The Most Disliked Individuals in Manchester United and Liverpool's Rivalry
Manchester United and Liverpool's historic rivalry will rekindle on Sunday as the two teams face off in a crucial Premier League clash.
The last time they met saw a not-altogether-enthralling 0-0 draw play out, with little in the way of vindictive rivalry. But we do not have to travel too far back in time to find those fierce rivalries and enmities alive and well. Indeed, while the rivalry very much pre-dates the Premier League, all of the selections here come from the post-1992 era.
Some of these intense dislikes have their origins in serious incidents, some much less so, but all stirred up passions at one end or another of the M62. In one case, a player has managed to be equally disliked by fans of both teams; an impressive achievement.
Let's make our way through some of the people who have raised the most hackles in the north-west of England over the past few years.
Luis Suarez
1 of 7
Luis Suarez probably would have been disliked by United fans anyway on the Fernando Torres "he's very good and plays for the team we hate" sort of level. The needle with which he plays the game might have upped the ante a little, but generally, he would have been remembered as a great player for Liverpool who went on to bigger and better things.
Unfortunately, a serious incident took place during a game in 2011, where he was alleged to have racially abused Patrice Evra. Indeed, an Independent Regulatory Commission of the FA found that he had. Their statement read (h/t Sky Sports' Rob Parrish):
"1. Mr Suarez used insulting words towards Mr Evra during the match contrary to FA Rule E3(1);
2. the insulting words used by Mr Suarez included a reference to Mr Evra's colour within the meaning of Rule E3(2).
"
Liverpool's reaction as a club and a fanbase was, generally speaking, to circle the wagons. Kenny Dalglish, then-manager of the Reds, wore a T-shirt in support of Suarez in a post-match interview.
In 2012, he denied the T-shirts were his idea, telling TalkSport: "I didn’t send them out in the T-shirts. The boys decided that themselves. You can’t tell me they would have done that if they didn’t believe in him and didn’t have respect for him. It might not have been right, but it wasn’t me that decided it."
Suarez's behaviour and apparently unapologetic stance in the subsequent furore around handshakes with Evra and the like fuelled the fire, and he is right up there with players who are hated at Old Trafford.
And partially as a consequence of Liverpool's bullish attitude, serious enmity was stirred among their fans for the United player at the other end of the affair...
Patrice Evra
2 of 7
There is something sad about the fact that Evra features on this list. After the Suarez incident, he was roundly booed at Anfield. In essence, he was booed for believing he received racist abuse and for reporting the incident—or perhaps in some cased booed by people who believed he had fabricated the whole affair to get at one of their own.
This was, of course, not what the FA's Independent Regulatory Commission found to have happened.
Nonetheless, Evra was an easy target for Liverpool enmity because, well, he loved Manchester United. Even without this incident, there was a good deal of bad feeling towards him from Anfield, in the way, say, United fans felt about Jamie Carragher.
But it would be dishonest to discuss that without also saying that the siege mentality Liverpool's management retrenched into after the Suarez incident meant that it never seemed like the facts were being considered.
It is reasonable for Liverpool fans to hate Evra for being too United. It is hard to argue that it is fair to hate him for the Suarez affair.
Gary Neville
3 of 7
Now back to the more lighthearted business of actual football.
Gary Neville is hated by Liverpool fans for all the right reasons. United fans, of course, sang of Neville's antipathy towards their rivals every week. "Gary Neville is a Red, he hates Scousers," would ring out to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down" every week. Neville called his autobiography "Red," confirming that he was, indeed, a Red.
He grew up watching United in an era when Liverpool were dominant, and he seemed to share in the fans' and Sir Alex Ferguson's delight in replacing them at the top.
He infamously celebrated a United goal in front of Liverpool supporters by grabbing his badge, rarely missing an opportunity to antagonise them.
The "If the Nevilles can play for England, so can I," formed part of Liverpool fans' response over the years, as well as plenty of less print-friendly chants.
With his outspoken public persona and his obvious love for United, Neville was an easy figure to hate.
Steven Gerrard
4 of 7
Where Carragher was to Liverpool what Neville was to United, Steven Gerrard belonged in a different realm. He clearly lived and breathed the club in the way Neville did, but Gerrard sat in a different pantheon of players in terms of his talent.
Gerrard was Liverpool's talisman for a decade, and for most of that time, he drew nothing but hatred from United supporters.
His successes were never acknowledged, his failures greeted with relentless schadenfreude. It will be a long time before "he gave it to Demba Ba," stops ringing out on the Old Trafford terraces, a reference to Gerrard's infamous slip against Chelsea in the 2013/14 title race.
United fans hate him, as Liverpool fans love him—a perfect example of the ying-yang balance of football rivalries.
Michael Owen
5 of 7
The only man on this list with a shot at being on both sets of supporters' lists, Michael Owen crossed a line for Liverpool fans when he joined Manchester United. He was pretty well embraced by United's support, especially after he won a league title with the club allowing them to sing "Owen one, Gerrard nil!"
He rarely caught the fans' imagination, bar his goal against Manchester City. Of course, he had once thoroughly caught Liverpool fans' imagination, as one of the finest to emerge from their academy. His leaving for Real Madrid was a blow, but joining United later in his career was too much.
And now he has invoked United fans' ire by becoming an ambassador for Liverpool. Scan through the responses to pretty much anything he tweets, and you will see plenty of Liverpool supporters who are not fans of this appointment.
He is probably more hated by Liverpool fans than he is by United's, but he is not well-loved by either group.
Wayne Rooney
6 of 7
Wayne Rooney shaved "19" into his chest hair when United won the title that put them ahead of Liverpool in overall English top-flight titles won.
Of course, he is hated by Liverpool fans. He represents their two most-hated rivals. The boyhood Evertonian, who has made no bones about his love of his childhood club, has gone on to become United's joint-top goalscorer with United legend Sir Bobby Charlton.
No list of this kind could be complete without him.
Howard Webb
7 of 7
When Ryan Babel tweeted out a picture of Howard Webb photoshopped into a United shirt after the referee had given a penalty to Dimitar Berbatov and sent off Gerrard in a 2011 clash between the two sides, he enshrined into legend the idea that Webb favoured the Red Devils.
The referee was unpopular with Liverpool fans from that day forth—though he was hardly more popular among United's support, who never quite bought into the idea that he liked them.
Webb was, of course, one of the game's most respected referees, but this was a fixture and a set of decisions that lived long in the memories of Liverpool fans.
.jpg?w=480 "Vikings Cowboys Football")
.jpg?w=600 "Live Grades for SmackDown 🔡")
.jpg?w=600 "Cowboys Trade for 49ers LB")
.jpg?w=600 "Updated NFL Draft Big Board 📋")