Breaking domestic records still a sideshow for Sir Alex
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Liverpool's European Cup record is the one Sir Alex Ferguson would most like to better with Manchester United. Photograph: Tom Jenkins
English football may be about to make history. Or not, as the case may be. In just over a week's time Manchester United could be on the verge of becoming the first club to win the English league for a fourth successive season and the only one to win it 19 times. Of the two feats the latter would surely be the most welcome for United since it would take them ahead of Liverpool's total of 18 titles, which was the unchallenged record until Sir Alex Ferguson completed his second Premier League hat-trick last season.
Such are Ferguson's feelings for all things Anfield and so strong is the tribal rivalry between the followers of United and Liverpool that a 19th championship would leave Old Trafford basking in a triumphant afterglow until August even if Manchester experiences one of its wetter summers. There is therefore a delicious irony in the fact that Liverpool are the team best placed this weekend to help or hinder Manchester United's ambitions, either by beating Chelsea at home tomorrow or suffering their second defeat of the season by Carlo Ancelotti's side. Even a draw would do United a favour, always assuming they do not then drop points at Sunderland.
Statistics apart, another triumph for Ferguson would be bound to increase the feeling among Anfield fans that their club is being left further behind. It is 20 years since Liverpool won their 18th title and during this period Manchester United have topped the Premier League 11 times. As things stand the chances of Liverpool closing the gap appear remote. More than a few pundits fancied Rafael Benítez's team this season after Liverpool finished runners-up last time. How wrong can a rune be?
By now more than a few Liverpool punters will have come to the conclusion that their team will not again be serious championship contenders until the club's American owners, Tom and Jerry, have sold up and Benítez, the note-taking technocrat, has been replaced as manager by the arm-waving egotist, José Mourinho. Half a dozen footballers of superior quality might also help. Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres were never going to carry the side for a whole nine months.
Anfield supporters may take some comfort from remembering that Manchester United fans were experiencing similar feelings of frustration when Kenny Dalglish's side won Liverpool's most recent league championship in 1990, John Barnes completing the task with a penalty as Queens Park Rangers were beaten 2-1. It was Liverpool's 10th title in 15 seasons whereas United had not won the First Division since 1967 and were about to finish 13th.
Rumours of discontent with the management of Ferguson, who had been in charge since 1986, were rife and he might have gone the way of Ron Atkinson, Dave Sexton and others who failed to recapture the heights of the Matt Busby era had United not won the FA Cup that season. At least Liverpool remain capable of winning other things at home and abroad, yet the regular presence of the Premier League trophy at Old Trafford still rankles.
It could be argued that Liverpool's profusion of championships in the 60s, 70s and 80s had added merit because those were more egalitarian football times, whereas Ferguson's United have owed much to the concentration of wealth and talent among a handful of clubs that resulted from the creation of the Premier League as a breakaway competition in the early 90s. At various times the Liverpool teams of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Dalglish faced serious competition not only from Busby's United, Don Revie's Leeds, Manchester City and Aston Villa but also Derby, Nottingham Forest, QPR, Ipswich, Watford and Southampton, clubs now several football worlds away from a place among the Premier League's elite. Ferguson, by contrast, can usually assume that his principal rivals will be Chelsea, Arsenal and, if they can get their act together, Liverpool, with Manchester City and Tottenham the only plausible alternatives at present.
Should Manchester United break all records this time, further upstaging Liverpool in the process, speculation concerning Ferguson's retirement will doubtless continue apace. Meanwhile, Fergie will probably deny he is going right up to the moment he decides to go.
And there is still the small matter of overhauling Liverpool's record of four European Cups plus a Champions League. At present United trail 5-3 so Ferguson is going to need quite a bit of stoppage time. Getting ahead of Anfield in the domestic league would leave him satisfied but not sated.
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Such arrogant report will not help MU secure their EPL title.
On the verge of EPL champion? They must have forgot they are still one point behind the current league leader and sorry to tell you all, league leader currently is Chelsea, not burnsley or any other weaker team. Be it liverpool or not, Chelsea will have a high chance of beating the opposite team.
Since Liverpool chances of getting 4th place is only 1%, I think liverpool will just make a mess of this match. Then liverpool can still brag abt the best team in English football history with same record with Man U on english championship but far superior record of European glory.
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Chelsea will win the title this season, and MUFC unless injection of new blood won't win in Europe. So Pool's proud record is intact. And with emergence of City, and Spurs, it is going to be a good showing the next few seasons. MU is in for a tough time.