CLASSIC MOMENT AS RIVAL LEGENDS PARK THE BUS
LIVERPOOL v MAN UTD
LIVERPOOL fans couldn’t believe their eyes as the Manchester United team coach arrived at Anfield with their feted former manager Bob Paisley perched in the front seat.
He was sitting next to Old Trafford midfield warrior Bryan Robson with newly installed Red Devils boss Alex Ferguson standing over the pair busily chatting away.
It was Boxing Day, 1986 – and this was Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish’s idea to offer Paisley as an insurance against the United bus being ambushed, following a number of attacks on it in previous seasons.
Little did anyone know that, in the years that followed, there would be shocks for those of a Liverpool persuasion as Ferguson helped turn the tide of title fortunes.
A 1-0 United victory that day – with Norman Whiteside claiming the winning goal – was the forerunner to an avalanche of success under Ferguson, who had been making his first trip to Anfield just six weeks after succeeding Ron Atkinson.
Liverpool would go on to win two more titles – the last being in 1990 – to make it 18 championships compared to United’s seven.
But, by the time Ferguson vacated his seat in 2013, United could boast 20 titles.
Today, as United return to the red half of Merseyside, they do so with trepidation, as Liverpool look set to end 30 years of hurt.
In those decades, £1.5bn has been spent on players, under eight Liverpool managers. There have been four second-placed finishes and United, under Ferguson, led the way with 13 titles followed by Chelsea (five), Arsenal (four), Manchester City (four), Blackburn, Leeds United and Leicester City (one).
Ferguson will look down from the directors’ box this afternoon in the painful knowledge that the club, which he had vowed to knock off their f ***** g perch, have finally managed to climb back on to it.
And he believes the reason is down to one man. Jurgen Klopp. “For two decades, Liverpool changed managers without building their own identity,” Fergie said. “Klopp has done a really good job to revive Liverpool’s enthusiasm.”