Manchester Derby

Lore & Background

The first meeting between the two teams occurred on 12 November 1881, when St. Mark's (West Gorton) – who would later become Manchester City – hosted Newton Heath LYR – who would later become Manchester United. The game finished 3–0 in favour of Newton Heath. Both clubs grew in stature as the 1880s progressed. The pair became the dominant teams in the Manchester area; the winner of the Manchester Cup was either Newton Heath or Ardwick every year between 1888 and 1893. Both teams joined the Football Alliance. Admission to the Football League came in 1892. The first Football League meeting came in the 1894–95 season, Newton Heath beating Manchester City 5–2. The first meeting at the highest level occurred in December 1906, a 3–0 City win. In the 1970s, a tackle by United's George Best broke the leg of City's Glyn Pardoe. The 1973–74 season saw Mike Doyle and Lou Macari each receive a red card. In the return fixture on the penultimate day of the 1973–74 season, Denis Law back-heeled the ball past Alex Stepney to score for City; United supporters invaded the pitch and forced an abandonment, but the result stood. In the 1980s, City defeated United 5–1 on 23 September 1989, but this would be their last win over United for 13 years. In the 1990s, United dominated the fixture, going unbeaten in derbies for the full decade.

In Their Own Story

It is a Tuesday in November, and the sky over Old Trafford has been weeping since six o'clock. The floodlights cut through the mist like searchlights, and the red sea of 75,000 fans presses forward against the terracing, a single breathing organism. A boy of maybe nine is perched on his father's shoulders, his face painted red, his small fists clenched. The father has been coming to this ground every other Sunday since he was old enough to walk, his own father having done the same before him. The anthem swells — *You'll Never Walk Alone* — and for a moment the rain, the cold, the week's frustrations all dissolve into a single, thunderous note. Then the whistle blows. Sky blue shirts emerge from the tunnel, and the roar that hits the pitch is not quite a cheer and not quite a curse. It is something older. It is the sound of a city divided down the middle, two halves of the same heart beating at different rhythms, and the boy on his father's shoulders understands, with a clarity he will lose by thirty, that this is not a game. This is who they are.

Reader's Guide

The first floodlit Manchester derby was played on 26 February 1889 at the Belle Vue Athletic Ground. The first competitive floodlit derby was the 1956 FA Charity Shield match, played at Maine Road because Old Trafford had yet to install lights. 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.

Did You Know?

• The first meeting between the clubs was on 12 November 1881, when Newton Heath beat St. Mark's (West Gorton) 3–0.
• The first floodlit derby was played on 26 February 1889 at Belle Vue Athletic Ground, with Newton Heath defeating Ardwick 3–2.
• In the 1973–74 season, Denis Law's back-heel goal for City against his former club United led to a pitch invasion and the match being abandoned.
• Goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who played for both United and City, had an unbeaten record in derby games for both clubs.