Liverpool or Manchester United? Forget what you know about any other English football rivalry, this is the one. There is no sectarian divide here, but the pure hatred that gushes forth when these two meet would not be out of place if there were.
These are the bastions of English Football. Even though it’s the oldest football championship in the world, it’s only been running for a hundred and twenty years (109 actual seasons due to two World Wars) and these two have won nigh on a third of them – 36 shared equally. Their nearest challengers Arsenal have 13.
I’d just like to compare the period of domination by Liverpool with the period of domination by Manchester United. There have been a total of 23 different winners of the Football League / FA Premier League in the 109 seasons to 2008-09. Liverpool and Manchester United are tied on 18 each, Arsenal 13, Everton 9, Aston Villa 7, Sunderland 6, Newcastle and Sheffield Wednesday 4, Wolves, Leeds, Huddersfield, Chelsea and Blackburn 3 each, then Preston North End, Spurs, Derby County, Manchester City, Burnley and Portsmouth 2 each, with one win each for WBA, Ipswich, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest.
Taking the staring point, purely arbitrarily, of season 1967-68, the beginning of Manchester United’s 25 season hiatus we can see that up to and including season 1991-92 there were a total of 8 different winners of the first division. Liverpool topped the list with 11, followed by Arsenal, Everton and Leeds with 3, Derby County with 2 and Manchester City, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest with one each. Since the formation of the Premiership in 1992-93 and Manchester United’s return to winning ways, there have been a total of 4 winners in a period of 17 seasons (up to and including 2008-09). Manchester United tops the list with 11, Arsenal has 3, Chelsea 2 and Blackburn Rovers a single win. During this time Manchester United has not finished outside the top four and Arsenal only three times. Since 2004-05 when Everton pushed their city rivals Liverpool into fifth place, the top four has always been Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.
But what are the reasons for this apparent polarisation? Money is the easy answer, but I’m not entirely convinced that this is the case. Traditionally, Manchester Untied has been the richest of all English football clubs. However, this didn’t help them prior to 1992-93, and before 1967-68 they took their turn with all the other teams as the winners – after winning in 1966-67, they had 7 wins, as did Liverpool and Arsenal with Everton, Sunderland and Aston Villa on 6 each.
No, I believe that it is much more down to good management – it has to be, all that money in the wrong hands, Ron Atkinson, Gerard Houllier to name but two. In Liverpool’s period of domination, they always had the cash to splash where necessary, but Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Gain and Kenny Dalglish all knew what they were about, just as Matt Busby did and Alex Ferguson does. Arsene Wenger has kept Arsenal in the hunt at the top of the Premier League by consistently developing young players. Looking back further in time, Herbert Chapman, the architect of Huddersfield Town’s 3 consecutive wins in the 1920’s and Arsenal’s five 1930’s titles, 3 of which were consecutive, was also an excellent manager.
So does this answer the initial question? To be honest, the original question was probably rhetorical, as there are another 90 league teams in England and Wales. Of course, which football team you support is down to many things. People say that geography should be the foremost consideration, and I have a good deal of sympathy with that. However, young kids who don’t live in Liverpool or Manchester seem to go with the flow and follow the most successful team or the team that their father supports. Nationally, Arsenal and Chelsea seem to be less popular than the big two – Manchester United is the nation’s football team and has probably held that position since 1958; Liverpool’s fan base probably grew exponentially in the 1970’s and 80’s when they won all before them. So, what do you think…?
Liverpool and Manchester United is a special rivalry unmatched, this author would argue, by any other in world football. As England’s two most successful clubs (in terms of “League Championships” won) both Liverpool football shirts and Man Utd football shirts are highly sought after possessions.
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Author: Simon J Lewis
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