Monday Night
Football this week has the Biggest Club Game in the English Premier League.
Its
Liverpool V Manchester United.
Some people
have been asking me "What is all this fuss about? Liverpool has not won
The Premier League at all. And they have not been Champions for 26 years
now."
The Answer
to this lies in many reasons.
The First
and the foremost reason is the proximity.
The cities of Liverpool and Manchester are
located in the north west of England, 35 miles (56 km) apart. Since
the industrial revolution there has been a consistent theme of rivalry between
the two cities based around economic and industrial competition. Manchester
through to the 18th century was the far more populous city, and held a position
of significance and notability as representative of the north. By the late 18th
century, Liverpool had grown as a major sea port – critical to the growth and
success of the northern cotton mills. Over the next century, Liverpool grew to
supersede Manchester and throughout the late 19th and early 20th century was often
described as the British Empire's second city.
In
Footballing terms, The two clubs are the most successful English teams in both
domestic and European competitions; and between them they have won 38 league titles, 8 European
Cups, 3 UEFA
Cups, 4 UEFA Super Cups, 19 FA Cups, 12 League
Cups, 1FIFA
Club World Cup, 1 Intercontinental Cup and
36 FA
Community Shields.
Liverpool
was the dominant club in 70’s & 80’s winning 11 League titles & 4
European Cups between 1970 to 1990, while Manchester United drew blanks in that
period. Still much to the discord of the Liverpool fans United was considered “The
Glam Team” & Liverpool was considered
“A Workman like Team.”
All that
changed in the Premier League Era under Sir Alex Fergusson when United won a
record 13 Premier League Titles & 2 Champions League Trophies. While
Liverpool have not been champions of England now for 26 years.
Indeed when
United Over took Liverpool to the English Champions for the record 19 th time in
2011, entire Manchester celebrated.
United now
claims to be the most successful English Club with 20 league titles to
Liverpool’s 18. Liverpool though claims to be more successful as they have won
5 European Cups to United’s 3.
Indeed so
intense is the rivalry between the 2 clubs that in 2014 when Liverpool were
edged out by Manchester City to be the Champions even the United Fans
celebrated.
In the
Fergusson Era United Fans often used to ridicule Liverpool due to their lack of
trophies, now United fans fear they will go through the same period.
And from
this season there is an added dimension to the rivalry as the managers Klopp
& Mourinho have had famous battles in Champions League managing Borussia
Dortmond & Real Madrid.
Indeed this rivalry
is in for some exciting times.
