English football's traditional curtain raiser between the Premier League and FA Cup winners has not always just been treated as an exhibition as Richard Jolly writes.
Ahead of today's Manchester derby at Wembley between league champions Manchester United and Cup winners City, The National picks five of the best Community Shield matches.
1911: Manchester United 8 Swindon Town 4
The fourth Charity Shield was a record breaker. The total of 12 goals is unlikely to be beaten, along with the double hat-trick of Harold Halse, the Manchester United centre-forward. Swindon, the Southern League champions, discovered the Division 1 winners played at a different level altogether.
1954: Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 West Brom 4
A Black Country derby that ranks among the greatest. Wolves led 2-0 and 4-2 but were pegged back by their local rivals. Ronnie Allen, the striker, scored a 24-minute hat-trick, including the equaliser, to ensure that Wolves and West Brom kept the trophy for six months apiece.
1967: Manchester United 3 Tottenham Hotspur 3
Best remembered as the match that contained the only goal of the great keeper Pat Jennings's long career. It was also a six-goal thriller between arguably the two most attacking teams of their era with Bobby Charlton, United's record scorer, striking twice, and Denis Law once.
1978: Nottingham Forest 5 Ipswich Town 0
Brian Clough's Forest side were to go on and conquer Europe, but they started the 1977/78 season by equalling the biggest winning margin in the Charity Shield to dismantle a fine Ipswich side. Martin O'Neill led the rout with two goals.
1992: Leeds United 4 Liverpool 3
The high point of Eric Cantona's brief Leeds career. The Frenchman scored a hat-trick, including a sublime second, and teammate Rod Wallace managed a treble of his own with three assists. Despite Gordon Strachan's comical own goal, it remains the last trophy Leeds, then the reigning champions, have won.
