When Liverpool's American owners first arrived at Anfield, they sat down in an executive suite with the journalists who covered the club and asked for their opinions on what could be done better.
When Manchester United's American owners first arrived at Old Trafford, they bought a couple of 'I love Man United' T-shirts and an £18 plastic souvenir rucksack and sped away in a VW people carrier.
Here, in essence, is the reason why such a chasm has developed between English football's two great adversaries.
Liverpool's success is the product of the strategic oversight and intellectual rigour of proprietors who have brought the same intensity to football as to finance.