Opinion | You only sing when there’s dying: Lyrics about tragedies are fair game for some Manchester United and Liverpool fans
Intense rivalry between the two clubs means a few of their supporters have no qualms chanting about the Munich air crash, Heysel or Hillsborough
A coach carrying Liverpool supporters crosses the Bridgwater Canal on Sir Matt Busby Way by Old Trafford ahead of Saturday’s Premier League game against Manchester United.
For once, the game would justify its status as befitting England’s two biggest clubs. United would be exceptional in the first half and race into a 2-0 lead, Liverpool the better team in the second when they’d push for a late equaliser.
The noise level inside a stadium frequently criticised for its atmosphere would be the loudest for years.
Yet what happens on the pitch is never enough for a minority of fans of both teams. Fans on the Liverpool coach sing as they close in on the home of their biggest rivals, the sight slightly surreal as you can see them clapping but you can’t hear them.
One fan starts impersonating a crashing aeroplane – a reference to the 1958 Munich air disaster which decimated a great United side. Those plane actions were not an uncommon sight in the 1980s before Liverpool were hit by a tragedy of their own at Hillsborough. “Where’s your famous Munich song?” taunted United fans after that. There are many more songs.
