manchester united

The club was formed as Newton Heath FC in 1878 as the works team of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath. After nearing bankruptcy in 1902, the club was taken over by J H Davies who changed its name to Manchester United. The Old Trafford Football Ground was bombed during the Second World War, leading the club to seek charity from their then-illustrious neighbours Manchester City, who allowed them to play their games at Maine Road for a period. United appointed Sir Matt Busby as manager after the Second World War, and his then-unheard-of policy of producing most of the players through the club's youth team brought great success, with the club winning the Football League in 1956 and 1957. This success was halted by the Munich air disaster of 1958, in which eight of the club's players died. It was thought that the club might fold, but instead went on to win the football league in 1965 and 1967, and the European Cup in 1968.

The club did not see success again until the 1990s and early 2000s when Sir Alex Ferguson guided it to eight league championships in eleven years, most recently in the 2002-03 season. In 1999, Manchester United became the only team to win the treble, that is the UEFA Champions League, FA Premier League and the FA Cup in the same season. The club had been run as a Public Limited Company since 1991, and an attempted takeover by Rupert Murdoch had been blocked by the British Government in 1998, but in 2005 Malcolm Glazer completed a hostile takeover of the club which plunged the club into massive debt as his bid was heavily funded by borrowing on the assets owned already by Manchester United.

The current captain of Manchester United is Gary Neville, who took over from Roy Keane on 16 November 2005.

History

Early years (1878-1945)

Main article: Manchester United pre-1945

The Busby years (1945-1969)

Main article: Manchester United 1945-1969

Matt Busby was appointed manager in 1942 and took a then-unheard of approach to his job, joining the players for training as well as performing administrative tasks. He was immediately successful, with the club finishing second in the league in 1947 and winning the FA Cup in 1948.

He adopted a policy of bringing in players from the youth team whenever possible, and the team won the league in 1956 with an average age of only 22. This youth policy has now become instrumental in the club's success. The following season, they won the league again and reached the FA Cup final, losing to Aston Villa. They also became the first English team to compete in the European Cup, and reached the semi-final.

Tragedy struck the following season, when the plane carrying the team home from a European Cup match crashed on take-off at a refueling stop in Munich. The Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958 claimed the lives of eight players and another fifteen passengers. There was talk of the club folding but, with Jimmy Murphy taking over as manager while Matt Busby recovered from his injuries, the club continued playing with a makeshift side. Despite this, they reached the FA Cup final again, where they lost to Bolton Wanderers.

Busby rebuilt the team throughout the early 1960s, signing players such as Denis Law and Pat Crerand. The team won the FA Cup in 1963, then won the league in 1965 and 1967 and the European Cup in 1968, the first English Club to do so. This team was notable for containing three European Footballers of the Year: Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best. Busby resigned as manager in 1969 and was replaced by the reserve-team coach and former United player Wilf McGuinness.

1969-1986

Main article: Manchester United 1969-1986

United struggled to replace Busby, and the team struggled under Wilf McGuinness and Frank O'Farrell before Tommy Docherty became manager at the end of 1972. Docherty, or 'the Doc', saved United from relegation that season but United were relegated in 1974. The team won promotion at the first attempt and reached the FA Cup final in 1976, but were beaten by Southampton. They reached the final again in 1977, beating Liverpool. In spite of this success, and his popularity with the supporters, Docherty was sacked soon after the final when he was found to have had an affair with the physiotherapist's wife.

Dave Sexton replaced Docherty as manager in the summer of 1977, and made the team play in a more defensive formation. This style was unpopular with supporters, who were used to the attacking football preferred by Docherty and Busby, and after failing to win a trophy Sexton was sacked in 1981, despite winning his last seven games in charge.

He was replaced by the flamboyant Ron Atkinson who immediately broke the British record transfer fee to sign Bryan Robson from West Brom. Atkinson's team featured new signings such as Jesper Olsen and Gordon Strachan playing alongside the former youth-team players Norman Whiteside and Mark Hughes. United won the FA Cup in 1983 and 1985 and were overwhelming favourites to win the league in the 1985-86 season after winning their first ten league games, opening a ten-point gap over their rivals as early as October. The team's form collapsed, however, and United finished the season in fourth place. The poor form continued into the following season, and with United on the edge of the First Division's relegation zone, Atkinson was sacked.

Alex Ferguson era, pre-Treble (1986-1998)

Main article: Manchester United 1986-1998

Alex Ferguson arrived from Aberdeen to replace Atkinson and guided the club to an 11th place finish. The following season (1987-88), United finished second, with Brian McClair becoming the first United player since George Best to score twenty league goals in a season.

However, United struggled throughout the next two seasons, with many of Ferguson's signings not reaching the expectations of the fans. Alex Ferguson was reportedly on the verge of being sacked at the beginning of 1990 but a Mark Robins goal gave United a narrow 1-0 win in the third round of the FA Cup over Nottingham Forest kept the season alive and the team went on to win the competition, beating Crystal Palace in a replay in the final.

United won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1990/91, beating that season's Spanish champions Barcelona in the final, but the following season was a disappointment for United as a late season slump saw them miss out on the league to rivals Leeds United. Meanwhile in 1991 the club had floated on the London Stock Exchange with a valuation of £18 million, thus bringing its finances into the public eye as never before.

The arrival of Eric Cantona in November 1992 provided the crucial spark for United, and blending with the best of trusted talent in Gary Pallister, Denis Irwin and Paul Ince, as well as budding stars like Ryan Giggs, they finished the 1992/93 season as Champions for the first time since 1967. They won the double (the league and the FA Cup) for the first time the following season, aided by the capture of Roy Keane, a determined midfielder from Nottingham Forest, who would go on to become the team captain. In the same year however, the club was plunged into mourning following the death of legendary manager and club president Matt Busby, who died on 20 January 1994.

In 1994/95, Cantona received an eight month suspension for jumping into the crowd and assaulting Crystal Palace supporter Matthew Simmons for racial abuse, in United's game at Selhurst Park. Drawing their last league match and losing to Everton in the FA Cup final left United as runners-up in both the league and FA Cup. Ferguson then outraged the supporters by selling key players and replacing them with players from the club's youth team, including David Beckham, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes. The new players, several of whom quickly became regular internationals for England, did surprisingly well and United won the double again in 1995-96. This was the first time any English club had won the double twice.

United's European unbeaten home record was broken by Fenerbahçe, who won 1-0 at Old Trafford on 30 October 1996 with a deflected Elvir Bolić goal.

They won the league in 1997, and Eric Cantona announced his retirement from football at the age of 30. They started the following season (1997/98) well, but they finished the season in second place, behind the double-winning champions Arsenal.

The Treble (1998-99)

Main article: Manchester United 1998-1999

1998-99 was when Manchester United had the most successful season in English club football history as they became the first and only English team to win The Treble - winning the Premiership, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in the same season. After a very tense Premier League season, Manchester United won the title on the final day beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1, whilst Arsenal won 1-0 against Aston Villa. Winning the Premiership was the first part of the Treble in place, the one part that manager Alex Ferguson described as the hardest. In the FA Cup Final United faced Newcastle United and won 2-0 with goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes. In the final match of that season, the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final they defeated Bayern Munich in what was then considered the greatest comeback ever witnessed. After going down to an early goal from a Mario Basler free kick, United chased the game for 85 minutes. After 90 minutes they forced a corner, from which late substitute Teddy Sheringham scored. Not giving up, Man Utd went for a second and it came again from a corner, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, another late substitute, poking it into the roof of the net. Ferguson was subsequently knighted for his services to football.

After the Treble (1999-present)

Main article: Manchester United 1999-present

United won the league in 2000 and 2001 but the press saw these seasons as failures as they failed to regain the European Cup. Ferguson adopted more defensive tactics to make United harder to beat in Europe but it was not a success and United finished the season in third place in 2002. They regained the league the following season (2002-03) and started the following season well, but their form dropped significantly when Rio Ferdinand received a controversial eight month suspension for missing a drugs test. They did win the 2004 FA Cup, however, knocking out Arsenal (that season's eventual champions) on their way to the final in which they beat Millwall.

The 2004-05 season was characterised by a failure to score goals, mainly due to the injury of striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and United finished the season trophyless and in third place in the league. This time, even the "consolation prize" of the FA Cup eluded them as Arsenal beat United on penalties after a goalless match. Off the pitch, the main story was the possibility of the club being taken over and at the end of the season, Tampa businessman Malcolm Glazer, (who also owns the American Football team Tampa Bay Buccaneers), acquired a controlling interest in the club. United made a poor start to the 2005-06 season, with midfielder Roy Keane leaving the club to join Celtic after publicly criticising several of his teammates, and the club failed to qualify for the knock-out phase of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in over a decade after losing to Portuguese team SL Benfica. Their season was also dealt cruel blows with injuries to key players such as Gabriel Heinze, Alan Smith, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. However, they were prevented from being left empty handed in successive seasons - a disappointment not endured in the last 17 years - by winning the 2006 League Cup beating newly promoted Wigan Athletic in the final 4-0. United also ensured a second-place finish and automatic Champions League qualification on the final day of the season by defeating Charlton Athletic 4-0.

The Malcolm Glazer takeover

Main article: Malcolm Glazer takeover of Manchester United

On 13 May 2005, businessman Malcolm Glazer acquired a controlling interest in the club through his investment vehicle Red Football Ltd. in a takeover valuing it at approximately £800 million ($1.47 billion). On 16 May, he increased his share to the 75% necessary to delist the club from the Stock Exchange, making it private again, and announced his intention to do so within 20 days. On 8 June he appointed his sons Joel, Avram, and Bryan to the PLC board of Manchester United as non-executive directors. It was for a while expected that Joel would be installed as the new Chairman, however that never happened. At the same time Sir Roy Gardner resigned his position as Chairman of the PLC board, along with non-executive directors Jim O'Neill and Ian Much. Malcolm Glazer also re-appointed Andy Anson as Commercial Director after voting him off the Board at the previous AGM. He also retained Chief Executive David Gill and Finance Director Nick Humby in their current positions in spite of their pre-takeover descriptions of the Glazer's business plan as being "aggressive and unworkable".

In July 2006 the club announced a refinancing package. Previously the debt taken on by the Glazers to financing the club was split between the club and the family, but now it will all be in the club. The total amount will be £660 million, on which interest payments will be £62 million a year. This is a 30% reduction in interest charges. The club stated, "The value of Manchester United has increased in the last year, which is why lenders want to invest in the club.... 'This move represents good housekeeping and it ensures that Sir Alex Ferguson will be provided with sufficient funds to compete in the transfer market." The Manchester United Supporters' Trust responded, "'The amount of money needed to be repaid overall is huge.... 'The interest payment is one thing but what about the actual £660million? It is difficult to see how these sums can be reached without significant increases in ticket prices, which, as we always suspected, means the fans will effectively be paying for someone to borrow money to own their club."^[2]

Club crest and colours

During its Newton Heath days the club's home jerseys were yellow and green, this strip was in fact revived as an away kit in the early '90s as a tribute to the past. Manchester United's most recognized home strip is red jerseys, white shorts and black socks. Away strips are usually white jerseys with black shorts and white socks. Third kits are usually all blue but the club has also used all black and on one occasion in the mid '90s used all grey.

The Manchester United crest has been altered on a few occasions however its basis remains the same. The badge is derived from the crest of the city of Manchester. The devil on the club badge stems from the club's nickname "The Red Devils", which was adopted in the early 60s after Sir Matt Busby heard it in reference to the red-shirted Salford rugby league side. By the end of the '60s, the devil had started to be included on club programmes and scarves, before it was finally incorporated into the club badge in 1970, holding its unmistakeable pitchfork. In 1998, the badge was once again redesigned, this time removing the words "Football Club". To many fans, this was seen as an act of moving the club away from the footballing side and becoming more of a business, and was met with great anger by many fans.

Sponsorship

On 23 November 2005 Vodafone ended their £36 million, four year shirt sponsorship deal with Manchester United. On 6 April 2006, chief executive David Gill announced AIG as the new shirt^[3] sponsors of Manchester United in a British record shirt sponsorship deal of £56.5 million to be paid over four years (£14.1 million a year). Manchester United will have the largest sponsorship in the world ahead of Italian side Juventus, who have a £12.8 million a year sponsorship with Tamoil^[4]. The four-year agreement has been heralded as largest sponsorship deal in British history, eclipsing Chelsea's deal with Samsung, but may amount to little more than a loan reduction in view of AIG's interest in the hedge funds that lent the Glazers part of the $1 billion they borrowed to buy the club.^{citation needed]}

Support

Before the Second World War, few English football supporters travelled to away games because of the time and cost. As City and United played home matches on alternate Saturdays, many Mancunians would watch United one week and City the next. After the war, a stronger rivalry developed and it became more common for a supporter to choose one team to follow exclusively.

When United won the league in 1956, they had the highest average home attendance in the league, a record that had been held by Newcastle United for the previous few years. Following the Munich air disaster in 1958, more people began to support United and many started to go to matches. This swelled United’s support and is one reason why United have had the highest league attendances in English football for almost every season since then, even as a second division side in 1974-75.

A 2002 report, Do You Come From Manchester? showed that a higher proportion of Manchester City season ticket holders live in the Manchester postal districts, whilst United had the higher absolute number of season ticket holders living in the same area.

In the late 1990s and early part of the 2000s, an increasing source of concern for many United supporters was the possibility of the club being taken over. The supporters’ group IMUSA (Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association) were extremely active in opposing a proposed takeover by Rupert Murdoch in 1998. Another pressure group, Shareholders United Against Murdoch (which became Shareholders United and is now the Manchester United Supporters' Trust) was formed at around this time to encourage supporters to buy shares in the club, partly to enable supporters to have a greater say in the issues that concern them, such as ticket prices and allocation, and partly to reduce the risk of an unwanted party buying enough shares to take over the club. However, this scheme failed to prevent Malcolm Glazer from becoming the majority share holder. Many supporters were outraged, and some formed a new club called F.C. United of Manchester.

Players

First Team Squad

As of 7 October 2006, according to official website: [1], includes players on loan to other clubs.

Reserve Squad

Manchester United F.C. Reserves currently play their home games at Ewen Fields, the home of Hyde United of the Conference North. Players according to official website: [2], includes players on loan to other clubs.

Ladies team

Manchester United Ladies were founded in 1977, and officially became a part of Manchester United FC at the start of the 2001/2 season. They played in the Northern Combination league (the third tier women's football) until they were controversially disbanded before the start of the 2004/5 season.

Notable former players

See Also: Manchester United F.C. Academy, List of Manchester United players and Category:Manchester United F.C. players

Club officials

Board of Directors

• Owner: Malcolm Glazer
• Life President: Martin Edwards
• Chief Executive: David Gill
• Group Finance Director: Nick Humby
• Group Commercial Director: Andy Anson
• Non-Executive Directors: Joel Glazer, Bryan Glazer, Avram Glazer, Edward Glazer, Kevin Glazer & Darcie Glazer

Senior club staff

• Company Secretary: David Beswitherick
• Assistant Company Secretary: Ken Ramsden
• Director of Communications: Phil Townsend
• Director of Commercial Enterprises: Ben Hatton
• Director of Marketing: vacant
• Director of Financial Services: Steve Falk
• Director of Finance & IT: Steve Deaville
• Director of Facilities: Clive Snell

Management

• Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson
• Assistant Manager: Carlos Queiroz
• First Team Coach: Mike Phelan
• Goalkeeping Coach: Tony Coton
• Fitness Coach: Valter di Salvo
• Assistant Fitness Coach: Mick Clegg
• Caretaker Reserve Team Coach: Brian McClair
• Chief Scout: Jim Lawlor

Academy coaching staff

• Director of Youth Academy: Brian McClair
• Director of Youth Football: Jimmy Ryan
• Assistant Director for 17-21 Year olds: Paul McGuinness
• Assistant Director for 9-16 Year olds: Tony Whelan
• Under 18's Coach: Paul McGuinness
• Under 13-16's Coach: Mark Dempsey
• Under 11-12's Coach: Tony Whelan
• Under 9-10's Coach: Eamon Mulvey
• Skills Development Coach: vacant
• Director of Goalkeeping Training: Richard Hartis
• Academy Coaches: Eddie Leach, Tommy Martin, Mike Glennie & Andy Welsh

Medical staff

• Club Doctor: Dr. Steve McNally
• Assistant Club Doctor: Dr. Tony Gill
• First Team Physiotherapist: Rob Swire
• Reserve Team Physiotherapist: Neil Hough
• Academy Physiotherapists: John Davin, Mandy Johnson & Richard Merren
• Masseurs: Gary Armer & Rod Thornley

Managerial history

Honours

• Premier League (including (Old) First Division)^[5] titles: 15
  • 1907-08, 1910-11, 1951-52, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1964-65, 1966-67, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03
• (Old) Second Division^[6] 2
  • 1936, 1975
• FA Cup 11¹
  • 1909, 1948, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
• League Cup 2
  • 1992, 2006
• European Cup / UEFA Champions League 2
  • 1968, 1999

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1
  • 1991
• Intercontinental Cup/World Club Championship 1¹
  • 1999
• European Super Cup 1
  • 1991
• FA Charity/Community Shield 15¹
  • 1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965*, 1967*, 1977*, 1983, 1990*, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003 (* joint holders)

Club records

• Record League Victory: 10-1 v Wolves, Division 1, 15 October 1892
• Record Premiership Victory: 9-0 Ipswich Town 4 March 1995
• Record Cup Victory: 10-0 v Anderlecht, Champions Cup, Preliminary Round, 26 September 1956
• Record home win 10-0 v Anderlecht 26 September 1956
• Record away win: 8-1 v Nottingham Forest 6 February 1999
• Record League Defeat: 0-7 v Blackburn Rovers, Division 1, 10 April 1926
• Record Cup Defeat: 1-7 v Burnley, FA Cup, 1st Round, 13 February 1901
• Record 'Home' Attendance: 83,250 v Arsenal, Division 1, Maine Road, 7 January 1948
• Record League Attendance (at Old Trafford): 75,664 v Newcastle United, Premiership, 1 October 2006
• Longest unbeaten Run : 45 (All competitions), 24 December 1998 to 3 October 1999 ended by Chelsea FC
• Most Appearances : 754 Bobby Charlton
• Most League Appearances: 606 Bobby Charlton
• Most Goals scored : 247 Bobby Charlton
• Most League Goals: 199 Bobby Charlton
• Most League Goals in a Season: 32 Dennis Viollet, Division 1, 1959-60
• Most Goals in a Season in all competitions: 46 Denis Law, 1963-64
• Most Goals scored in a Match: 6 George Best v Northampton Town, 7 February 1970
• Most Goals scored in European competition: 38 Ruud van Nistelrooy
• Goals in Consecutive League Matches: 10 Consecutive Matches Ruud van Nistelrooy, 22 March 2003 to 23 August 2003
• Most League Goals in a Season (by team): 103 1956/57, 1958/59
• Most Points in a Season: 92 - 42 games 1993/94
• Most Capped Player: 129 Peter Schmeichel - Denmark
• Fastest Goal: 15 seconds Ryan Giggs v Southampton, Premiership, 18 November 1995

Player records

as of 6 October 2006

European Footballer of the Year winners (Ballon d'Or)

• Denis Law - 1964
• Bobby Charlton - 1966
• George Best - 1968

Most appearances for Manchester United

Most goals scored for Manchester United

Stadium information

• Name - Old Trafford
• Location - Greater Manchester
• Capacity - 76,212
• Inauguration - February 19, 1910
• Pitch Size - 106 x 69.5 metres
• Record Attendance - 76,962; Wolves-Grimsby, 25 March 1939
• Address - Sir Matt Busby Way, Old Trafford, Manchester, M16 0RA
• Nicknames - The Theatre of Dreams

See also

• List of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors

Supporters' organisations

• IMUSA
• Manchester United Supporters' Trust

Fanzines

• Red Issue
• United We Stand
• Red News

External links

Official

• Official site
• Talking Reds

Independent media sites

• Manchester United F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News - Recent results - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats
• Manchester Evening News
• Man Utd Blog
• Manchester United coverage from SportNetwork.net
• Football365's Manchester United coverage
• 4thegame.com's Manchester United Section
• Manchester United - Premierleague.com
• Manchester United Football Club team news from Carling

Notes