LIVERPOOL and Manchester United are separated in the Premier League by 19 points.
Yet off the pitch, the gap is even greater.
It is annoying for United fans that Manchester City continue to enjoy such great success under Pep Guardiola.
But ultimately, the real pain is being inflicted by Liverpool who, for many, are United’s most hated rivals.
Liverpool could end the season with four trophies and it is even more remarkable when you consider they have spent a fraction of the money shelled out by City and United.
United, for all their cash, have got a bunch of misfits with a totally unsuited manager in interim boss Ralf Rangnick.
On Tuesday, United were bundled out of the Champions League with a home loss to Atletico Madrid.
Just 24 hours later, Liverpool won 2-0 at Arsenal to move within one point of leaders City.
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The embarrassing thing for United is that they have spent so much to be so ordinary.
It is now FIVE YEARS without a trophy, their worst drought for 40 years.
Everything crumbled since Sir Alex Ferguson left Old Trafford in 2013.
Since then, United have been the biggest net spend on players of any clubs in Europe – £860m.
Many City, unsurprisingly, are second on the list at £788m.
Yet Liverpool are 14th with a net spend of just £277m and look at their progress.
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The signings of the soon-to-be-departing sporting director Michael Edwards have been spectacular, although manager Jurgen Klopp needs to take a lot of the credit.
Very rarely have Liverpool got their transfers hopelessly wrong.
Look at their top 10 transfers since Klopp arrived in October 2015 : Virgil van Dijk (£75m), Alisson (£67m), Naby Keita (£52.75m), Diogo Jota (£45m), Fabinho (£44m), Luis Diaz (£37m), Ibrahima Konate (£36m), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£35m), Mo Salah (£34.3m) and Sadio Mane (£30m).
Actually, let us also throw in Bobby Firmino (£29m) at No 11 as he was a bargain.
Although the jury is out on Konate, there is not a disaster among them.
And now look at United’s top 10 transfers since October 2015: Paul Pogba (£89m), Harry Maguire (£85m), Romelu Lukaku (£75m), Jadon Sancho (£73m), Fred (£52m), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£50m), Bruno Fernandes (£46.6m), Amad Diallo (£37.2m), Raphael Varane (£34.2m) and Donny van de Beek (£35m).
A bit hit and miss, to say the least.
United’s transfer policy has been slapdash.
Last summer, rather than sign Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo, United should have gone for Harry Kane and Declan Rice.
They should still try to lure both Englishmen this summer.
As for managers, United, once again, have messed up massively.
The appointment of Ralf Rangnick has been a disaster. Although a brilliant director of football, he is not a good manager.
He did an average job in two spells at Schalke, the third biggest club in Germany.
It is like an Englishman, having done only okay at Arsenal, getting the Bayern Munich gig.
Quite where United go from here remains to be seen.
But they are miles behind Liverpool and it will take years to close the gap.