10 Best Players Who Played For Both Man City & Man Utd
Manchester Derby is one of the biggest football matches in England. Bob Milarvie became the first footballer to play for both these teams when he joined Manchester City from Manchester United in 1891. Since then a lot of players switched between these two sides. In this article, let us have a look at the 10 best players who played for both Man City & Man Utd.
Other players who played for both Man City & Man Utd but didn’t make the cut in this list include: Peter Beardsley, Terry Cooke, Wyn Davies, John Gidman, Owen Hargreaves, Sammy McIlroy, Mark Robins, Tony Coton, Bob Milarvie, Jimmy Bannister, Herbert Burgess, Horace Blew, Harry Rowley. Now, let us look at the ten best players to play for both Manchester Clubs.
10. Andrei Kanchelskis
Ukrainian winger Andrei Kanchelskis played for Manchester United between 1991 and 1995, scoring 36 goals in 161 matches. He then left for Everton, Fiorentina, and then Rangers, before joining Manchester City on loan from Rangers.
He only made ten appearances for Manchester City. Kanchelskis holds a rather unique record as he is the only player to have scored in each of the Manchester, Merseyside and Glasgow derbies.
9. Peter Barnes
Born in Manchester, Barnes began his career at Manchester City. He scored in the 1976 League Cup final at the age of 18, as the “Sky Blues” beat Newcastle United 2–1 and he was voted Young Player of the Year by the Professional Footballers’ Association.
Barnes was sold by new boss Malcolm Allison in 1979, and joined West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £748,000 – a then-club transfer record. He then spent time with Real Betis and Coventry City.
Ron Atkinson then signed him for Manchester United in 1985, where he was effectively an understudy to Danish winger Jesper Olsen. After being an unused substitute in the 1985 FA Charity Shield, he fell out of the first team picture in mid-November of the 1985–86 season, only returning to the starting eleven in October and November of the following campaign.
He was transferred back to Manchester City in 1987, but soon fell out of favour and was loaned out to Bolton Wanderers, Port Vale and Wimbledon. He left Maine Road in 1988.
8. Sandy Turnbull
Scottish footballer Sandy Turnbull played forward for both Manchester City and Manchester United in the early 20th century. Between 1902 and 1906, he made 110 appearances and scored 53 goals while playing for Man City.
When he joined United, he went on to play there until 1915, appearing in 220 games and scoring 90 goals. After being found guilty of match-fixing in 1915, Turnbull and many other players were given lifetime bans from football. In 1919, after his death in 1917, he was reinstated.
7. Bill Dale
Bill Dale, a Manchester native, began his playing career with Sandbach Ramblers before signing on as an amateur with Manchester United in April 1925. The full-back became a professional in May 1926, and in 1928, he made his debut. Before he left United in December 1931 to join Manchester City, Dale played 64 times in United’s six-year span.
It was with the blue half of Manchester where he played more regularly. He had a six-year career with Manchester City, appearing 236 times, winning the 1937 Charity Shield against Sunderland, before leaving the club in 1938. He later played for Ipswich Town and Norwich City before the Second World War brought his career to a halt.