The Manchester Derby may be taking centre stage this weekend in the Premier League but the Football League is also anticipating one of the fiercest derbies in Britain as Sheffield United take on Sheffield Wednesday. Below we pick out the five fiercest derbies from the Football League.
5) Brentford v QPR
This West London derby is becoming one of the more frequent Championship derbies and with fellow rival Fulham and Chelsea both in the Premier League, these two have taken up the mantle this season.
This derby hatred goes back a long way as in 1967, QPR actually attempted to take over Brentford and move into Griffin Park which would have lead to the death of Brentford FC. However, the Bees fans then raised the funds needed to save the club and the two have been frosty ever since.
This rivalry reached a heated peak when Martin Rowlands left Brentford for QPR in the early 2000’s and mocked the Bees supporters as he scored in front of them for his new team, kissing the QPR badge. This rivalry is quietly getting more and more heated every season.
4) Derby v Nottingham Forest
Derby and Forest compete for the Brian Clough trophy when they meet and share an intriguing rivalry over the years. The fact they have so often been in the same division has only added to the competitiveness of these fixtures between the two sides. The clubs have met 102 times in total but have been in the second tier together for over a decade now.
The two East Midlands club also share other rivalries with teams such as Notts County and Leicester but this by far the most common rivalry played out in the heart of England. Every year we seem to get fireworks and with Frank Lampard now in the mix, things could get even spicier!
3) Aston Villa v Birmingham
The second city derby has produced some of the most iconic moments in English football derbies in past years. Who can forget Enkleman’s horror show or Gabby Agbonlahor’s late winner at St Andrew’s.
The drama and passion at these games seem unparalleled in the Championship and although we are more used to seeing these two battle it out in the Premier League, the Championship has welcomed this derby with open arms. Now both sides are aiming for the play-offs making this derby even more tantalising this season.
2) Ipswich v Norwich
This derby is often criticised given the fact that the two clubs are 45 miles apart. However, that doesn’t prevent this from being one of the fiercest rivalries in England, in fact, it probably adds to it. Norwich fans do not mingle with Ipswich fans and vice versa, they live completely separate lives. These two really do hate each other. The derby doesn’t just exist between the two clubs but between everything that Suffolk and Norfolk compete in.
Now competing at opposite ends of the Championship, Ipswich tend to be the underdogs in this game and haven’t beaten Norwich since 2009, a run that Norwich are desperate to extend to ten years. These games tend to be tight but passionate encounters with both sides desperate not to lose. With former Norwich boss Paul Lambert now in charge of Ipswich, this game just went up a notch.
1) Sheffield United v Sheffield Wednesday
Of course at the top of the charts is the Steel City Derby which remarkably is being played on a Friday night, much to the dismay of the Yorkshire police. The sides first met way back in 1891 and have played a total of 129 times, making this one of the most hotly-contested derbies in the U.K.
Having been in separate divisions for five seasons, up until 2017, this hatred of each other has had time to stew, and came to a head when Sheffield United recorded an impressive 4-2 win at Hillsborough last season in one of the best derbies we have seen in some time. This certainly takes some beating as the best derby in the Championship.
