History of Manchester United

History

Early years (1878-1945)
Main article: Manchester United pre-1945

The club was formed as Newton Heath F.C. 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 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 refuelling 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 floated on the London Stock Exchange with a valuation of £47 million, bringing its finances into the public eye.

The arrival of Éric 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 Éric 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 David Beckham corner, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, another late substitute, poking it into the roof of the net. Ferguson was subsequently knighted for his services to football. Rounding out that record breaking year, Manchester United also won the Intercontinental Cup after beating Palmeiras 1-0 at the National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo.

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 draw after 120 minutes. 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 neighbours 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. At the end of the 2005-2006 season, one of United's key strikers, Ruud van Nistelrooy, left the club to join Real Madrid, due to a row with Alex Ferguson.

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 the club at approximately £800 million (approx. $1.5 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 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 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."

Club crest and colours

During its Newton Heath days, the club's home jerseys were yellow and green; this strip was revived as an away kit in the early 1990s to commemorate the club's 100 year anniversary. Manchester United's most recognised 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. Their jerseys now sport their main sponsor AIG. Currently, Manchester United's jerseys are red with gold stripes going down the side. The sleeves are capped with white and the AIG, Nike, and MUFC symbols are also white. The club crest sits on a white shield. The away jerseys are white with black stripes going down the side where the crest sits on a black shield. The sleeves are capped in black and the AIG, Nike, and MUFC symbols are black.

The Manchester United crest has been altered on a few occasions, but the basic form remains similar. 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 1960s, 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 unmistakable pitchfork. In 1998, the badge was once again redesigned, this time removing the words "Football Club".

Recent 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 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 now have the largest sponsorship in the world ahead of Italian side Juventus, who have a £12.8 million a year sponsorship with Tamoil. The four-year agreement has been heralded as largest sponsorship deal in British history, eclipsing Chelsea's deal with Samsung.