Liverpool or Manchester United: Which EPL Team Is in a Worse Position?

The two most successful sides in English football history, Liverpool and Manchester United, have been two sides that have had great success in the last five seasons.

For Manchester United, they have won three Premier League titles, two Carling Cups, a FIFA Club World Cup, and have been to two Champions League finals, winning the 2008 final over Chelsea.

For Liverpool, they have been to two Champions League finals and won the European Club Championship in 2005 by coming behind in stunning fashion over AC Milan, and they nearly won the Premier League last season.

At the end of last season, both sides were expected to once again be two of the top sides in the Premier League with their sides, but the offseason wasn't too kind to either team.

For Manchester United, they lost their best player in Cristiano Ronaldo and also lost Carlos Tevez to rival Manchester City. And they didn't spend a large portion of the money that they got from Ronaldo's transfer.

For Liverpool, their side got reinforced with the edition of Glen Johnson from Portsmouth but lost a major playmaker in Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.

As the season begun, both Man United and Liverpool didn't get off to the greatest starts and Chelsea took over on top of the Premier League table.

For United and Liverpool, they were able to rebound in September as Liverpool were the only side who suffered a loss (to Florentina in the Champions League) things were about to get much worse for Liverpool.

During October, Liverpool lost five of the six matches played during the month (the only victory coming against Man United), and they were now fighting for their lives in both the Champions League and the Premier League with that bad month.

In November, Liverpool found themselves eliminated from the Champions League with a Florentina win over Lyon to land Liverpool in the Europa League, and were now fighting to keep an automatic spot in the Europa League for the next season with Liverpool now seventh in the Premier League table.

In December, Liverpool didn't again play up to their best as they suffered losses to Florentina, Arsenal, and at Portsmouth but they started to play better at the end of 2009 with wins against Aston Villa and Wolves.

In 2010, Liverpool have found themselves eliminated from the FA Cup after get knocked out by a Reading side that is fighting relegation in the Championship and their main goal now is to get into the top four.

There have been numerous rumors throughout the year that Rafa Benitez would be sacked, and more recently, there have been rumors that stars Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres would leave Anfield for greener passages elsewhere.

For Manchester United, they were playing solid football through the middle of November, despite the losses against Liverpool and Chelsea, and found themselves second in the table and had an automatic spot in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

But on Nov. 25, Man United lost a Champions League match at Old Trafford to a Besiktas side that had not yet registered a win in the Champions League that season, breaking United's 23 match streak of not losing at Old Trafford on a European night.

Despite this, Man United were able to rebound with strong play in the Premier League and clinched the top spot in Group B but lost again at Old Trafford in a Premier League match, this time to Aston Villa 1-0.

But as the year came to a conclusion, United appeared to have regained their groove and were getting into position to challenge Chelsea for the top spot in the Premier League table.

But all of that changed on Jan. 3 when United got eliminated by rival Leeds United at Old Trafford in an FA Cup third round match, and after a 1-1 draw with Birmingham City, people started to say that Man United are out of it, and they are being restricted due to their ownership.

Now despite having subpar seasons to date, Liverpool and Man United both have one major problem that they really wish that they could get rid of; terrible ownership.

For Liverpool, they have George Gillett and Tom Hicks, who are responsible for what has happened to them, and Manchester United have the infamous Glazer trio of Malcolm, Joel and Avram running the team.

For Liverpool, their owners have racked up a £250 million debt and for Manchester United, their debt is at about £727 million, both of which are exponentially high, and have caused each side from spending a necessary amount in the transfer market for better players.

Both of these sides have also been considered to be two sides that could become the next Leeds United and fall to the Championship if not further due to their current financial situation.

And, the fans from each of these clubs want to see the current ownership to skip town and help these great clubs recover from this terrible American ownership.

So who is in the worst position? That is something that could go either way due to the debts and the Champions League, but Liverpool and Manchester United both need to fix up these problems this year by getting rid of their ownership groups.