Football sports tablog

Bitter Rivals Share Common History

Thursday, 18 March 2010 - Philip Hale

Manchester United and Liverpool clash on Sunday at Old Trafford in a game that could go a long way to determining whether Utd surpass the Anfield club’s record of 18 League titles, a number they drew level with last May. The two Northern giants lock horns at a time of shared financial uncertainty but a huge difference in their fortunes on the pitch. United are looking to win the title for a record 4th consecutive season. Meanwhile, Liverpool are struggling to achieve 4th place and qualification for next years Champions League. This represents a complete reversal of the two clubs positions in the hierarchy of English football since the last period of Liverpool ascendancy. Their respective eras of success and decline, however, bear a remarkable resemblance to one another.

It is 20 years since captain Alan Hansen lifted the league championship trophy. At the time it seemed inconceivable that the title would not return to Anfield for two decades. That season as United finished 13th their manager Alex Ferguson had faced calls for dismissal and banners hung at Old Trafford proclaiming, "Three years of excuses and it's still crap. Ta ra Fergie." Three years later Ferguson would deliver the Holy Grail and has repeated the trick 10 more times in the intervening years as Liverpool have failed to offer serious resistance.

Liverpool had dominated the championship in the 15 years preceding 1990 winning the top prize on 10 occasions and had established themselves, prior to the Heysel disaster, as European powerhouses winning the European Cup 4 times during that period. In 1990 as Anfield celebrated, their rivals at the other end of the East Lancs Rd contemplated their 23rd season since they had enjoyed the same feeling.

The parallels between these two massive clubs do not end there. In the same way that Liverpool’s demise was impossible to predict so too United’s rapid decline after their 1967 Championship came without real warning. Of course the following year they won the European Cup and, like Liverpool in 1991, finished 2nd in their pursuit of back-to-back titles. However, they ended the following season 10 places and 25 points adrift of Champions, Leeds Utd.

United’s decline accelerated when Matt Busby retired at the end of that 68-69 season and the club failed to address the loss of their longest serving manager, appointing reserve team manager Wilf McGuiness to fill the gap. He lasted 18 months only to be replaced temporarily by Busby and then by Frank O’Farrell in 1971. The unassuming Irishman only lasted 18 months in the hot seat himself. Cue Tommy Docherty who promptly led the club to relegation in 1974. The flamboyant Scotsman steered them back to the top flight at the first time of asking before being fired when his affair with the wife of the club’s physio became public knowledge. United turned once again to a unassuming character in Dave Sexton before public discontent with the unexciting football on offer led the board to appoint another colorful figure in Ron Atkinson. “Big Ron’ brought back the style the Old Trafford fans demanded but his failure to win the big prize led to him being replaced by Ferguson in 1986. The rest they say is history.

In 1991 Kenny Dalglish resigned as Liverpool manager, shattered by the burden of the Hillsborough disaster. Like United the Liverpool board made a series of decisions regarding his replacement that failed to address the problems of high expectations and an ageing team. First up was Graeme Souness, fresh from his success at Rangers. He proceeded to take a hatchet to the squad but the surgery did not work and 3 years later he was fired. The club looked to go back to its tried and tested method of promoting from within and appointed Roy Evans, who was, perhaps, the natural successor to Dalglish. Schooled in the ways of the famous Anfield “boot room” Evans initially calmed the storm buffeting the club following Souness’s confrontational style but ultimately failed to reign in the excesses of young players who became known as the “Spice Boys”. So far the pattern was remarkably similar to United’s troubles in the late 60’s and early 70’s with the errant George Best and company. As Evan’s tenure stagnated Liverpool made the decision to bring in Gerard Houllier as joint manager in the summer of ‘98, an experiment new to a club of this stature. It didn’t work and 4 months later Evans stepped down leaving the former French national team manager in sole control. In a similar fashion to Ron Atkinson’s United team, Houllier brought cup success, most notably the treble in 2001, but like Atkinson he eventually lost his job due to his failure to end the long wait for the Championship.

The factors driving the management revolving door at Old Trafford between 1969 and 1986 and at Anfield between 1989 and 2004 were almost the same for both clubs. A long period of stable management, during which success, (League titles and European Cups) created a level of expectation and pressure that those who looked to continue the momentum failed to satisfy. As the clubs stuttered, and fan discontent grew, both boards reacted by making poor decisions in managerial matters. In turn those managers, unable to bring the required success, reacted with poor player purchases in many cases or failure to motivate players to cope with the huge burden of expectation. None of the managers mentioned here went onto achieve great success after leaving these pressure cooker environments. Many left with health problems or problems in their personal lives.

Manchester United found the solution in the imposing figure of Alex Ferguson. He experienced a shaky start, inheriting an underperforming squad with what he considered a heavy drinking culture. United stuck with him and have been rewarded with a period of dominance unprecedented in their history.

Meanwhile at Liverpool, Rafa Benitez is in his 6th year of trying to break United’s hold on the trophy that the club had considered its right for so long. Having delivered the Champions League in his first season, in the process elevating himself to cult hero among the clubs supporters, Benitez is currently under the same pressure his predecessors experienced. Despite the turmoil at boardroom level the Spaniard is expected to deliver the title.

If managerial talent and stability has been the major element in the respective dominance of each club then circumstances could be leading to another key chapter for either or both of them. Ferguson, despite his seemingly unquenchable appetite for the job and the adrenaline that comes with pursuing records may well decide shortly that he has achieved his stated goal on arrival at Old Trafford of “knocking Liverpool off their perch”. Benitez may be tempted to return to Spain or another European country to escape the in-fighting and drama that comes with Liverpool’s on going financial insecurity. If history is a guide then how either club reacts to such a circumstance seems certain to have far reaching consequences, at least on the pitch, for these two great institutions. One J Mourinho may well be keeping a “special” watchful eye on Sunday’s game from Milan….