Manchester derby
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Manchester derby is the name given to football matches between Manchester City and Manchester United. As with any major football rivalry, gloating and banter between the two sets of fans is commonplace. United fans point out that City have gone awhile without winning a major trophy, whereas City fans claim United do not actually come from Manchester. United's Old Trafford ground lies just outside the city boundaries in Trafford Borough, although Manchester United did form in Newton Heath and played there for many years.
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[edit] History
The first meeting between the two teams occurred on 12 November 1881, when West Gorton (St. Marks) (the future City) hosted Newton Heath (the future Manchester United). The game finished 3-0 in favour of the Heathens (United), and was described by the Ashton Reporter as "a pleasant game"[1]. The first Football League meeting between the teams came in the 1894/95 season, Newton Heath beating Manchester City 5-2 at Hyde Road. However, the two sides had previously met in the 1891/92 season in the Football Alliance, on 10 October 1891, with Newton Heath defeating Ardwick 3-1 in front of a crowd of 4,000 at North Road[2] The first meeting between the clubs to take place at the highest level of English football occurred in December 1906, a 3–0 City win in a First Division match for which the gate receipts exceeded £1,000, a very large figure for the time.[3]
Before the Second World War, many football supporters in Manchester watched City one week and United the next. After the war, a stronger rivalry developed and following both teams became uncommon.
[edit] The 1970s
Manchester derbies in the 1970s were frequently bad tempered. In the December 1970 derby, a tackle by George Best broke the leg of Glyn Pardoe, the severity of the injury almost resulted in the City defender losing his leg.[4] The following season, an entertaining 3-3 draw saw Francis Lee and George Best accuse each other of diving. The first derby of the 1973/74 season saw Mike Doyle and Lou Macari each receive a red card in a dour contest which finished 0-0. Both players refused to leave the pitch, leading the referee to take both teams back to the dressing room until the two players accepted their dismissals[5]
[edit] The Denis Law game
The return fixture came at Old Trafford on the last day of the season with high stakes, United trying to avoid relegation with a win. After 80 slow minutes with no scores, Francis Lee played the ball towards former United player Denis Law, who was standing with his back to goal. Law instinctively back-heeled the ball past goalkeeper Alex Stepney and into the back of the net. As his City team-mates congratulated him, the stunned Law left the pitch head down as he realized the consequences for his former club. Law later said of the goal: "I have seldom felt so depressed in my life as I did that weekend. After 19 years of giving everything I had to score goals, I had finally scored one which I almost wished I hadn't."[6] Law was immediately substituted, and never played league football again. In the closing minutes of the match United supporters hit the pitch and forced abandonment. However, the result stood, and United's relegation was confirmed. Results subsequently revealed that United would have still been relegated if the match was drawn, but among City supporters the match is still remembered as "the day Denis Law back-heeled United into the Second Division". United would return to the first division the next season.
[edit] Present
In the 1990s United dominated the fixture, going unbeaten in derbies for the full decade, including a 5-0 win in 1994 in which Andrei Kanchelskis scored a hat-trick. Since the turn of the decade, the fixture has been evenly contested, with United claiming 5 League victories, and one FA Cup win, and City also claiming 5 wins as of February 2008.
The first Old Trafford derby of the new millennium saw the culmination of a long standing feud between Roy Keane and Alf-Inge Haaland. The feud started in 1998, when United captain Keane suffered a cruciate ligament injury when clean through on goal, being chased down by Haaland (then playing for Leeds, a team that also have an unpleasant rivalry with United). As Keane lay on the ground, Haaland accused him of feigning injury. Three years later, in the derby match of April 2001, Haaland was the City captain. Late in the game Keane made a knee height tackle on Haaland, for which he received a red card. In his autobiography, published in 2002, Keane admitted that the challenge was a premeditated attempt to injure, an admission which resulted in a £150,000 fine and a five match ban. Subsequent to the incident Haaland had a long struggle with knee problems and retired in 2002. Haaland initially stated that his injury problems were not related to the challenge, but later received medical advice which suggested the challenge aggravated an earlier injury. [7], [8]
City won both the last derby match at Maine Road and the first derby match at their new stadium.
The 2007-08 derby games were both won by Manchester City, 1-0 at the City of Manchester Stadium on 19 August 2007, and 2-1 at Old Trafford on 10 February 2008 (which came just four days after the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster - a well observed one minute silence preceded the match). Darius Vassell and Benjani Mwaruwari scored for City in the 24th and 45th minutes respectively. Michael Carrick scored for United in the 90th minute in what was otherwise a fairly tame performance from United in general. It was the first time since April 1974 that City had beaten United in the league at Old Trafford and the first time they had won both league derby games since the 1969/70 season.
Peter Schmeichel, who played for both United and City, can claim an unbeaten record in derby games - United were unbeaten during his nine years at Old Trafford, while in his single season at Maine Road (his last before he retired) City beat United at home and drew away.
[edit] Statistics
As of 10 February there have been 149 competitive meetings between the teams. United have won 59 and City 41.
The biggest victory was 6-1 to City on January 23, 1926. Both teams have won 5-0 once (City in 1955, United in 1994). The largest attendance for a Manchester derby was 78,000 on September 20, 1947[9], a time when both clubs were playing at Maine Road, as Old Trafford was being repaired following damage sustained in World War II.
| City wins | Draws | United wins | |
|---|---|---|---|
| League | 37 | 48 | 53 |
| FA Cup | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| League Cup | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Charity Shield | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 41 | 49 | 59 |
Top goalscorers[10]
| Player | Goals |
|---|---|
| Joe Hayes, Francis Lee | 10 |
| Bobby Charlton | 9 |
| Colin Bell, Eric Cantona, Brian Kidd, Joe Spence | 8 |
| Dennis Viollet | 7 |
all statistics exclude the abandoned match from the 1960/61 season
[edit] Non-competitive derbies
A large number of non-competitive Manchester derbies have taken place. The majority of these occurred during World War II, when a total of 44 matches were played between the teams. In recent years, non-competitive matches between the teams have generally been testimonials, such as those for Paul Lake and Denis Irwin. Matches between non-first team sides representing the Manchester clubs also have an element of rivalry, with occasions when the reserve teams meet sometimes referred to as "mini-derbies".[11] This term is also used in reference to when supporters' offshoot clubs (Maine Road F.C. and F.C. United of Manchester) meet.
[edit] All time results
[edit] League
[edit] References
- ^ Gary James, Manchester: The Greatest City (Polar Publishing, 2002), 12.
- ^ Results archive. Red11.org. Retrieved on January 11, 2008..
- ^ ""A quick look back"", Manchester City v Manchester United match programme, 1967-09-30., p17
- ^ Ibid., 283.
- ^ Derby day memories: Lou Macari. Manchester Evening News article. Retrieved on December 26, 2005..
- ^ Manchester: The Greatest City, 300.
- ^ Keane wants helping hand from Haaland. Manchester Evening News article. Retrieved on January 13, 2005.
- ^ City decide against Keane legal action. Soccernet article. Retrieved on January 13, 2005.
- ^ Opponents: Manchester United. Mcfcstats.com derby statistics. Retrieved on December 23, 2005.
- ^ Julian Baskcomb & Julia Byrne (eds.) Manchester City Official Handbook 1997-98 (Polar, 1997), 99-101.
- ^ Reds mini derby revenge mission. Manchester Evening News. Retrieved on November 2, 2006..
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