The fierce rivalry between Manchester United (Man United) and Liverpool FC is widely known to domestic fans as well. Manchester United and Liverpool have won 20 and 19 titles, respectively, in the first division of English professional football, including the Premier League (EPL), which was launched in 1992. Manchester United and Liverpool have finished second in the league 17 times and 15 times respectively. Manchester United are narrowly ahead of Liverpool in domestic results, but Liverpool are better in European competition. Liverpool have won the European Cup and UEFA Champions League six times, while United have reached the top of Europe three times.
If you look at the EPL record alone, it is a landslide victory for Man United. Compared to Manchester United, who have won 13 titles, Liverpool have only won once. The photo shows Roy Keane and Steven Gerrard competing, representing the two clubs. Liverpool home page
Manchester United and Liverpool are the most successful clubs in England. The third-best team is Arsenal (13 wins, 10 second places). But Arsenal differ from the two teams in terms of record and have never been European champions. Besides, Arsenal’s hometown is London, which is geographically quite far away. In contrast, Manchester and Liverpool are only 35 miles (56 km) apart. Manchester United and Liverpool have no choice but to become rivals.
Then, what about the relationship between Manchester City and Liverpool, or between Everton and Manchester United, located in the northwest of the city of Liverpool? Will they hate each other too? Some readers will doubtless wonder if the rivalry is exclusive to Manchester United and Liverpool. Let’s learn about Manchester and Liverpool, the cities that represent English football, in two installments with the author.
Manchester and Liverpool, located in the northwest of England, are rival cities that have long competed in the economy and industry since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. The reign of Queen Victoria, who led the heyday of the British Empire, is called the ‘Victorian era’, and the two cities experienced rapid industrialization during this period. In 1830, the world’s first intercity railway was completed, linking the two cities. The railway was built to quickly transport finished goods and raw materials from factories in the Manchester area to the port of Liverpool. This line, which was also economically in the black, gave British railway development a boost.
Until the 18th century, Manchester was a city representing the north of England. In the late 18th century, Liverpool emerged as a port city playing an important role in the success of the northern cotton mills. Liverpool continued to grow in the 19th century and surpassed Manchester, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it grew into the second largest city in the British Empire.
Meanwhile, Manchester merchants, who had suffered a long depression in the late 19th century, were dissatisfied with the high tariffs imposed by the Port of Liverpool and the railway fares connecting the two cities when importing and exporting goods. Accordingly, the opinion that the canal should be built so that the inland city of Manchester can procure goods directly is supported. When the news broke, Liverpool fell into a ‘mental breakdown’. Liverpool politicians strongly opposed the canal, but construction continued. Relations between the two cities deteriorated rapidly. Eventually, after six years of construction, the 58 km long ‘Manchester Ship Canal’ was completed in 1894.
As Manchester becomes an inland port, the Liverpool economy, which has lost revenues such as customs fees, is plunged into recession. Jobs for dock workers who worked at the port were also lost. This culminates in tensions between Liverpool dock workers and Manchester workers.
View of a cruise ship passing through the Manchester Ship Canal. Visit England
Manchester United was founded in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR FC. LYR stands for ‘Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway’. Newton Heath joined the First Division of the Football League from the 1892-93 season after passing through the Football Alliance. At this time, LYR was deleted from the club name as it became independent from the railway company, and the club name was changed to Manchester United in 1902.
Everton is a founding member of the Football League, the world’s first professional soccer league founded in 1888. John Howlding, who co-founded Everton, was the owner of Anfield Stadium, and Anfield was Everton’s home ground at the time. However, when Everton, dissatisfied with the stadium’s high rent, moved to Goodison Park, Howling founded a football team in 1892 for the vacant Anfield. This club is Liverpool.먹튀검증
Coincidentally, the first meeting between Newton Heath and Liverpool takes place three months after the completion of the Manchester Ship Canal. At the time, Newton Heath was 16th, last in the First Division, and Liverpool were in first place in the Second Division. At the time, there was no automatic promotion or relegation, so the two teams had to play a ‘test match’, a single-elimination match. Newton Heath and Liverpool, two cities that had already fallen apart due to the construction of the canal, had a fateful battle over promotion and relegation. The result was a 2-0 win for Liverpool. As a result, Liverpool were promoted to the First Division, and Newton Heath were relegated to the Second Division.
Manchester United’s Gary Neville (pictured left, right) and Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher fight during a match. Pictured on the right, Neville looks somber as Carragher from the Sky Sports crew takes a selfie of joy as Liverpool thrash Manchester United 7-0 in March 2023. carragher instagram
Players who join Manchester United and Liverpool are said to hear explanations about the rivalry between the two cities and the canal. In a 2019 interview with The Independent newspaper, former Manchester United centre-back Nemanja Vidic told his players that sometimes no such explanation is necessary. “Just the energy that emanates from the stands when the two clubs face each other, you know what this match means to them,” he added.
To date, the two clubs have met 211 times. Manchester United and Liverpool have won 82 and 71 respectively, and have drawn 58 times. The most capped player is Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs (48), and the top scorer is Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (12 goals).
I have visited Manchester and Liverpool several times, but in the end I couldn’t intuit the match between the two clubs. I remember how difficult it was to get tickets. I hope the readers have the luck to intuit the biggest rival of English football.
Ewha Womans University Department of International Affairs Visiting Professor