It is 20 months since Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought into Manchester United, 20 months since he borrowed Sir Alex Ferguson’s phrase to voice his determination to knock Liverpool off their perch. In the intervening time, meanwhile, Liverpool have drawn level with United by winning a 20th league title. United officially launched Project 21. Liverpool have no such slogan but look likelier to accomplish it sooner.
Like much else Ratcliffe has attempted in his time as United’s co-owner, the aim of catching and surpassing Liverpool has gone horribly wrong. Last season the gap was never bigger; not when they were in the same division, anyway. United ended with 42 points, Liverpool with 84. Twice as good, in some respects. More than, in others, with Liverpool first and United 15th, the Merseyside team losing four league games, their Manchester counterparts 18.
There had been some humility amid Ratcliffe’s initial ambition. He had said United had “a lot to learn” from Liverpool and Manchester City, that each was a “sensible organisation” with “great people”. What he had not anticipated was the extent to which United would regress. Last week, in giving his manager his backing, he said Ruben Amorim “needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years”. Liverpool can note Arne Slot won the title in his debut campaign.
For the Portuguese, two targets can feel linked. Finish ahead of Liverpool and he stands a chance of winning the title. Yet United’s fortunes have ebbed to such a degree that this season’s objective is simply European qualification. Win at Anfield on Sunday – albeit a ground where they have not triumphed since 2015 and where the aggregate score in their last seven trips is 18-3 – and they would only be two points behind Liverpool. Slot feels United have been better this season than the league table suggests, and that would offer a different impression.
Lose, though, and United would be eight points adrift of their rivals after eight matches, another chasm potentially opening up. Amorim has the difficult task of providing realism, but also hope. United’s history and identity dictates that they must strive to be the best, but first they have to ensure they are not among the worst. Ratcliffe’s support has been voiced privately, along with that of chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox, but Amorim is sufficiently impatient that he does not want to take three years to orchestrate a revival. “I know that it’s going to take a while, but I don’t want to think like that,” he said.
They have slumped so low that the issue of when they will overtake Liverpool has been obscured by more immediate concerns. It is understandable that Amorim did not put a date on it. “That I don’t know,” he said. “Sometimes things change really fast.” United offer proof of that, albeit of the wrong kind. They finished ahead of Liverpool as recently as 2023, even if it was in a season that brought a different historic low, a 7-0 thrashing at Anfield.
Amorim is a relative newcomer to this rivalry but has noted they rarely meet as equals. “If you see the history of both clubs you can feel that sometimes you have one club that is winning, winning, winning,” he said. “The other club is having a bad moment. That happened with Liverpool when Manchester United was winning everything and that happened with Manchester United when Liverpool was winning everything. So we just have to acknowledge that and to be really honest with the fans.”
Sometimes, arguably, Amorim has been too honest for his own good, too blunt with his criticisms, too open in his despondency. He can be bracingly self-critical. “I am not the best guy because I am here for a year and our results are not so good,” he said. But those results can be better against the elite. United struggle as favourites.
“When you have to win and the response of winning, it’s so much harder to play like that,” he said. “That’s why when you play in big clubs you need to win every match. We have some difficulties sometimes to deal with that. When people expect Manchester United to win that game.”
And few expect them to win at Anfield, even though Liverpool have suffered three successive defeats. United drew 2-2 there as underdogs in January. “I was really upset at the end of the game, because we proved on that day that we can compete against any opponent,” added Amorim.
“But we can win any game. So if we think about just winning the next game, that is the most important thing.” One step at a time. While, as he knows only too well, United have not won back-to-back league matches in his reign, Liverpool are aiming for back-to-back titles. They occupy different worlds. “If we are going to fight to be at the same level as Liverpool in the future, that is the idea,” mused Amorim. “I don’t know how long it is going to take.”
