UNITED DISPLAY CLASS
Last updated : 16 February 2004 By Editor
In the Times, Oliver Kay looks at the behaviour of City’s Scouse
rejects:
‘If, amid the red cards and the blue language, a single act could
be said to have summed up the difference between these
fierce rivals on Saturday, it was the rather sad sight of
Robbie Fowler holding four fingers up at the Stretford End
in a lame attempt to have the last laugh on the home
supporters. Those four fingers represented nothing about his
employers, Manchester City, but rather the number of
European Cups won by his former love, Liverpool, compared
with Manchester United’s two.
'It was amusing in one sense — and it will certainly enhance his
enduring cult status in the red half of Merseyside — but
ultimately it was a pitiful gesture from a player who, in
common with others at City, can find greater comfort in the
past than in the present. For now, the four fingers served
as a harmless joke, but when, at the end of his career, he
counts up his own medals rather than those of the club he
once played for, Fowler may reflect that poking fun at
United said more about his own failures than theirs.
’Put simply, Saturday afternoon at Old Trafford was a clash
of cultures as much as a meeting of adversaries. In the blue
corner were Fowler and Steve McManaman, the former Liverpool
idols who, with their careers on a downward spiral, have
reunited at City in the vain hope of one last hurrah. In the
red corner were Gary Neville and Roy Keane, hardened
professionals who are striving to stay at the top. If
Neville’s rush of blood in the 38th minute was a surprise,
the final result, a United victory, was not.
’McManaman seemed to take undue pleasure in his role as
agent provocateur in a losing side. There will be no love
lost between the former England team-mates, who are happy to
regard each other as total opposites, but neither should be
happy with their actions on Saturday.
‘At 4-1 down with an extra man, City were facing
humiliation. Fowler’s quickly taken free kick, with four
minutes remaining, gave the scoreline a less embarrassing
look, but it was no consolation to a team whose FA Cup run
has provided welcome solace from their travails in the
Premiership. City have not won in the league since November
1 and, rather than taunt the United supporters or delight in
Neville’s dismissal, Fowler and co would do well to take a
look at themselves.’
