Uneasy peace in shReds when Shankly retired
Klopp has no sympathy for underfire United boss and warns predators will be circling for their pound of flesh
IT’S almost 36 years since legendary Liverpool manager Bob Paisley was used as a human shield to ensure Manchester United’s safe arrival at Anfield.
Rewind to Boxing Day 1986. Liverpool were still on their perch and Sir Alex Ferguson was experiencing the most vitriolic rivalry in English football for the first time after being appointed United boss just seven weeks earlier.
Black and white photographs capture a smiling Paisley sitting on the front seat of the United team coach alongside Old Trafford captain Bryan Robson, with Ferguson standing just behind.
It was United’s first return to Anfield since their players and officials had been subjected to a tear gas attack while making their way into the ground 10 months earlier.
It was hoped Paisley’s presence alongside the old enemy from the opposite end of the East Lancs Road would defuse another potentially volatile situation — and it did. At least for that one afternoon.
Ferguson’s predecessor Ron Atkinson — a Scouser by birth — likened the chemical attack to being in Vietnam.
Dramatic, yes, but meetings between the reds of
Manchester and Merseyside have always been dripping with menace and magic.
It is why the footballing world will be tuning in to the 238th instalment when United and Liverpool face off at Old Trafford tomorrow night. A new book — Red on Red — detailing the fiercest rivalry in world football has just been published.
Written by a Mancunian and a Liverpudlian, it explodes the myth that enmity between the two biggest clubs of two cities built 35 miles apart stems from the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in the late 19th Century and the subsequent fight for jobs, trade and money.
Why else would United star Denis Law, the proclaimed King of Old Trafford, be able to safely take trips to Anfield in the 1960s to watch Bill Shankly’s
Liverpool from high up on the famous Kop?
Sir Matt Busby’s retirement as United manager for a second time in 1971, just as his club was being usurped by Liverpool as the most successful club in the country, is regarded as the pivotal moment in the great rivalry.
Busby had graced Anfield as a player and had been voted Liverpool’s greatest captain. He was a huge friend of Shankly’s. The two Scots were the glue that held the peace.
When Shankly retired three years later, the gloves came off — and the two biggest clubs in England have been going at it hammer and tongs ever since.
From Busby v Shankly to Docherty v Paisley to Dalglish v Ferguson to Ferguson v Houllier and then Benitez.
It remains to be seen who will emerge at Old Trafford to stop Jurgen Klopp putting Liverpool back on their perch.
it easier because you know that when you’re not over the moon about your own results, you don’t care what people say.
“You don’t have to read it. You don’t have to be fussed by it. You focus on work and go for the little steps.
“I am pretty sure that it’s the same for each club. I don’t think it’s anything different for bigger clubs.
“Sure, if you lose, then the first five articles in newspapers are about that.
“But if you are strong enough not to read that, then you can have an OK life and just work on the important stuff.
“So that’s what I have done for seven years and that helps me. That is the only advice I could give.”
Klopp was reluctant to talk about how Ten Hag is trying to succeed where previous United managers have failed by bringing a high-intensity style to Old Trafford that has become the standard at Anfield under the German.
“It is not my cup of tea,” said Klopp.
“I can’t sit here days before we play United and create headlines.
“If I say ‘Yes’, it’s just a matter of telling them how to do it. If I say ‘No’, then we have a real mess. You can ask me if we could play Pep Guardiola football – and if I could coach like that, then it could be possible. But I have nothing to say about Manchester United. It’s not my subject.”
However, Klopp’s revelation that it took him just a single training session to get his message across to the squad he took over in October 2015 will resonate with Ten Hag.
The influence of the Liverpool boss was obvious from his first game in charge, a goalless draw against Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
United, in contrast, appear to be a team without the personnel to carry out their manager’s commands.
Klopp recalled: “It was a
Saturday game and we only had two days because the players had just come back from international games after the Wednesday.
“We had the Thursday and Friday, not really to train but to recover.
“We had one training session.
“But, for the first impression of an idea, it was outstanding.
“I can still see Adam Lallana flying around pressing everyone in a different shirt. That was really cool.”