Blues lose
MICHAEL HENDERSON
What's in a colour? Where football is concerned, quite a lot. Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, the most successful clubs in this country, wear red. Nottingham Forest, who won the European Cup twice under Brian Clough, also wore red. So did England when they won the World Cup on that jolly day in July 1966.
As for blue, well, Italy and France look fetching in their togs (particularly the Italians, who sport the most handsome strip of all) but blue doesn't bake many cakes in England. Teams known as the Blues' usually endure the blues. too. Birmingham City have never won anything in their history, and Manchester City are a national joke. Unfortunately, they live in fraternal enmity with United, the biggest club of all.
All true Mancunians support City. It's a cliche but it is three-quarters true, even if it is not yet acknowledged by Michael Atherton, the former England cricketer, who attended the all-Manchester FA tie at Old Trafford last week in his new capacity, scribe manqué. He was a wonderful batsman, Athers (yawn), but he will have to find the boundary more often than he did in his blocking days if he wants to be a sports writer.
Although United won the game 4-2 it was still a City tale. In the last round they went three goals down at Tottenham and won 4-3 with 10 men. That was City all over, the Farceurs' farceurs, the jokers wild, the men who can never be trusted. But Old Trafford proved less obliging. Even though Gary Neville. United's right back, was sent off for an act of distasteful violence. the Reds walloped the Blues, scoring three second-half goals. It was one more humiliation for City, who are wearily familiar with embarrassment. 'Are you City in disguise?' the United fans crowed. You have to admit it's a good joke.
The result confirmed the chasm that separates these clubs. United have won eight championships in the last 11 seasons, a sequence that includes two 'doubles' and one 'treble' in 1999, when they won the European Cup. City fans must go back 28 years to recall their last triumph, in the old League Cup. In recent years they have been relegated to the Second Division (the third, that is, to old-timers), so this latest defeat, while not unexpected, reminded them of their second-class status. Now they must try to avoid another relegation. Since moving to a new ground last August, they have won only two games there. The City of Manchester Stadium was supposed to represent a fresh start, except, where City are concerned, there are no fresh starts. Nothing and nobody, it seems, can improve their lot. Like the Flying Dutchman, they are doomed to roam the high seas for ever, world without end.
They appoint managers as Italians elect prime ministers, and still they are enmeshed in mediocrity. Kevin Keegan, the present incumbent, knew glory as a player but he cannot bend others, less diligent, to his will. Presently he will depart, and leave the game for good. City will continue to frustrate their supporters, more than 40,000 of whom persist in their weekly folly. United, meanwhile, march on regardless. They are a vast multinational corporation, whose doings are reported on the front pages as well as the back. While City sink like a stone, United have a foot in Europe as they chase Arsenal to the domestic tape. And both sides wear red.
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