Manchester derby

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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 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 ground lies just outside the city boundaries).

The 2006-07 Derby games are scheduled to be played on 9th December 2006 at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium and 5th May 2007 at Manchester City's City of Manchester Stadium.

Contents 1 History 2 Statistics 3 Non-competitive derbies 4 References

[edit] 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"^[1]. 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 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.^[2] 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^[3]

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."^[4] Law was immediately substituted, and never played league 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". Happily for United however, they won promotion at the first time of asking in the next season.

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, who 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. ^{[5], [6]}

City won both the last derby match at Maine Road and the first derby match at their new stadium.

[edit] Statistics

As of 9th December, 2006 there have been 147 competitive meetings between the teams. United have won 59 and City 39, with the most recent game resulting in a 3-1 win for United.

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^[7], 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	35	48	51
FA Cup	2	0	5
League Cup	2	1	1
Charity Shield	0	0	1
Total	39	49	58

Top goalscorers^[8]

Player	Goals
Joe Hayes, Francis Lee	10
Bobby Charlton	9
Colin Bell, Éric 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 43 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".^[9]

[edit] References