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Soccer

Richard Dunne's Manchester and Merseyside derby memories

One of the players with an intimate knowledge of both the Merseyside derby and Manchester equival...



Richard Dunne's Manchester...
Soccer

Richard Dunne's Manchester and Merseyside derby memories

One of the players with an intimate knowledge of both the Merseyside derby and Manchester equivalent is Richard Dunne.

With both of those derbies on this Sunday live on Off The Ball, the former Ireland defender joined us to share his own memories of two of the major intra-city fixtures on the Premier League calendar from an Everton and Manchester City perspective. 

His first experience came at the age of just 17 as Everton took on Liverpool and it was an opportunity he relished. 

"It's one of things where because you're so young, you don't realise the enormity of it. I think I was the youngest player to play in a derby for about 20 minutes and then Michael Ball came on who was a couple of weeks younger than me," he said.

"It was just brilliant because we sort of played B team games and A team games and then you're thrown in with the big boys and you're in the middle of it all, going from marking normal young lads on a Saturday to marking Robbie Fowler and marking Steve McManaman and all these top stars of the times." 

Manchester United's Carlos Tevez (right) gets past Manchester City's Richard Dunne (left). Martin Rickett/PA Archive/PA Images

Meanwhile, by the time he joined Man City, they were far from the side they are now in less lucrative times for the club.

He played in the last derby at Maine Road when City ended a win drought against United.

"For the fans then it was just amazing because we could go and get beat by Wimbledon or something like that but as long as we went and beat Man United or put in a good performance, then the fans are happy," he recalled.

"It was one of those games where you're just the underdog for the day because you're playing against at the time, the best team in the world, so it was always tough for us."

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