This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 24, 2025 - March 30, 2025

The eternal joust between Liverpool and Manchester United is football’s uncontrollable peat fire: never extinguished and able to flare up again when least expected. After reaffirming their ascendancy this season, Liverpool ignored the Ides of March to crash and burn, while United kindled hopes of ending it in a blaze of glory.

At the beginning of the month, the gap between the two clubs had never been wider with United closer to the EPL’s bottom side, Southampton, than to leaders Liverpool who had a Treble in their sights. Top of the English Premier League (EPL), top of the Champions League with wins over Real Madrid and Bayern Munich and arguably the best team in the world, they were also in the final of the Carabao Cup.

United, meanwhile, were enduring what certain people call an annus horribilis. Easy meat for middling teams, unable to get anything right. The new manager was faring worse than the old one and the new co-owner was being compared unfavourably with the Glazers. Not only were they strapped for cash to buy players, if nothing was done, they were heading for bankruptcy.

If that’s an unthinkable scenario for Manchester United, Liverpool have one too. After suffering two limp and morale-sapping defeats, they might not win anything. More likely but bad enough, their triumph could be tempered by a sense of anti-climax while United’s worst campaign in half a century could still end with a seat on the big boys’ gravy train.

While Liverpool engineered their own Brexit as well as a cup final defeat, United remained in the Europa League with an increasing chance of winning it. The giant trophy is an impressive piece of silverware, but the real prize is entry into next season’s Champions League which could be worth about £100 million (RM573 million) if they survive the first stage. From penury and despair, it could mean salvation.

For Liverpool, clinching the EPL crown would draw them level with United on 20 league championships apiece which, with a 12-point lead and nine games to go, should be a formality. And more than enough for Anfield to celebrate in style as the fans will be there — unlike last time during Covid-19. Those higher expectations would probably be forgotten in the euphoria of finally joining the Devils on their lofty perch. Not to mention nudging ahead in the overall tally of major trophies — 69 to 68.

For much of the season, the Reds were untouchable and seemingly playing in a league of their own. Their superiority had never been greater — both on and off the field. Years of going toe-to-toe with Manchester City have perhaps not been reflected in actual silverware, but there was no doubt that this pair towered over the rest in English football.

And now that City have imploded, Liverpool have taken advantage even with a new, relatively unknown manager who has seamlessly followed a club legend. In chaotic contrast, United persisted with a man who had lost the dressing room only to replace him mid-season with someone Liverpool had rejected.

By keeping Erik ten Hag, United wasted a season. It was a moment of weakness in the afterglow of a shock FA Cup victory over City for which a heavy price has been paid. Co-owner Jim Ratcliffe now says of some of the players bought: “They are not good enough and are being paid too much.”

United have a well-documented history of poor succession planning. The two immortals, Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson, were both nigh on impossible to follow. In contrast, Liverpool’s managerial line reads like a well-oiled dynasty: Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish, a mixed bag, and now, Klopp and Slot.

Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) are meticulous about structure and detail — which only highlights the wanton neglect of the Glazers. The clincher for Slot was how his football at Feyenoord energised a blue-collar crowd in Rotterdam as much as Klopp’s had at Dortmund. Watching, Director of Football Richard Hughes was duly impressed.

But this recent reality check will hit them hard. Most pundits are blaming the tiredness of players; that a core of 14 or 15 played in almost all the games and ran out of steam. It certainly looked that way against both a younger PSG and a hungrier Newcastle. But the impasse over the out-of-contract trio is seen as another factor.

If this has caused disquiet — and star man Mohamed Salah has not been performing of late — FSG has only itself to blame. To allow the contracts of three big names, Salah, skipper Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, to run out smacks of the kind of carelessness we would expect from the Glazers.

The blunt truth is they took their eye off the ball in 2023 after putting the club up for sale. “Fishing”, they called it as they wanted to see what it was worth after Chelsea had been sold for £4 billion a year earlier. In the end, it came to naught but two key football directors, Michael Edwards and Julian Ward departed and then Klopp dropped his bombshell last January.

The implication is that had Klopp not resigned, all would be well but once he was leaving, the players were not going to sign on until they knew his successor. Edwards and Ward returned to take bigger roles and all is in order now, but if it’s been a factor, it was a big mistake.

Ratcliffe is tackling bigger problems at United but he’s using a cankul and causing a lot of collateral damage. Brutal cuts and catastrophic public relations have alienated club legends and hard-core fans alike, and he even dubbed the universally loathed Glazers “the nicest people on the planet”.

This month he launched his eagerly awaited new stadium plan — weighing in at £2 billion. “The Eiffel Tower of the north,” he gushed over the stunning visuals. A tent-like structure with three 61m poles (tridents) may be designed to catch the eye of wealthy desert investors. But, over the top in more ways than one, it raised more questions than it answered.

The markets were unsure where the money would come from and the club’s share price plummeted on the New York Stock Exchange. The chairman boasted that it would give a 

£7 billion boost to the local economy and create 32,000 jobs, which can only be seen as a thinly veiled pitch for government backing. But are tax-paying supporters of other clubs going to fund a rival’s new super stadium?

Certainly not in Liverpool, whose self-sustaining Reds revamped Anfield for a fraction of that figure, and Everton have just built a swish new arena. And what about his claim that it can be built in five years?

Ratcliffe, 72, added to the uncertainty by admitting he may not have the staying power to see it through. In an interview with the UK’s Sunday Times, the billionaire, owning up to a thinner skin than was first perceived, confessed: “I’d walk away if I got abused like the Glazers.” Well, it’s starting — protesters are no longer differentiating between the two.

The peat fire simmers on and despite the huge gulf in current status, this month has seen a glimmer of hope for United. But after the respective reality checks and even if United manage a late equaliser to make it 69-all, it’s still Liverpool who are blazing the trail.

Bob Holmes is a long-time sportswriter specialising in football

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