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Liverpool can thank arch rivals Everton for their creation. In 1892, Everton failed to strike a deal with John Houlding, the owner of Anfield, and left for Goodison Park instead. As a result, the Anfield landlord decided to form his own team - which was also briefly named Everton.
Playing its first Football League game in 1893, the team was dominated by 10 Scotsmen. Only goalkeeper Bill McOwen was born in England. Never having been lower than the Second Division, Liverpool`s record is unparalleled.
Throughout its distinguished history, fans have been able to watch an array of talented players, whose earliest stars were goalkeepers Sam Hardy and Elisha Scott as well as Billy Liddell. Even heavyweight boxer Joe Louis signed for Liverpool in 1944, although he never played a match.
It was with the arrival of the legendary Bill Shankly, another Scotsman, in 1959 that Liverpool reached the pinnacle of the world club game.
Under his passionate guidance, Shankly drew on a seemingly endless supply of big names, including Ray Clemence, Emlyn Hughes Roger Hunt, Kevin Keegan, Tommy Smith, Ian St John, John Toshack and Ron Yeats.
After Shankly`s surprise decision to stand down in 1974, Bob Paisley took up the reins, signing Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness - both of whom went on to make their names as managers with a club which has won a record 18 league championships.
The big names continued to emerge: John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, Ian Rush, to name only a few. With the disasters of Heysel, in 1985, and Hillsborough, in 1989, Liverpool fans know - better than any - football`s true tragedies as well as its glorious successes.
Manchester United
The seeds for Manchester United`s future success were sown when workers with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway decided to form a team of their own in 1878.
It was run by the Dining Room Committee of the Carriage and Wagon Works, and was known as the Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Cricket and Football Club.
Only after Newton Heath went bankrupt did Manchester United emerge from the ashes in 1902. Having joined the Football League in 1892, the club has played in one or other of the top two divisions ever since.
With winger Billy Meredith a powerful influence, Manchester United earned their first major honour in 1908 when the club won the championship. It followed up its league success the next year with an FA Cup victory. Although it won the league again in 1911, there followed a notably barren spell lasting until after the Second World War.
During the war, heavy bomb damage meant Manchester United had to temporarily abandon its Old Trafford ground and play matches at their Manchester rivals` Maine Road stadium.
With the end of hostilities, Matt Busby took over as manager and - with the help of captain Johnny Carey - set the club on the path to phenomenal post-war success.
While players such Jack Rowley and Stan Pearson helped them to win the 1948 FA Cup and the 1952 league championship, the club increasingly became renowned for nurturing youthful talent. And so were born the `Busby Babes`: Roger Byrne, Bobby Charlton, Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor, and many more.
Quickly dominating English football, the new team won the First Division in successive seasons before the 1958 Munich air crash claimed the lives of eight players.
From the wreckage, Busby set about building another magnificent team, using the skills of Charlton and Denis Law, and harnessing the teenage talents of George Best. At the height of its power in the mid-Sixties, every Manchester United player was an international.
FA Cup winners in 1963, First Division champions in 1965 and 1967, the pinnacle of the team`s achievements was the 4-1 win over Benfica at Wembley in the 1968 European Cup Final.
Managers found it difficult to emulate Busby`s success, despite the efforts of men such as Tommy Docherty, Dave Sexton and Ron Atkinson. Only under Alex Ferguson, who took over in 1986, have star players managed to combine to live up to the memory of their heroic predecessors.
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