Anti-England songs sang by Man United fans

It's hard to say when the rivalry between Manchester United and England fans started, although it certainly pre-dated United's recent success and, without doubt, has grown more ferocious since 1994 to the point where England fans refuse to honour a minute's silence for those that died at Munich, including 5 England greats.

Whilst the anti-England songs definitely get a more passionate airing against small time clubs, who easily get wound up by them, there's virtually never a game to go by without one chant directed towards the national team.

For many non-Mancunians, it's puzzling as to why such a rivalry exists, especially as more England caps have been given to players from United than any other club. You could write a whole book about the two-way hatred, however the most obvious examples include the whole of Wembley Stadium singing "Stand-Up If You Hate Man U' on regular occasions, despite England's best players being United stars. This song was sang louder than ever when England played at Old Trafford and, worse still, in 2001, when seven reds played in the same England team against Albania. The singing didn't stop even after both Scholesy and Andy Cole scored.

Even those Little Inger-lund-ers who, after booing the opponent's national anthem, worship the likes of Rooney and Beckham when playing in white, are the first to abuse them passionately when they wear the red of United. Beckham even received death threats from England supporters after being sent off against Argentina, whilst United fans stood by him. And then of course, there's United's new Number 7, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has twice broken England hearts to the delight of non-patriotic reds.

United fans could never really support the likes of Alan Shearer, Robbie Fowler or Steven Gerrard, whilst Stevie Coppell (Nov'81) and Neil Webb (Sep'89) both had their United careers cut short through injury whilst on national duty. Then of course there was Captain Marvel, Bryan Robson, who seemed to pick up a major injury every time he played for England.

England managers helped give United fans a laugh, Darren Anderton was preferred to David Beckham in the 1998 World Cup, Emile Heskey to Andy Cole and perhaps most amazingly, one of United's greatest ever players, Steve Bruce, never received a single England call up! Maybe that explains why United fans have never really been patrioc, although many people point simply to the Manc attitude, the chip on the shoulder, the cocky Ian Brown / Tim Burgess swagger.

Maybe as a result, European away trips are usually a far cry from those endured by Ing-er-lund's often racist, jingoistic hooligans (usually wrapped in their Stoke, Leeds, Millwall, West Ham, Bolton, Stockport or Man City flags). European Cup draws tying United with German opposition normally receive equally jingoistic headlines from the British tabloid press, without actually reflecting the truth that United fans and those of Bayern, Dortmund and Stuttgart actually get on fine and have shared some fantastic Oktoberfest drinking & singing love-ins prior to previous games.

Chants of 'Argentina!' long preceded Juan Veron's signing, 'We Are Manchester - Not England' flags traveled across Europe with the red army well before 1999, and 'The Republic Of Mancunia' was born many years before a banner in the Stretford End declared so. That famous United fan, Ian Brown, once sang, "There are no lions in England". That's certainly true in the red parts of Manchester!