Manchester United v Liverpool: Centuries of competition and cooperation fuel football atmosphere

INTENSE: Manchester United and Liverpool games are always keenly contested

When Manchester United and Liverpool walk out at Old Trafford on Sunday, the Stone Roses tune This Is The One will boom around Old Trafford as it does at every home game.

This time, the title of the famous song rings totally true.

United vs Liverpool is still the biggest match in the footballing calendar for the majority of Reds fans, despite City's recent rise to glory. 80 per cent of United fans voting on a poll on this website consider the game bigger than the Manchester derby.

It is a fixture fuelled by centuries of competition between the two cities and intensified by glorious histories of each club. It is not just United v Liverpool, it is Mancs v Scousers.

But why is there such an edge between the two clubs' cities? Andis the perceived animosity and stereotypingjustified?

Peter Hooton, Liverpudlian singer of The Farm and The Justice Collective, believes a mutual respect lies beneath the veneer of enmity: "When it comes down to Man Utd v Liverpool it is one of the biggest rivalries.

"But if both sets of supporters took a step back and looked at it, it is because both clubs are mirror images of themselves. Both have beenbuilt up by Scottish managers, both had incredible success and I think that's when the bitterness crept in. I don't think the rivalry used to be as intense, I think it got worse in the 70s.

"It's been said that the two are like a budgie pecking at itself in a mirror.

"I think the positives should be concentrated upon.

"United fans have been brilliant over Hillsborough. There was a floral tribute was from Man United fans with the message "from the silent majority" and I think that s! ays a lo t.

"When the Justice Collective played at the Ritz the respect was unbelievable, Eric Cantona got on stage when we were in France. He actually sang on the He Ain't Heavy song. He sang in a very similar syle to Shane MacGowan andnever made the final cut. But it was a brilliant gesture for him to do that. And as we know after the Munich air disaster the hand of friendship was extended by Liverpool.

"The Justice Collectivealso played at the Stone Roses gig at Heaton Park and that's helped things I think."

Economic historian Terry Wyke, a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, points out the two cities are forever bound together in a spirit of cooperation and competition.

He said: "The two came much closer together during the Industrial Revolution. That economic revolution bound the two communities together, but inevitably economic competition caused rivalries.

"The development of the cotton industry in Lancashire brought the two together. Liverpool was the port through which raw cotton was imported and Manchester became the manufacturer and marketing centre.

"In the late 18th early 19th as the debate over the slave trade developed Manchester I think always saw itself as slightly on higher moral ground than Liverpool.

"Liverpool merchants who were deeply involved in the slave trade supported it. Many but not all manufacturers and merchants in Manchester tended to be more sympathetic to the abolition of the slave trade. Even though right into the 19th century Manchester mills depended on slave grown cotton.

"As so often happens in moral arguments people close their eyes to aspects of the argument and focus on another."

Much of the perceived antipathy between Manchester and Liverpool arose when Manchester build the ship canal to escape paying dues to Liverpool.

Wyke added: "Much is made, with some justification, that Manchester men became so annoyed with the dues that were ! taken of f them on cotton and other goods, that they built the ship canal, which is the traditional explanation of why they ship canal was built - Manchester men liberating themselves from the Liverpool merchants.

"It's not quite as simple as that.

"Like all great economic changes it was driven by other forces not least the expansion of trade that was going on. It was one factor, it helped to develop that sterotype, had Manchester had a port and been in the same position as Liverpool merchants they would have done exactly the same, they would have behaved as business men behave.

"There was an area Manchester, Castlefield I think, that was know as little Liverpool. It shows the fluidity of the communities."

The root of one stereotype that has never properly been teased out is that of the "robbing Scouser", a common insult thrown from the Manchester side.

But, according to Wyke, one phrase from history might hold a clue.

"There was the phrase 'the Liverpool gentleman the Manchester man'.

"There are a number of ways of interpreting that. Manchester were hard nosed, knew the price of everything the value of nowt, that was the stereotype. Liverpool were seen as being more cultured.

"Whether that phrase had its orignis in Liverpool or Manchester I don't know. One reading of it could be that it was critical of Liverpool. Liverpool gentlemen made their fortunes on the backs of Manchester's industry and they were able to enjoy the benefits.

"For example architecturally Liverpool was seen as being ahead."

One man with a foot in both camps is former Olympic swimmer Steve Parry, a Liverpudlian who moved to Manchester to train ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

He said: "I've been suffering the abuse of United fans for the last 12 years.

"It's quite concerning for me because I spent the first 18 years of my life being told that Mancs were the enemy and they we! re all s cumbags and all the rest of it, as I'm sure people in Manchester were told about Scousers.

"But having lived in both cities, I think one of the main issues is that we're all actually quite similar people.

"I love the banter and it's helpful on a few occasions it's had the ability to get out of hand.

"We were always told that Mancs were like Scousers but they couldn't laugh at themselves. Ironically that they were all thieves and they had no sense of humour!"

On Sunday, all the years of history, competition and cooperation will feed into the inevitably white hot atmosphere at Old Trafford. And competition, not cooperation, will no doubt be the order of the day this time.

Are Manchester and Liverpool more similar than commonly perceived? If not what are the differences between the cities and people? Have your say.

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