Today Manchester United is one of the most successful clubs on the planet, in 2015 it is third most valuable football club, valued at $1,90 billion and is one of the most widely supported football teams in the world. Although, in the late nineteenth century they were a very unremarkable club.
The Beginning
The club was formed by railway workers, tand they were originally known as Newton Heath LYR (Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway) and wore a uniform strip of cashmere jerseys in green and gold, the colours of the parent company. The club's reputation grew and in 1889, the Heathens had joined the Football Alliance, formed as rivals to the Football League. Recent research by Paul Nagel indicates that the club switched from green and gold to red and white shirts sometime around 1888 or 1889 (the old jerseys were retained as change colours) while Brian Landamore has found a reference in the Manchester and District rule book from the 1887-88 season that gives their colours as red and white.
In January 1902, with debts of £2,670 – equivalent to £260,000 in 2015 – the club was served with a winding-up order. Captain Harry Stafford found four local businessmen, including John Henry Davies (who became club president), each willing to invest £500 in return for a direct interest in running the club and who subsequently changed the name. There was a meeting of the club at its Clayton ground on 26 April. The two main suggestions were “Manchester Celtic” and “Manchester Central”. Up got the club tea-boy, Louis Rocca. He suggested that Manchester Celtic was “too Scottish” and Manchester central “too industrial”. Why not go for Manchester United?
On 24 April 1902, Manchester United was officially born.
The club moved into their new Old Trafford home in 1909, built on land purchased by Davies. The new club won their first league championships under Ernest Mangnall in 1908 and 1911, adding their first FA Cup in 1909. Mangnall left to join Manchester City in 1911, however, and there would be no more major honours until after the Second World War.
Busby years
In that time United had three different spells in Division Two, before promotion in 1938 led to an extended spell in the top flight. In February 1945, with the Second World War in its final few months, Matt Busby met club president James Gibson in Manchester, where he was offered a three-year contract to become manager of Manchester United. At Busby's insistence, this was lengthened to five years; he was appointed manager aged only 36 and reshaped the club, placing complete faith in a youth policy that would prove astonishingly successful. United won the FA Cup in 1948 and were runners up in the league in three consecutive seasons from 1947 to 1949; then, in 1952, Busby won United's first title for 41 years. The team that won the league in 1956 became known as the "Busby Babes", due to an average age of 22. It included Duncan Edwards, an imperious wing half, and two relentless goalscorers in Tommy Taylor and Dennis Viollet. They regained the title the following season, having already become the first English side to play in the European Cup, with Busby standing firm despite pressure to withdraw from the Football League. United thrashed Anderlecht 10-0 in their first home match, and reached the semi-finals before losing to Real Madrid.
In 1958 tragedy was to strike the club, returning home from a European Cup match versus Red Star Belgrade, the plane carrying the United team was to crash after attempting take off after re fueling at Munich airport. 23 lives were lost including 8 young players: Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Mark Jones, Billy Whelan, Tommy Taylor, David Pegg and Geoff Bent. Several more including Busby himself were injured. Busby survived the crash and, after a makeshift side lost the FA Cup final to Bolton later in 1958, he built a second great side in the early Sixties, based around the Holy Trinity of Bobby Charlton, George Best and Denis Law. United won the FA Cup in 1963 and the championship in both 1965 and 1967; Busby's journey was complete with a poignant victory in the European Cup final of 1968. United beat Benfica 4-1 in extra-time with Wembley, with two of the goals scored by Charlton, who had survived the crash 10 years earlier.
1969–1986
When Busby resigned in 1969, United went into freefall. After just avoiding relegation in 1974 they went down a year later; although they were doomed anyway, the fact that Law - now playing for Manchester City - scored the winning goal against them at Old Trafford on the day they were relegated carried the cruellest symbolism. United won Division Two at the first attempt, but at the highest level the swaggering brand of football they played under Tommy Docherty was more conducive to cup success. They lost unexpectedly to Division Two Southampton in the 1976 FA Cup final, and denied Liverpool a Treble by beating them 2-1 at Wembley a year later. Docherty was sacked shortly after that FA Cup triumph, following an affair with the physiotherapist's wife; his replacement, Dave Sexton, was more cautious, and many fans felt his style of play betrayed the club's traditions.
Sexton's four years included runners-up places in the league and FA Cup, but he was sacked in 1981 despite winning his last seven matches. His replacement, Ron Atkinson, took United back to the Seventies and the Docherty era. With an emphasis on attacking football and width, and a British record purchase of the remarkable Bryan Robson, United enjoyed five memorable years under Atkinson. They won the FA Cup in 1983 and 1985 - the latter after Kevin Moran was the first man to be sent off in the FA Cup final - but Atkinson was unable to end the long wait for a league title, and was replaced by Alex Ferguson in November 1986.
Ferguson years
It is hard to imagine now, but Ferguson's first few years at Old Trafford were difficult in the extreme. In his first season in charge Ferguson's could only finish eleventh, things improved the following year but in the next season United were back to eleventh again, victory in a replay against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final reportedly saved Ferguson,s job. Ferguson never looked back from that success: it was the first of 25 major trophies that he would win over the next 20 years, including 11 league titles. United beat Barcelona to win the Cup Winners' Cup in 1991, yet there was only one prize they really wanted: a first championship since 1967. It finally arrived in 1993, the first season of the Premier League, and was catalysed by the mid-season signing of the majestic Eric Cantona from then-champions Leeds.
The club's first Double was secured in 1994, with Cantona and another outstanding crop of young players winning another in 1996. By now, Ferguson and United had a new Everest: the European Cup. They reached the promised land on May 26, 1999 - what would have been Sir Matt Busby's 90th birthday - when they beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in an astonishing finish, with United scoring twice in injury time. With another Double already in the bag, United thus became the first English side to win the Treble. Later in the year they beat Palmeiras to become world champions.
United went on to win three consecutive league titles in a row from 1999 to 2001 and, despite the considerable turmoil caused by the controversial takeover of the Glazer family in 2005, that feat was repeated by a new generation between 2007 and 2009. They also added United's third European Cup, beating Chelsea on penalties in an impossibly dramatic final in Moscow, while the 2009 title took United to 18 league titles, level with their great rivals Liverpool. A 19th title eluded them in 2009-10 but, the feat was overcome in 2010-11 as they finished the season nine points clear of Chelsea. n 2013 Alex Ferguson retired as United manager his place to be taken by Everton manager David Moyes, Ferguson's reign had been the most successful in Uniteds history and had seen some of its finest ever players perform for the club including Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona and Christian Ronaldo.
2013–present
On 8 May 2013, Ferguson announced that he was to retire as manager at the end of the football season, but would remain at the club as a director and club ambassador. The club announced the next day that Everton manager David Moyes would replace him from 1 July, having signed a six-year contract. Although, United performed very poorly under the new manager. And on the 19th May 2013 Manchester United announce that Dutch national team manager, Louis Van Gaal, would take up role of manager of the club. Van Gaal was the first manager of United from outside of Britain and Ireland. Ryan Giggs, English football’s most decorated player and the United player with most appearances in the club’s history, was appointed assistant manager to Van Gaal.
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