from the hideous looking Trafford centre and Old Trafford. Liverpool’s land marks on the other hand are world –famous, The Liverpool Waterfront recently awarded world heritage status, the two magnificent cathedrals, St Georges Hall, The Walker Art Gallery, The Albert Dock and the most number of listed buildings outside London.
5 simple comparisons
The Kop v The Stretford End. 1-0
The Beatles v Herman’s Hermits. 2-0
The Mersey v Manchester Ship Canal 3-0
Capital of Culture bid v Manchester Olympic bid. 4-0
5 European Cups 18 League Titles v 2 European Cups and 15 League Titles. 5-0
When it comes to football however both clubs are remarkably similar. Both have been touched by tragedies. Both were built up by Scots from mining stock that fashioned their respective clubs in their image. Their legacy can still be felt in the corridors of both stadiums! Bill Shankly and Matt Busby both have statues erected in their honour and you can feel them watching over the empires they built, like guardian angels! Liverpool fans perception is that the media has never given their unequalled achievements the credit they deserve whereas United success since the 90’s has been totally overstated.
The ‘theatre of dreams’ tag and the Hollywood style film premiere of ‘Beyond the Promised Land’ about the 1999 season being two examples of their conspicuous vulgarity, a red carpeted arrogance indeed!
During the late 90’s after years of denial, Liverpool fans did eventually give United some grudging respect for their comeback against Juventus in the 1999 Champions League semi final which United won 3-2 in Italy after being 2-0 down. After years of calling United ‘lucky’ the more objective fans started to say things like ‘you’ve got to give them credit for that result.’
This opinion was tempered by the perception amongst fans that during their successful years United were bad losers and even worse still, bad winners. Liverpool may have had an air of superiority about them in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s but they were never despised as United were! Alex Ferguson must have breathed a sigh of relief when Jose Mourinho came along and Chelsea became the team people loved to hate.
I don’t know whether we should go back as far as this because it’s in the past and United fans as we know don’t like to talk about the past but following their late victory against Bayern Munich in The Nou Camp in 1999 to lift the Champions League Liverpool fans once again convinced themselves that United hadn’t deserved to win because up until two corners in injury time Bayern Munich had been in total control.
To many Liverpool fans, United were, after all ‘jammy b@stards’ but as Liverpool fans we should remember that during our glory days, opposing fans used to sing at us, ‘Oh lucky lucky, lucky lucky lucky lucky Liverpool,’ as Liverpool inevitably snatched the points with a late winner. It seems all good teams appear fortunate.
After this result in 1999 United fans then started to recite their mantra ‘The Champions League is much harder to win than the old European Cup so it counts for more.’ This widely held opinion regurgitated on phone-ins and in fanzines was conveniently dropped in May 2005 when the unthinkable happened for United fans and to their horror and dismay Rafa Benitez led Liverpool to an unlikely 5th European triumph in Istanbul.
Their achievements in Europe had been wiped out by Rafa in his first season at the club. This hurt them! For all their success in the Premiership, United have never been able to dominate Europe like Liverpool did in the 70’ and 80’s and this is their Achilles heel and don’t Liverpool fans know it. United fans even had to stop singing ‘you’re not famous anymore’ and put their enormous flag suggesting the same, into the attic. Everyone knows that to be regarded as a truly great team/club that team has to dominate Europe over a 5-10 year period as Real Madrid/Ajax/Milan/Bayern and of course Liverpool have done.
This fact really annoys United fans and they can’t really come to terms with it. They might be able to attract 76,000 to Old Trafford buy players for £30 million and have the biggest turnover in Europe but you simply can’t buy European success.
They always say Liverpool fans are living in the past but that 5th European Cup has certainly silenced them for now. In the recent Premiership fixture at Anfield when United stole the points, Alex Ferguson gave Liverpool a back-handed compliment by coming for a goalless draw, something United haven’t done at Anfield for years.
They know deep down that if Liverpool keep Rafa and with the new investment, Liverpool once again will be a force in the Premiership and their worst nightmare may still come true, Liverpool lifting their 6th European Cup with United still on two, the same as Nottingham Forest.
This is surely why they sing about Liverpool all the time. In the recent FA Cup tie against Middlesbrough at the Riverside it took them all of 30 seconds before they started singing anti-Scouse songs.
I can assure you that unless we are playing United, they will never ever be mentioned. United fans produce an enormously popular magazine called ‘Red Issue’ which spews out poisonous articles about Liverpudlians written by people who have probably never met a Scouser.
This simply would never happen with a Liverpool fanzine, the readership would simply reject it as ‘infantile woolyback mentality.’ No indifference is our main weapon. I am convinced that their fascination and infatuation is a form of obsessive compulsive disorder, revealing a deep-rooted inferiority complex, it’s a cry for help, as they really want to be Scousers revealed by their adulation of Rooney.
As the old Roman saying goes ‘they hate whom they fear!’ Of course Liverpool fans are concerned that United are closing in on our 18 League titles but we are supremely confident that United will never reach 5 European Cups before the ice caps melt. As the flag stated after Istanbul ‘Fergie we’re back on our fu.ckin’ perch!’
I rest my case your honour!
By Peter Hooton (Kop Season Ticket holder)
http://www.reclaimthekop.co.uk/cgi-bin....id=ph-4
them, the peasants.
