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The landscape of English football would look entirely different if Manchester City weren’t taken over in 2008. Just ask the country’s two most successful clubs, Liverpool and Manchester United.
The historic rivals are by far ahead of anyone else in England when it comes to trophies.
Manchester United have won 20 league titles, one more than Liverpool, while the two clubs are also tied for domestic cups. Liverpool are way out in front of United when it comes to Europe, though, having won twice as many European Cups.
All in all, the two clubs are tied on 66 major honours apiece.
But how would they stack up against one another if Man City had all their silverware over the past 12 years revoked? The club have been charged with alleged breaches of financial rules by the Premier League and, according to reports, has the power to punish the club in numerous ways.
This has all resulted in speculation that we could see a Calciopoli situation, when Juventus were stripped of the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Italian league titles. The former was left unassigned but the latter season’s Serie A title was awarded to runners-up Inter Milan.
That got us thinking – what would the lay of the land look like if City had all their post-takeover silverware taken away and handed to which team finished runners-up?
Mightn’t we see a situation where Sergio Aguero’s last-minute winner against QPR in 2012 was for nothing? Might we see Steven Gerrard officially recognised as a Premier League winner, with that slip against Chelsea now ultimately meaningless?
We’ve totted up all of Liverpool and United’s silverware and added the trophies when they finished as runners-up to City between 2008 and 2022. Note: this is purely hypothetical, and there’s nothing to suggest that any of this will affect the FA Cup and League Cup.
Liverpool
England
– League titles: 19 (1901, 1906, 1922, 1923, 1947, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 2020) +3 (2014, 2019, 2022)
– FA Cup: 8 (1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001, 2006, 2022)
– League Cup: 9 (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003, 2012, 2022) +1 (2016)
– Community Shield: 16 (1964, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2001, 2006, 2022) +1 (2019)
Europe
– European Cup: 6 (1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2015, 2019)
– UEFA Cup: 3 (1973, 1976, 2001)
– European Super Cup: 4 (1977, 2001, 2005, 2019)
World
– FIFA Club World Cup: 1 (2019)
Total
66 major trophies (existing) +5 (runners-up to Man City) = 71
READ: What Mourinho, Klopp and Keys have said about the Man City allegations
Manchester United
England
– League titles: 20 (1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965, 1967, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013) +3 (2012, 2018, 2021)
– FA Cup: 12 (1909, 1948, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2016)
– League Cup: 5 (1992, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2017)
– Community Shield: 21 (1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965, 1967, 1977, 1983, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016)
Europe
– European Cup: 3 (1968, 1999, 2008)
– Europa League: 1 (2017)
– European Super Cup: 1 (1991)
– European Cup Winners’ Cup: 1 (1991)
World
– Intercontinental Cup: 1 (1999)
– FIFA Club World Cup: 1 (2008)
Total
66 trophies (existing) +3 (runners-up to Man City) = 69
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