my liverpool fc

Derby: a giant Liverpool flag in the stands during the League encounter this week Photo: PA

The ultimate display of solidarity from a city in mourning confirmed the clash between Liverpool's red and blue halves as England's friendly derby. Twenty years on, that reputation is long gone.

Many of the same fans who sang together at Wembley will attend Sunday afternoon's FA Cup clash and hear spite, vitriol and bile pour from the rickety old stands of Anfield. Merseyside police have joined both clubs in appealing for an end to the vile taunts directed at opposing players and supporters alike. If Monday night's game is anything to go by, that call is likely to go unheeded.

"I remember in my first derby I ran out looking at the Kop and a whole corner was blue and white," said Gary Ablett, a man who has seen the derby from both sides of the Merseyside divide. "They wouldn't let that happen now. The police fear it would kick off. What do you do, just let them carry on what they're singing, or do something about it?"

Ablett, now Liverpool's reserve team coach after a spell running the under-18s at Everton, made the opposite journey as a player. Graeme Souness sold him to Howard Kendall after nine years at Anfield in 1992, a move which the boyhood Liverpool fan admits was not easy. Even for a returning hero, the signs when he visited his former side suggested the friendly derby was no more.

"One game at Anfield I came off with a knee ligament injury. I wasn't really aware of it coming off but certainly Joe Royle, the manager, was quite affected by it," Ablett said. "He said the reaction of the Liverpool fans would make him think twice about bringing a player across the park and subjecting him to that.

"On the pitch, it's still ultra-competitive. You go in for the ball and you have to come out with it. Before, we had players like Ronnie Whelan and Steve McMahon, Everton had Joe Royle's Dogs of War.

"They were lads who could look after themselves. But you would still see both sides picking each other up, making sure everyone's OK. It's still like that, as much as the rules allow. It's on the stands that it's changed.

"It's not a nice atmosphere now, it's turned vindictive, vicious and the chants are horrific.

"It's hard to put your finger on one thing that's changed it. Whether it's the success Liverpool have had in recent years, or winning the Champions League and qualifying when Everton finished fourth, it's hard to put your finger on one thing that's changed the atmosphere.

"Unfortunately, I've certainly heard Everton fans question whether Heysel, coming when it did and getting them barred from Europe, might be a factor. They were in the ascendancy but didn't get to compete at the highest level. I don't know whether that's got anything to do with it."

As the tension in the stands has increased, arguably the significance of the game has diminished. Liverpool fans now look down the East Lancs Road for their major derby, rather than across Stanley Park. Where Liverpool once faced Everton with both sides aiming for the title, for the red half of the city the game is now just a local skirmish in a battle waged on a national scale.

Ablett said: "It could be that it's more important now for Everton than Liverpool. It always used to be the fixture you'd look for when you got the list, but for Liverpool that's maybe Manchester United.

"When I was playing, Everton were a major force, right up there with us. They were the major rivals because Manchester United hadn't really got going. For Everton, though, they maybe still see this as the biggest game of their season. Liverpool have United, Chelsea, Arsenal and the Champions League ties, too, and they're all massive games." That is not to say that those in blue will be more fired up than their hosts this afternoon. Ablett is well aware of Everton's Scouse spine – he helped to develop most of them – but has also seen first-hand Liverpool's foreign stars become imbued with the spirit of the club.

He said: "A majority of the lads who have come in have developed an understanding of what the city's all about and part of that is working out why the game means so much to the fans, on both sides."

Liverpool v Everton is exclusively live on Setanta Sports, from 3.30pm, Sunday Jan 25, 2009. To subscribe visit: www.setanta.com or call: 0871 200 7494