TERRACE TALK: Manchester United - The Louis Van Gaal ‘United enigma’ is surely over now

When it comes to the subject of the United-Liverpool rivalry, I am often reminded of the phrase "the narcissism of small differences". What must we look like to outsiders?

Discussing this many years ago with a representative of what both Scousers and Mancs might call ‘the southern ponce community’, I was struck aghast by his shrugging summation: “you’re all the same to me. You both talk weird, walk weird, love to drink and fight, and are obsessed with the European Cup.”

Add the fact we both come from places marked by centuries of immigration, and cordially loathe England’s London establishment, then perhaps it’s a fair cop.