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Manchester City: Manchester derby by numbers

By Jason Bardwell

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 10: A general view of Old Trafford ahead of the Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford on December 10, 2017 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 10: A general view of Old Trafford ahead of the Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford on December 10, 2017 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /
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Managers Shared:

1968: Footballer manager Matt Busby (1909 – 1994) with the European Cup won by his team, Manchester United. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
1968: Footballer manager Matt Busby (1909 – 1994) with the European Cup won by his team, Manchester United. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) /

There are a lot of things Manchester United should be thanking City for. Instead of a team with no history we actually have a lot which benefitted United.

Ground sharing when Old Trafford was bombed was a gesture by City, not reciprocated by United when Hyde Road had their fire.

When United were in a financial mess in the early 1900’s it was City who donated money to help keep them alive. Even United’s first trophy came from us. After the governing body decided to decimate our side and players moved across town, United won the Title and FA Cup soon after.

One of United’s greatest managers of all time, Matt Busby (Pictured), was apparently convinced to stay in Manchester and not go to America by a City manager. Playing for City on a contract of £5 a week, he was told to give it a season and then go with our blessing if that’s what he still wanted. He would go on to make over 200 appearances for the blues over eight seasons, but his name in Manchester belongs to United.

Going on to lift 13 trophies in a 25 year stay at United, which included the Munich air disaster which lost some talented young Mancunian, and English footballers. Our very own Frank Swift was on board and perished in that crash. As our former goalkeeper, he then found himself working for a news outlet covering United’s European adventure.

Of course not many managers have moved from one side of the City to the other. Mark Hughes‘ appointment was not received well by either the United nor City faithful. You could only imagine, in today’s climate if a manager did actually move directly from United to City, or vice versa.

Ernest Mangnall was the last guy to do that, and in fantastic circumstances. Manchester derby, September 1912 and Mangnall was in charge of United. Reports were that he’d already signed papers to take over Manchester City and that was highlighted as he smiled at his current teams 1-0 loss over his ‘new’ team.

Unsung hero for both City and United he goes down in Mancunian history for his contributions to both sides, in a time when supporters would go to one side one week and the other the next.