The FA's decision to send United to play at Anfield in the wake of a hooliganism incident seems hare-brained now, but at the time hooliganism happened at most games and in any case, as the former Liverpool club secretary Peter Robinson, who helped organise the fixture, explained last year, the animosity didn't exist as it does today.

"When I started at Liverpool in the 1960's the great rivals were always Everton," said Robinson. "The rivalry has changed. It turned into Manchester United when they had this terrific emergence but before that I can remember them being relegated [in 1974] and having some really difficult times. I can also remember United supporters standing in the Kop. It wouldn't happen today, would it?"

The rivalry between groups of hooligans was still fierce however, even if the antipathy felt between real football supporters of both sides was not, and the front page of the Guardian the morning after the match carried the usual depressing news of trouble. "About 100 fans" were ejected from Anfield, according to the report, the windows of some houses in Anfield were smashed and "600 skinheads" were said to have been "kept in check" by police after throwing bricks at the United supporters as they were frogmarched back to Lime Street station and on to trains back to Manchester.