october-2012

92—GW
M A N C H E S T E R
RED ON BLUE
Neighbours and rivals for over a century, Manchester’s two great football
teams are still vying for supremacy. With a recently revived City overturning
United’s long run of success, this season could be English football’s best yet
As rivalries go in English
football, there are few
fi ercer than that
between Manchester United and
Manchester City. Enemies as
well as neighbours, the hostility
between the Red Devils and the
Sky Blues goes back to the end of
the 19th century.
United came fi rst, beginning
life in 1878 as Newton Heath in
the north of Manchester, a team
formed by employees of the
Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railway. They wore green and
gold, and they weren’t much
good to begin with, losing their
fi rst match 6-0 to Bolton
Wanderers. City’s origins began
two years later, when a group of
men from St Mark’s Church in
the east of Manchester founded
a team. In 1894 they renamed
themselves Manchester City
and fi ve years later they won
promotion to the First Division,
then the top fl ight of English
football.
As City reached the big time,
their rivals were in danger of
disintegrating. By the end of
1901 Newton Heath were
languishing in the Second
Division with crippling debts.
Only the intervention of local
businessman John Henry
Davies saved the club. He paid
off the debtors, changed the
name to Manchester United and
bought a new red and white kit
for the squad.
For the next few decades
neither United nor City made
much of an impression on
English football, but that all
changed with the arrival at
United of Matt Busby as
manager. He was brought to the
club in 1945 by chairman James
Gibson and together the pair
transformed United into the
most successful team in English
football. They were called ‘the
Busby Babes’, and they went on
to beat Benfi ca in 1968 and
become the fi rst English club to
win the European Cup (now the
Champions League).
It was a side blessed with
world-class talent: Bobby
Charlton, Denis Law and the
incomparable George Best. It
was Best who made English
football sexy. With his fi lm-star
looks, his precocious talent and
his charismatic personality, Best
attracted a younger, more
sophisticated fan to English
football, many of them female
and middle-class.
City, meanwhile, were on the
rise themselves, winning the
First Division title in 1968 to cap
a remarkable year for
Manchester. In England winger
Mike Summerbee they had a
glamour player of their own. He
and Best opened a fashion
boutique in Manchester and the
city began to grow in self-
confi dence, emerging from the
shadow of London to play its
own part in the Swinging
Sixties.
But 1968 was a high-water
mark in the fortunes of both
City and United. Just six years
later a goal from Dennis Law,
now playing in the Sky Blue of
Manchester City, relegated his
former club, United, to the
Second Division. City’s decline
was less precipitous but just as
painful, as Liverpool embarked
on a period of dominance that
continued until 1990.
By this time Alex Ferguson
had been in charge of United for
Asked in 2009 if City would ever be top
dog, United’s manager replied: ‘Not in
my lifetime.’ Three months later City
thrashed United 6-1
four years, negotiating his way
through a diffi cult beginning
when many United fans called
for his sacking. Ferguson
survived and the seeds he had
sown began to bear fruit in the
early 1990s as Ryan Giggs, Paul
Scholes, Gary Neville and David
Beckham came through the
club’s youth programme, guided
by experienced foreign stars
such as Peter Schmeichel and
Eric Cantona. Arsenal and
Chelsea have had their moments
but with 12 domestic titles, four
FA Cups and two Champions
League crowns United have
reigned supreme for the last 20
years. Until now.
For City are on the march,
much to the delight of their fans
who have had precious little to
shout about since the 1960s. The
club reached its lowest point in
1998 when they were relegated
to Division Two, the third tier of
English football. How United
fans laughed. But they’re not
laughing any more, not since the
Abu Dhabi United Group took
control of City in 2008 and
pumped an estimated £1 billion
into the club. Now City boast a
team packed with world-class
stars such as Mario Balotelli,
Vincent Kompany and Sergio
Aguero. They have a manager,
too, in Roberto Mancini, who is
a master tactician like Ferguson.
At fi rst ‘Fergie’ didn’t take the
threat seriously. Asked in 2009 if
he ever saw a day when City
would be top dog in Manchester
he replied: ‘Not in my lifetime,’
and in July 2011 he dismissed
City as their ‘noisy neighbours’.
Three months later City rubbed
the smile off Ferguson’s face by
thrashing United 6-1.
The United manager
described the scoreline as the
‘worst result in my history’,
although it got even worse when
City won the 2012 title in the
most thrilling fi nale in the
history of the Premier League.
It’s made this season all the more
intriguing with City determined
to prove their success wasn’t a
one-off and United out for
revenge. Red or blue, the rivalry
remains as strong as ever.