Manchester United boss can't resist a chuckle over ‘19 Times’ banner that appeared at Liverpool
By Ben Riley-Smith
LAST UPDATED 10:47 AM, MAY 19, 2011 ShareManchester United have few friends on Merseyside, and Alex Ferguson won't have done his side's reputation among fans of Liverpool much good after announcing that he wished he had been the one to unveil the 'MUFC – 19 times' banner which appeared in Anfield on Sunday.
Having secured a record 19th title, overtaking Liverpool's haul of 18, a group of Manchester United fans snuck into Anfield to laud the triumph over their bitter rivals. The sign, draped over a stand in the Anfield Road End, was a deliberate response to Liverpool's infamous "Come Back When You Have Won 18" banner, unveiled in 1994, when Ferguson guided United to the championship for the first time since 1967.
The guerilla fans unveiled the message as the home fans began singing You'll Never Walk Alone, and promptly fled the stadium to where a getaway car was waiting for them.
"I wish I had taken that banner to Liverpool on Sunday," Ferguson said, at the annual players' awards ceremony at Old Trafford on Wednesday night. "I bet there were 76,000 fans wishing they had thought of that."
The remarks suggest that United's manager really has enjoyed "knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch" - as the Scot famously put it in 2002 when asked about his greatest managerial challenge - despite attempts at humility in recent weeks.
When asked about the comment recently he said "I don't know if I ever actually said that." And after winning title number 19 he said it mattered "not so much because we have gone past Liverpool, but because we have now won more league titles than anyone else". The 69-year-old's latest gloat, however, would suggest that there is at least a modicum of enjoyment to be had from overtaking his Scouse rivals.
While the Red Devils guffawed at their own quick wittedness, Manchester City fans have been enjoying a spot of banner banter at the expense of United.
City have long been taunted by a sign at Old Trafford that declared the number of years since their Manchester rivals last won silverware. It had got up to 35 this season.
On Saturday, however, Man City put to bed their long trophy wait with a 1-0 victory over Stoke in the FA Cup final, prompting fans and players to triumphantly hold aloft their own version of the banner, stating simply '00 years'.
So what now for the United ticker? It will get one final showing at the Blackpool match his weekend, the supporters behind it say. "What goes up is open to interpretation," Andrew Kilduff of Stretford End Flags said. "It's going to be the same banner but it will just have something else on it.
"We've had suggestions to turn it to 43 which is how long since City last won the league," he continued. "But if we do that it would just give City the motivation to win it again - and it would look a bit petty really." So perhaps United fans do have a bit of humility after all.
