Liverpool FC exists because Everton refused to pay higher rent in 1892

The Merseyside derby rivalry began with a bitter rent dispute, not on the pitch.

Everton left Anfield in 1892 after falling out with stadium owner John Houlding, prompting him to create Liverpool Football Club to keep the ground occupied.

More than 130 years later, that landlord dispute has become the unlikely origin story of English football’s fiercest rivalries.