Source: Telegraph
Manchester v Merseyside: a tale of two footballing cities
It sits against a wall, unobtrusively, at the top of a flight of stairs at Anfield. There is no fanfare or gaudy neon lights, just a glass cabinet containing Liverpool's European Cup.[LNB]Their own. Won outright, for keeps, following the club's fifth European Cup success against AC Milan in Istanbul in 2005. [LNB] Related ArticlesSport on televisionLiverpool v Manchester City: match previewManchester United v Everton: match previewSir Alex Ferguson calls on Fifa to use TV replaysNot signing Torres Ferguson's biggest mistake, says ColeTypically, its presence is understated in a fashion true to the Liverpool way, but every visiting club chairman, oligarch or sheikh must walk past as they take their seats in Anfield's directors' box. [LNB]Money Can't Buy These! proclaims the Kop banner, with the images of five European Cups accompanying the proud boast. [LNB]But Liverpool's European Cup tells another story than merely that of the football club's illustrious history. [LNB]Manchester City's visit to Anfield on Saturday lunchtime, in tandem with Everton's trip down the East Lancs Road to Old Trafford for the evening encounter with Manchester United, brings into sharp focus a tale of two footballing cities. [LNB]Liverpool was once English football's capital city. They have the trophies to prove it. [LNB]Unemployment and the decline of a once prosperous port ripped the heart out of the city, but Liverpool and Everton at least ensured that Manchester remained in its shadow on the football pitch. [LNB]United's decade-and-a-half of success has seen them equal Liverpool's record of 18 domestic titles, however. Two European Cups compared to Liverpool's one in the Champions League era have also narrowed the gap in Europe. [LNB]United and Liverpool have always been at either side of the pendulum, but City's emergence as the world's richest club, due to the billions of owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, is what truly threatens Liverpool's footballing future. [LNB]City's financial muscle has already seen them brush Liverpool aside in the transfer market, with Aston Villa's Gareth Barry heading to Eastlands rather than Anfield during the summer. [LNB]And when the two clubs meet at Anfield tomorrow, they will be scrapping over the fourth Champions League qualification spot like two hyenas fighting over a carcass. [LNB]City's new-found wealth and ambition has made Champions League football a necessity. Liverpool's history demands it, but the club's precarious financial state ensures that a failure to secure a top four finish would result in a perfect storm, the aftermath of which could be devastating. [LNB]With debts of £290m and annual interest payments of £20m, Liverpool's American co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, cannot contemplate a failure to qualify for the Champions League and the riches it brings. [LNB]Liverpool desperately require a new stadium to add a turbo injection to their income streams, but building a 21st century Anfield without Champions League money is a non-starter. [LNB]Without the Champions League, Liverpool become vulnerable to predators circling above, eyeing key assets such as Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Javier Mascherano. [LNB]But the nightmare scenario of handing over their Champions League membership to City is that, with Sheikh Mansour's bottomless pit of petro-dollars in place to strengthen Mark Hughes's squad, it is difficult to see Manchester's emerging force ever handing it back. [LNB]Champions League qualification is the Holy Grail for City. Without it, they cannot attract the superstars that their ambition demands, but a place at Europe's top table would make Eastlands as appealing a destination as the Bernabeu, San Siro or Nou Camp for football's glitterati. [LNB]Liverpool's recent run of just one victory in five league games has rendered them the most vulnerable of the current Big Four to City's Champions League aspirations. [LNB]History, tradition and all those European Cups will mean nothing if Liverpool are on the outside, looking in, next season with City using the Champions League to fast-track their acceptance amongst football's elite. [LNB]This was supposed to be the season that Liverpool overhauled United to end their 20-year wait for the league championship. [LNB]But while United continue to take faltering steps as they adjust to life without Cristiano Ronaldo, Sir Alex Ferguson's team remain live contenders to become the first club to win four successive titles. [LNB]United have contested the last two Champions League finals, winning one and losing the other, despite the financial constraints that come with a £700m debt and annual interest payments in excess of £40m. [LNB]At Old Trafford, the Glazer family have been able to juggle the burden of debt with the need for continuing success on the pitch. [LNB]United's balance sheet is almost as worrying as Liverpool's, but success has generated success and the club remains a money-making machine par excellence. [LNB]And while Liverpool can cram just over 45,000 inside Anfield, attendances at Old Trafford rarely drop below 75,000, enabling United to bank in excess of £1m-a-game more than Liverpool from home games. [LNB]The picture is similarly bleak across Stanley Park at Everton. Another club whose upward mobility has been checked by a stadium that is no longer fit for purpose, manager David Moyes is constantly forced to make bricks from straw with a limited budget at Goodison Park. [LNB]Sheikh Mansour's arrival at Eastlands in Sept 2008 provided the spark for the rebirth of City, but the after-shocks of the Mancunian tremor are truly being felt 30 miles away on Merseyside. [LNB]Not only are Liverpool and Everton battling against the self-styled biggest club in the world at Old Trafford, the real threat to their futures arguably comes from the world's richest club on the other side of the Mancunian divide. [LNB]Manchester has always relished its battles with Liverpool, be it through trade, music or football. [LNB]Its two football clubs are now threatening to squeeze their Merseyside rivals out of the picture, however, and the challenge for Liverpool and Everton is how they respond with hands tied behind their backs. [LNB]Manchester v Merseyside [LNB]Just 35 miles separate the centres of Manchester and Liverpool, but the two cities have endured over 100 years of rivalry that has left them anything but close neighbours. [LNB]Success has been shared on the football pitch, but Liverpool versus Manchester is about more than football. [LNB]Music: Merseybeat versus Madchester. While Liverpool gave us the Beatles, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The La's and The Zutons, Manchester can lay claim to Joy Division, the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Oasis. [LNB]Culture: Albert Dock houses the Liverpool Tate, but The Lowry Arts Centre stands a stones throw from Old Trafford. [LNB]Trade: The port of Liverpool transformed the city into one of the world's richest in the 19th century, but the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 propelled Manchester's growth. [LNB]
