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Manchester derby
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The '''Manchester derby''' is the name given to
football (soccer) football matches between
Manchester City F.C. Manchester City and
Manchester United F.C. Manchester United. As with any major football rivalry, gloating and banter between the two sets of fans is commonplace. United fans like to gloat over the length of time City have gone without winning a major trophy, whereas City fans claim United do not actually come from Manchester (United's
Old Trafford (football) Old Trafford ground lies just outside the city boundaries).
History
The first meeting between the two teams occurred on 12th November 1881, when West Gorton (St. Marks) (who would later become City) hosted Newton Heath (who would later become United). The game finished 3-0 in favour of ''the Heathens'', and was described by the ''Ashton Reporter'' as "a pleasant game"{{ref|firstgame}}. The first League meeting between the teams came in the 1894/95 season, Newton Heath beating Manchester City 5-2 at
Hyde Road.
Before the
World War II 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.
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.{{ref|Pardoe}} 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{{ref|Macari}}.
The return fixture came at Old Trafford on the last day of the season and had high stakes, as United needed to win to stand a chance of avoiding relegation. The first hour of the game was fairly unremarkable, with neither side making much headway. Then in the 81st minute, with the game seemingly headed towards a stalemate, 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 teammates went to congratulate him, the stunned Law made his way off the pitch with his head down as he realised the consequences his goal had 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."{{ref|Law}} Law was immediately substituted, and never played football again. In the closing minutes of the match United supporters staged a pitch invasion, and the match ended in abandonment. However, the result stood, and United's relegation was confirmed. Results subsequently revealed that United would have 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".
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 more evenly contested, with both teams having three wins each at January 2006.
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 after attempting to foul Haaland, who was then playing for Leeds. 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. {{ref|MENHaaland}}
, {{ref|SoccernetHaaland}}
Statistics
As of 15 January, 2006 there have been 146 competitive meetings between the teams.United have won 58 and City 39, with the most recent game resulting in a 3-1 to City.
The biggest winning margin 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{{ref|attendance}}, a time when both clubs were playing at
Maine Road, as Old Trafford was being repaired following damage sustained in
World War II.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! City wins
! Draws
! United wins
|-
| League
| 35 || 48 || 51
|-
| FA Cup
| 2 || 0 || 5
|-
| League Cup
| 2 || 1 || 1
|-
| Charity Shield
| 0 || 0 || 1
|-
! Total
! 39 !! 49 !! 58
|}
'''Top goalscorers'''{{ref|topscorers}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"
! 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
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 43 matches were played between the teams. In recent years, non-competitive matches beween the teams have generally been
testimonial match testimonials, such as those for
Paul Lake and
Denis Irwin.
References
#{{note|firstgame}} Gary James, ''Manchester: The Greatest City'' (Polar Publishing, 2002), 12.
#{{note|Pardoe}} Ibid., 283.
#{{note|Macari}} {{cite web | title=Derby day memories: Lou Macari|work=Manchester Evening News article| url=http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/sport/football/manchesterunited/s/75/75373_derby_day_memories_lou_macari.html| accessdate=December 26 | accessyear=2005}}
#{{note|Law}} ''Manchester: The Greatest City'', 300.
#{{note|MENHaaland}} {{cite web | title=Keane wants helping hand from Haaland|work=Manchester Evening News article| url=http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/sport/football/manchesterunited/s/20/20612_keane_wants_helping_hand_from_haaland.html| accessdate=January 13| accessyear=2005}}
#{{note|SoccernetHaaland}} {{cite web | title=City decide against Keane legal action|work=Soccernet article| url=http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=257933&cc=5739| accessdate=January 13 | accessyear=2005}}
#{{note|attendance}} {{cite web | title=Opponents: Manchester United|work=Mcfcstats.com derby statistics| url=http://www.mcfcstats.com| accessdate=December 23 | accessyear=2005}}
#{{note|topscorers}} Julian Baskcomb & Julia Byrne (eds.) ''Manchester City Official Handbook 1997-98'' (Polar, 1997), 99-101.
Category:Manchester United F.C.
Category:Manchester City F.C.
Category:Sport in Greater Manchester
Category:Football (soccer) rivalries
zh:曼徹斯特德比
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