[dree_united]

dari Manchester evening news nih. nyeritain jg ttg sejarahnya derby Manchester ini. ini jg menjadi derby yg ke 150 buat United dan city..

Now that's a derby!

CAN anyone tell me why this weekend's clash between the Rags - sorry Reds - and the blessed Blues is called a derby?

I've checked the history books and there are enough theories about the origin of that word to fill this newspaper.

The most logical one I came across is that a football derby is linked to the town of Derby itself.

Back in the 1800s the good folk of Derby had a traditional Shrovetime match of football. The whole town took part in this annual free-for-all which must have made it a tad difficult to referee. Tempers, as always, became frayed and hundreds of fatalities were recorded before the bloodbath was abandoned in 1877.

Impossible

Now that sounds exactly like a Manchester derby to me. Family divided. Workmates at each others throats. Best mates becoming best of enemies for 90 minutes. Two sets of fans who would rip each other apart if the killjoys of the Manchester Constabulary would let them.

Why the history lesson? Because for the purposes of this column I was asked to achieve the impossible - browse through my memory bank and come up with the greatest Manchester derby I've ever seen.

Now what do you rate as a classic derby?

If I asked that question of the Blues fans they would tell me it was when City beat United 5-1. The same question to Fergie's army would draw a similar response.

But derby games like that aren't classics in my book. One-sided matches are only spectacles for the fans of the winning side. I wanted to recall a derby which stirred the emotions, and I believe I've trawled one up. The game took place back in November 1971 when you could take your girlfriend to the pictures for sixpence and still have enough left over for fish and chips on the way home.

The derby that Saturday was at Maine Road and drew a capacity attendance of 65,000.

Debuts

It was the first derby for United's manager Frank O'Farrell - or Frank O'Failure as we Blues fans renamed him.

Two players, one from each side, were also making their derby debuts that day. For the Blues it was the battering ram centre-forward Wyn Davies, signed from Newcastle, and for the Reds it was a slip of a lad named Sammy McIlroy, of whom no-one outside of Old Trafford had heard.

It didn't take long for young Sammy to make his mark. Early in the game he had the audacity to whip the ball off the toes of his legendary team-mate George Best to whip a shot past City's goalkeeper Joe Corrigan.

Just before half-time United hammered another nail into City's coffin when Brian Kidd rose to a Willie Morgan cross to thunder a header past the helpless Corrigan.

The points were heading back to Old Trafford - or so the dancing United supporters believed. But they hadn't reckoned on City's gruesome twosome, Colin `Nijinsky' Bell and Francis `Barney Rubble' Lee.

The two England internationals were on a different planet in the second half when they waged a two-man war against the United defence.

It wasn't long before Lee tripped himself up in the United penalty box to earn a spot-kick with the cleverest con trick ever seen in English soccer. Needless to say, Francis picked himself up, dusted himself down and bulleted the penalty past Alex Stepney.

Moments later Lee the scorer turned Lee the provider with a glorious through-ball to Bell. No one in the country could catch the great midfielder when he pressed the turbo button and United's defence could only stand and stare as one of City's finest ever players rounded Stepney before coolly slotting the ball into the empty net.

The Blues at this stage were on fire and every single person in the ground thought that derby debutant Davies had given City the lead with a trademark towering header. Everyone that is but for the referee who blew for offside.

Deflected

City's sense of grievance was magnified when United substitute Johnny Aston - on for the injured Tony Dunne - put the Reds back in front with a mishit shot which deflected into goal off striker Alan Gowling.

Was that the end of the drama? Not by a long shot. With the referee looking at his watch keeper Stepney punched a corner out to the feet of Mike Summerbee who responded with a screaming volley which would have sailed over Platt Fields if the net hadn't intervened. That is what I call a great, great derby. It ended 3-3 but it could have been 6-6. Right to the dying seconds the result was in doubt.

If the coming derby is only half as good as that one, Manchester is in for an almighty treat.

original: dree_united