Manchester United fans forced to take down Steven Gerrard banner mocking the Liverpool captain
The banner contravened Old Trafford health and safety regulations
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United fans take much joy mocking the captain of their great rivals Liverpool, but a banner offering a reminder of Steven Gerrard's infamous slip last season couldn't be added to their armoury of insults.
United won Sunday's game 3-0 thanks to goals from Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Robin van Persie to extend their run of victories to six whilst simultaneously churning Liverpool's season further into the dirt.
Last week Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League and defeat to their great rivals in the following game his piled the pressure onto Brendan Rodgers with discontent being heard among the travelling supporters at Old Trafford.
It's a far cry from last season when for some time it seemed Liverpool were destined to win the title. Eventually they were overtaken by Manchester City and the moment that many feel the title race turned came when Gerrard lost possession against Chelsea at Anfield and with it gifted Demba Ba a goal. Liverpool would lose that match and failed to recover.
Some Manchester United fans were keen to remind Gerrard of the slip but a banner which did so was understood to have been removed just seconds after being unfurled on Sunday.
It showed a silhouette of Gerrard on all fours along with the words 'Au Revoir Gerrard, Come Back When You've Won One.' It appears to be a parody of a banner once used at Anfield aimed at Eric Cantona in 1993 which read: ‘Au Revoir Cantona and Man United, Come Back When You’ve Won 18!'
Health and safety concerns are understood to be behind the decision to take the banner down, with rules stating banners cannot exceed a certain size. A Manchester United spokesperson told The Telegraph: “Any banner over a certain size would need a fire certificate. This banner would have contravened the ground regulations.”
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