lad’, or ‘wack’, but I wasn’t aiming to advertise my allegiances either.
‘Alright mate,’ said the lad next to me in a North Wales accent as I found my seat.
‘Alright mate,’ I replied, cagily. They were the last words I spoke all game.
When Liverpool’s fans sang ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ I focused firmly on events on the field. I did the same when they chanted, ‘You’ve won it two times, just like Nottingham Forest,’ in reference to United’s two European Cups compared with Liverpool’s five.
I ignored the continual anti-Gary Neville abuse, was surprised that Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t booed once – ls;We don’t go for all that “little Englander” nonsense,’ a Scouser explained later – and stunned that the Kop applauded Edwin van der Sar as he took to his goal. The Dutchman applauded back warmly.
All around me, Liverpool’s flags continue the European theme: ‘Paisley 3 Ferguson 1’ reads one. Liverpool are obsessed with flags. One piece of cloth even has its own website; others try hard to be examples of the famed Scouse wit.
SIX CLASSIC GAMES
United 2 Liverpool 1
FA Cup Final, 1977
With the League Championship in the bag and a European Cup final to follow, rampant Liverpool were clear favourites – even among some United players. ‘We were not too confident,’ admits striker Stuart Pearson. ‘We knew we’d give Liverpool a game but they were so good you could never say: “We’re going to beat these”.’ United won a thriller, thus denying Liverpool the Treble.
At half-time, I met Peter Hooton, former lead singer of The Farm and lifelong Liverpool fan in front of the Kop’s refreshment kiosks where the Polish catering staff struggle to decipher the Scouse brogue.
‘What are you going to do when we score?’ he asked.
‘When?’
‘When.’
But Liverpool don’t score and United have taken six points from Liverpool this season.
It is commonly agreed that there is rising tension between fans of Liverpool and Manchester United. At Old Trafford last October, both clubs sought to defuse the increasingly fraught atmosphere. During an FA Cup game at Anfield in February 2006, a Liverpool fan had hurled a cup of excrement into the 6,000 United fans on the lower tier of the Anfield Road, hitting one on the head. After the game, Liverpool fans rocked the ambulance carrying injured United striker Alan Smith to hospital – though Smith later received hundreds of cards from well-wishing Liverpool supporters, keen to stress that this was something which made them ashamed.
At Old Trafford, past greats like Bobby Charlton, Ian Callaghan, Denis Law, and Roger Hunt were paraded on the pitch before the game and a penalty competition was held between rival fans. It didn’t work. Not that anyone was too surprised given the levels of animosity. Liverpool fans approaching Manchester that day had been greeted with freshly-painted ‘Hillsborough ’89’ graffiti on a bridge over the M602 in the gritty United heartland of Salford. Closer to the stadium, another sprayed message bore the legend: ‘Welcome to Old Trafford, you murdering Scouse bastards.’
The teams were led out by Gary Neville, punished for the heinous crime of celebrating a goal in front of Liverpool fans the previous season, and Steven Gerrard. Both understand the United v Liverpool rivalry acutely given their lifelong affinity with the clubs they captain. Both would rather stick pins in their eyes than join the enemy. Both were subject to dog’s abuse in the songs which rang round the stadium, which also rehearsed some enduring stereotypes and prejudices about the two clubs and the inhabitants of their cities.
United fans: ‘Gary Neville is a red, he hates Scousers.’
Liverpool: ‘USA! USA!’
United: ‘Michael Shields gets bummed by queers.’ (Referencing Liverpool fan Shields, who was jailed in Bulgaria for an attack on a waiter before Liverpool’s 2005 European Cup victory, a charge which he denies.)
Liverpool: ‘Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, you’ll never walk alone.’
United: ‘Sign on, sign on, with hope in your heart, you’ll never get a job.’
Liverpool: ‘We won it five times in Istanbul, we won it five times.’ (Liverpool fans hold up placards bearing the number five.)
United: ‘Steve Gerrard, Gerrard, he kisses the badge on his chest…then puts in a transfer request, Steve Gerrard, Gerrard.’
Liverpool: ‘All around the fields of Anfield Road, where once we saw the king Kenny play – and could he play. Stevie Heighway on the wing, we have tales and songs to sing, now its glory around the fields of Anfield Road.’
United: ‘Murderers, murderers.’
Liverpool: ‘Shit on the Cockneys, shit on the Cockneys tonight.’ (A surprising reference to United’s perceived out of town support – United are usually loathed by Scousers precisely because they are Mancunian).
United: ‘If you all hate Scousers clap your hands.’ (More people join in this than any other chant.)
Liverpool: ‘We all hate Mancs and Mancs and Mancs.’
United: ‘Park, Park wherever you may be, you eat dog in your own country. But it could be worse, you could be Scouse, eating rat in your council house.’
Liverpool: ‘Once a blue, always a Manc.’ (For Wayne Rooney)
United: ‘Once a blue, always a Red.’ (For Rooney)
Liverpool: ‘You fat bastard.’ (To Rooney – a Scouser who has contributed financially to the ‘Free Michael Shields’ campaign).
United: ‘City of culture, you’re having a laugh.’
Liverpool: ‘Oh Manchester, is full of shit…’
United: ‘Does the social know you’re here?’
Like all the greatest rivalries, it’s the common ground that divides the most. Manchester United and Liverpool both hail from largely working-class, immigrant cities with huge Irish populations. Just thirty-five miles apart in England’s North West, both were economic powerhouses that enjoyed a friend/foe relationship by the 19th century. Liverpool considered itself the greatest port in the world, gateway to North America for millions, and a key trading post for the Empire. Manchester was ‘Cottonopolis’, the first city of the industrial revolution – hence the phrase ‘Manchester made and Liverpool trade’.
SIX CLASSIC GAMES
Liverpool 2 United 1
Milk Cup Final, 1983
An Alan Kennedy equaliser ten minutes
