Who Are United's Biggest Rivals?

Arsenal and Chelsea may be regraded by some United fans as our rivals, as they have been the two teams that have given our club serious battles for the Premiership title over the past 15 years. Whilst they can be called rivals, in the sense that we are fighting it out for the same spot in the league, they will never be rivals in the traditional sense.

Every week at Old Trafford there are songs for our hatred of Liverpool, Leeds(scum) and City, even though it has been the best part of two decades or more that these clubs have challenged Manchester United for the league title. This indicates that there is a lot more to rivalry than battling over success.

This article looks at the topic of rivalry in English football, deciding on why rivalries formed, whether rivalries have changed and why, as well as names fans use to refer to their rivals.

It is interesting to see that the fans of five clubs in this country regard United as their ‘main rival’ (Arsenal, Bolton, Leeds, Liverpool and City), whilst there are a further two clubs who see us as their second main rival (Newcastle and Everton), meaning that United have more clubs regarding them as a rival than any other in the country.

The United fans asked claimed Liverpool were our main rivals, followed by City, then Arsenal. Is this right?