It is not very often that you will find a diehard Liverpool fan share a cup of tea with their counterpart from Manchester United. In fact the two clubs historically have one of the most significant sporting rivalries in football, you could easily brand them archenemies.
If you take the time to look deeper though, you will find that Manchester United and Liverpool have so much in common they could easily pass for twins.
For starters, both United and Liverpool hail from the North West of England and they have won 18 top domestic flight titles a piece to make them the joint most successful English clubs.
Granted, Liverpool founded in 1892 and Manchester United founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, changing its name to Manchester United in 1902 do not share a birthday but it is amazing how much more they have in common.
The cornerstone of the history of both clubs is shaped around disastrous events. For Liverpool it is the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster that stands out while for Manchester United it is the 1958 Munich Disaster.
There is the issue of unpopular American owners that riddled both clubs with huge amounts of debt. United was purchased by Malcolm Glazer in May 2005 in a deal valuing the club at almost £800 million. Liverpool did not have to wait much longer before George Gillett and Tom Hicks acquired the club in February 2007 for £218.9 million.
Liverpool fans at least need to celebrate their near survival of administration and tremendous reduction in debt following the recent purchase of the club for £300 million by American sports investment company NESV! Even in this transaction though, Liverpool’s resemblance with United is what probably led Hicks and Gillett to fight for £1 billion in damages, the approximate value of Manchester United according to Forbes Magazine’s April 2010 issue.
In recent weeks, the prolific center forwards of both United and Liverpool, Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres have looked nothing but a pale shadow of themselves. The form of both clubs has also suffered and with that compromised the title challenge of both in a season that promised so much with the signings of Roy Hodgson for Liverpool and Javier Hernandez for United.
In the rare event that diehard fans from the two clubs share a cup of tea, they will often focus on the trivial differences between the two clubs. For instance they are facing different predicaments with Liverpool in a relegation dog fight! United is not having much joy either as it faces a season so similar to Liverpool’s two losses for the 2008/2009 season that still finished with no trophies to show because of simply too many draws.
Granted, Hodgson at Liverpool is facing the risk of losing his job while Ferguson is secure at United but both are hugely successful old British managers. Ferguson was also reportedly on the verge of being dismissed when his United career was saved with the 1990 FA Cup victory and Hodgson may simply need the same lucky break to spark Liverpool’s revival and end a 20 year championship drought. Remember it took United 26 years to end their championship drought with the famous 1993 triumph that led to the current era of dominance, identical to Liverpool’s of 1970’s and 1980’s.
My verdict on this most bitter of football rivalries is that it is simply one that is borne out of their twin similarities. If you would like to avoid a fight over your cup of tea, pay more attention the next time you choose someone to share it with. After all, even scientists have taught that like poles repel.
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