Big day today!! and its only May, but this afternoon is the "North West" Derby between Manchester United and Liverpool...a day that Sir Alec Ferguson is taken to hospital with an " falling unwell issue"...not an emergency but at 84 years old there is care being taken. We wish him well.
The first coming together between the two North-west clubs, was in 1894, on April 28th, with Liverpool beating Newton Heath 2-0 at Ewood Park (know where that is?), in what was known as a "Test Match", so not a League match. Patrick Gordon (after 15 mins) and Harry Bradshaw (after 30 mins) scored. Ten of the Liverpool team were Scottish and one, Harry Bradshaw, English! One United player, Fred Erentz, was a Scot...beautiful Scottish name!!
That's when the Manchester Ship Canal was built by Manchester merchants. They were infuriated at the high import charges levied by the Port of Liverpool. The building of the canal led to many dockers and labour workers from Liverpool losing their jobs. Liverpool was a major seaport which was often used as a halt area, but they ended up suffering when ships could bypass their city to go directly to Manchester.
This allowed Manchester to overtake Liverpool economically and, of course, there was a lot of anger in Liverpool due to this. As a result, the Merseysiders entered the first division while the Mancunians replaced the Reds in the second tier. Can you imagine, how angry the Manchester side must have been? And they are still bitter.
The two cities hated each other and when they clashed on the pitch for the first time, the rivalry only escalated. In 1893/94, club Newton Heath, which will later become Manchester United, finished bottom of the English first division.
Liverpool, meanwhile, finished top of the Second Division after being undefeated in the competition all season long. The rules of the game at that time implied that the bottom-last of the top-flight would face the winners of the second division.
Liverpool came out winners beating Newton Heath 2-0. As a result, the Merseysiders entered the first division while the Mancunians replaced the Reds in the second tier. Can you imagine, how angry the Manchester side must have been? And they are still bitter.
On October 12th 1895, Liverpool hosted Newton Heath beating them 7-1 in a Division Two League match. On November 2nd 1895, in a "proper" Division 2 League game, Newton Heath won 5-2. Plenty of goals then!
The next coming together was on February 12th, 1898 when Newton Heath hosted Liverpool in an FA Cup 2nd Round tie, drawing 0-0 with Liverpool and winning the replay on the 16th, 2-0 in front of 6,000. Anfield crowd.
First results were:
| 28 Apr 1894 | Liverpool v Newton Heath | L | 2-0 | Test Match-BIT OF A FRIENDLY |
| 12 Oct 1895 | Liverpool v Newton Heath | L | 7-1 | League Division Two |
| 02 Nov 1895 | Newton Heath v Liverpool | W | 5-2 | League Division Two |
| 12 Feb 1898 | Newton Heath v Liverpool | D | 0-0 | FA Cup |
| 16 Feb 1898 | Liverpool v Newton Heath | L | 2-1 | FA Cup |
| 07 Feb 1903 | Manchester United v Liverpool | W | 2-1 | FA Cup |
| 24 Dec 1904 | Manchester United v Liverpool | W | 3-1 | League Division Two |
| Games won: 93 | |
| Games drawn: 71 | |
| Games lost: 82 not including today!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment