Manchester United fans revive 51-year ‘counter’ jibe at Manchester City

Manchester United supporters are set to bring back one of football’s best-known terrace taunts when the “counter” banner returns to the Stretford End for Saturday’s Premier League meeting with Tottenham.

The banner will mock Manchester City following the Premier League’s ruling on the 115 charges brought against the club. Manchester City was found guilty of all but one of those charges, a decision that has cast a shadow over the club’s trophy record, which many now regard as tainted.

According to The Athletic, The Red Army group has paid £114 to produce a new banner bearing the words “51 years”. The figure is intended as a symbolic cancellation of the 20 major trophies Manchester City has won since its Abu Dhabi takeover in 2009.

The banner originally counted the number of years since Manchester City’s last major trophy. It was first displayed in 2000, when it carried the message “24 years”, referring to the club’s victory in the 1976 League Cup.

The number was updated annually until the banner was finally taken down after Manchester City won the FA Cup in 2011. It was last displayed in 2010, during the second leg of the League Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford, when it showed “35 years”.

The original banner, including the counter, was sold by Stretford End Flags to a collector in Kuwait for £7,000 in 2013. The group is now attempting to recover it.

The planned return comes after the Premier League’s ruling on Manchester City’s case, which has prompted renewed focus on the club’s honours since the Abu Dhabi takeover.

Speaking at his first news conference since the ruling, Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca denied on Friday that the club’s trophies had been tainted.

The banner’s reappearance will revive a piece of rivalry history that had disappeared after Manchester City’s success ended the long wait referenced by Manchester United supporters. Its new wording, however, is aimed at the club’s modern trophy haul rather than simply counting the years since its previous major honour.