(Manchester United News)
"Going to Anfield to watch United is like being a guest at a party you’ve been reluctantly invited to by a host who can’t wait for you to leave – preferably after a miserable time."
- Paul Davies, United Review editor
United Review editor Paul Davies relays exactly what it is like to visit Liverpool's home as a travelling Manchester United fan....
Going to Anfield to watch United is like being a guest at a party you’ve been reluctantly invited to by a host who can’t wait for you to leave – preferably after a miserable time.
I’ve left miserable on a number of occasions, not that I care to recall them. But better memories are those when I’ve been part of a writhing mass of rejoicing in the corner of the Anfield Road Stand, celebrating goals from Gary Pallister, Andy Cole, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Diego Forlan and Jamie Carragher. Not to mention John O’Shea – his 90th minute winner in 2007 being my favourite moment at my least favourite ground.
I’ve nothing against Anfield. On the contrary, it ticks all the boxes for groundspotters: it’s historic, has a distinctive collection of stands close to the pitch and isn’t one of the modern identikit venues that have popped up all over the country. It’s just that it’s Liverpool’s home and we are Manchester United.
Times have certainly changed since I first set foot inside the place. That was with my dad, sat among home fans in the main stand in 1988 – watching a 3-3 draw where substitute Norman Whiteside stamped his authority on the game (and Steve McMahon) and Gordon Strachan smoked a big fat invisible cigar in front of the Kop.
In a personal act of defiance, I’d worn a pair of white MUFC sports socks emblazoned with a red devil – well, I was only a kid. Only to then lose my bottle when I realised they were barely concealed by the jeans I was fast outgrowing. As a youngster, the worst I’d have received would have been a playful quip had we been rumbled, but it didn’t stop me suffering a paranoid 90 minutes.
It had left no scars and I was able to muster the courage to stand on the old Kop terrace in March 1993, as Choccy made my heart leap when the rest of me couldn’t by heading the winner beyond David James in a 2-1 win.
By this point, the level of animosity experienced by Mancunian Reds at ‘Liverpool away’ during 1970s to the mid-80s was dropping fast. This fixture and the reverse at Old Trafford can still have its unsavoury moments for those attending – with unwanted chants from both sides – it’s just that it’s nothing like as intimidating as it was.
Assaults these days are verbal – be it kids on bikes in Stanley Park or shouted insults from across the lines of segregation. But the butterflies in the belly are down to it being our biggest match rather than a fear of trouble.
Much is made of the Anfield atmosphere and, just like Old Trafford, it’s had its moments as an all-seater venue. But don’t believe the hype. It holds nothing like the trepidation that it once did. The renditions of their famous anthem at the start and end of the match remain raucous but, in between times, the place can be subdued. “Where’s your famous atmosphere?” has been sung by United fans on almost every visit for decade – and with reason.
I read a City fan joke on Twitter that listening to United and Liverpool fans argue is akin to two bald men fighting over a comb. I can only imagine he was hoping his club’s rise to prominence would shift our focus onto them – and it may have done for some Reds – but our neighbours have a long way to go, and a lot of silverware to win, before they can replace Liverpool as the team we most want to beat.
Which is why on Sunday some 3,000 United fans will make the trip to Merseyside in hope of witnessing another positive result against our oldest foe. There’s no fear, only wishing for another famous win at the home of our rivals.
