May 22, 2022 will go down as the lowest of days (to date) as a United fan. Yes I know many will say that whinging about finishing 6th in possibly the worlds best league with a history, as rich as ours is the sound of the worlds smallest violin but my immediate response to that would be that this is what sets United fans apart from others who settle for mediocracy, which based on recent seasons can definitely be said of United's own players and staff.
But this rant isn’t about where United finished or their result against Crystal Palace (something I didn’t even think about during Sunday’s season finale), it’s about the fact that on Sunday, May 22, 2022 I sat glued to the Manchester City game like a true blue in the hope they’d beat Steven Gerrard’ Aston Villa to reclaim the Premier League title at the expense of the old enemy - Liverpool FC. This is what being a Man United fan has come down to these days; Supporting the lesser of the 2 evils. We’re so desperate now that the only thing we have to hold onto is our English League record of 20 titles vs Liverpool’s 19 and that f****** 23-year old treble, which for another season hasn’t been eclipsed.
This isn’t the first time either. In 2014 Gary Neville likened the title run-in between Liverpool and Man City, as choosing which man you’d want to run off with your Wife. This was the first season after Fergie had retired and already Liverpool were knocking on the door after being kept well at bay for the past 30-years. Due to Liverpool’s challenge in 2014, we found ourselves supporting City then too and again in 2019 and ever since. Liverpool did of course succeed in 2020 and but for coming up against such a force in Man City, they’d have easily won it again in 2022 as well as previously 2019. A single point separated the 2 in 2019 and 2022 with Liverpool acquiring 97 and 92 points in those respective seasons, which would normally be more than enough to win the title. In fact prior to City’s 100 points tally in 2018, the previous record was Chelsea’s 95 in 2005; a season when Chelsea only lost once (ironically to the old Man City).
We’d already had the ‘noisy neighbours’ win a title at our expense in 2012 (albeit on goal difference) but back then United (still under Fergie) would always be back challenging again the next season and taking the title back, as we did in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and finally 2013. This is partly why Man City’s victory in 2022 was even more crucial, because if the title had gone to Liverpool then they would equal our record of 20. They will inevitably still add to their total in the coming years though, whereas United could easily be a decade away if not more from even challenging. Only time will tell if Ten Hag will be more than a ‘buzz’ Coach and actually have full autonomy over the football side as a minimum.
We use to mock others, notably Liverpool and Man City for being more preoccupied with what Man Utd were doing than what they themselves were doing, adding to the narrative of those times ‘anyone but United’. This is of course what happens when your team is successful, everyone hates you. The constant winning and listening to the media bang on about how great your players and Manager are and how the football you play is ‘the best they’ve ever seen’, a recency bias repeated every season. It’s also about gloating rights and as I mentioned to some of my mates over the weekend, if Liverpool had equalled our title record and won a quadruple, we’d never hear the end of it, just as Liverpool fans would say they never hear the end of United’s treble…which is actually completely true. I’m fed up of hearing about ‘The Treble’, but sooner listen to that than a Liverpool ‘Quad’. I think ‘The Treble’ has also grown tired in the past decade, as it’s all United can cling on to now - past glories and an achievement, which to date hasn’t been replicated in England.
We use to mock Liverpool for banging on about their successes of yester-year in the 70s and 80s. In January 1994 during a famous 3-3 draw at Anfield, ‘the Kop’ hung out a banner, “Come back when you’ve won 18 titles!” In 2011, after United drew away to Blackburn (thanks to a scouse Everton fan - Wayne Rooney converting a penalty) to clinch the record 19th title and go one ahead of Liverpool, United responded with their own banner “In 1994 you asked us to come back when we’d won 18 titles, well here we are with 19 titles sitting on your F****** perch”. ‘Perch’ was a phrase Fergie coined in 1986 when he said (off record) his wish, as newly appointed Man Utd Manager was “to knock Liverpool off their F****** perch!”, something he’d done in Scotland by ripping up the duelnopoly of the ‘Old Firm’, after taking Aberdeen to both domestic and European success. However, it is now United who are clinging onto past glories.
I think another angle to the Liverpool rivalry is that both Cities and clubs see themselves in each other. 2 teams and Cities drowned in history, success and culture. 2 Cities who wear their heart on their sleeves and are proud of where they’re from and what they stand for. An ‘us against the world’ attitude who both dislike Southerners. As well as their combined 39 league titles and 9 European Cups (soon to be 10 if Liverpool can beat Real Madrid this week), they’ve also shared their tragedies in Munich and Hillsborough. It’s more than fair to say that the backbone of English football is about Man United and Liverpool and no matter what happens, both fans and clubs will always see each other as their biggest rival regardless of who comes and goes.
I can’t say its bigger than Rangers and Celtic, Inter and AC Milan, River Plate and Boca Juniors or Partizan and Red Star Belgrade, as I don’t support any of those clubs and can’t start to talk about the reasons for their rivalry, which in some cases stems from religion, but I expect it’s on the same wave length in terms of rivalries and it’s a rivalry with respect. I can of course appreciate how good and well run Liverpool are. They have a world class Coach in Klopp who has his players playing some of the best, exciting football ever seen on a football pitch; It kills United fans to see this. In the 1990s and 2000s that was us. Counter-attacking, exciting football with goals coming from everywhere and everyone.
I can also say that Gerrard’ slip against Chelsea in 2014 is the cruelest thing I’ve ever seen in football, made worse given his emotional on pitch post-match team talk after a heroic victory over City at Anfield a fortnight before. “We go to Norwich next week and win! THIS DOESN’T FUCKING SLIP NOW!” We could only dream of Harry Maguire bringing that into our changing room. Gerrard, although the poster boy of everything that represents Liverpool Football Club, is a player I’ve always admired, would’ve loved at United and like Bryan Robson in the 1980s, singlehandedly dragged mediocre teams to success - Istanbul in 2005 being the prime example. Nobody deserves a League winners medal more than him.
As a Man Utd fan now we can tolerate a Chelsea, Arsenal and even Man City (to some extent) winning the league, which is odd given the rivalries we had with Arsenal 1998-2004, Chelsea 2005-2010 and Man City 2011-2013. They were fierce and filled with pure hate with perhaps ‘The Battle of Old Trafford’ in 2003 and it’s sequel ‘The Battle of the Buffet’ a year later in 2004 (both against Wengers Invincible's) the most standout of those rivalries.
For now, it’s all about the fiercest rival, one that surpasses Man City and Leeds United. Perhaps you sometimes feel Liverpool aren’t the biggest rival (it felt like Arsenal 1998-2004) until it comes down to it and then you realise above all rivalries Man Utd have, Liverpool is always the one and Sunday was a clear reminder of that. As İlkay Gündoğan tapped in Man City’s 3rd yesterday to overturn a 2-goal deficit to (of course) Gerrards Villa (it felt like Liverpool with him at the helm) in 5 and half minutes of unbelievable football, I found myself celebrating near akin to Solsjaers winner in the Nou Camp in 1999 to achieve that bloody Treble. Even Mrs Wife (who had entered the room to see what the commotion what about) queried why I was celebrating like that when I wasn’t even watching United and more crucially because my loud cheers had made my 1-year old son cry (perhaps he was saddened by the tedious depths his United through and through Dad had stooped to).
I’m also certainly not alone on this. Many cheers were heard by United’s away fans at Selhurst Park, as news filtered through that City had got in front rendering anything Liverpool did against Wolves superfluous. This is what we’ve become, more obsessed with what Liverpool are doing, even if that means cheering on another rival in the form of your local ‘noisy neighbours’ (another Fergie phrase).
We can only hope that in the next few years, on the final Super Sunday of the season, I can be found cheering on my own team and talking about our end of season success and hopefully I won’t be writing a similar rant in 12-months time…Clutching onto that F****** Perch!
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