Manchester United
Manchester United football club
Manchester United is a football club from the city of Manchester. It is one of the biggest and the most popular football clubs in the world (about 330 mln fans all over the world or about 5% of the Earth’s population). In 1992 Manchester United was one of the founders of the English Premier League.
Old Trafford, the home stadium of this football club, was opened in 1910. It is the largest after Wembley football stadium in England. It can hold more than 76,000 supporters.
Manchester United is the active champion of FA Cup and Club World Cup. United is also one of the most successful English clubs in terms of titles for the whole history and for the last 20 years it has been the most successful club in England having won 22 large trophies since November 1986 when Sir Alex Ferguson took the charge of the team. In the season 2008-2009 United became the FA Cup Champion for the 18th time.
In 1968 Manchester United became the first English club that won the European Cup having beaten in the final the Portuguese Benfica with the score 4-1. In 1999 for the second time the club won the main European Club trophy having beaten in the final the Bavaria Munich with the score 2-1. In 2008 United again won the Champions League having beaten in the final the London Chelsea. Moreover, United is the record-holder in terms of the FA Cups won (11 times).
At present Manchester United has the largest income among all the football clubs in the world and is considered the most expensive sport club in the world. In September 2008 the magazine Forbes estimated this club at £897 mln (or $1.8 bln).
The main team coach is Alex Ferguson appointed for this position on November 6, 1986 after the resignation of Ron Atkinson. The active captain of the club is Gary Neville who took this post in November 2005 after Roy Keane.
History
Manchester United: 1878—1945
The club was established under the name “Newton Heath L&YR F.C” (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway) by a group of railway-workers from Manchester in 1878. The form of the club consisted of two colors – green and golden. For fifteen years the team played on the small half-ruined field “North Road”. Then in 1893 the team moved to the stadium Bank Street in Clayton. One year later the club entered the Football league and separated from the railway station and became independent. The position of the club’s secretary was introduced and the part “L&YR F.C” disappeared from the name. The club was called “Newton Heath”. In 1902 the team was on the verge of bankruptcy owing more than £2500. The Bank Street stadium was closed by the officers of the court. The club was saved from closing by J. H. Davies who was the manager of the brewery in Manchester. Davies invested big money into the team. On April 26, 1902 the club was officially renamed into “Manchester United”. At the same time the club changed the colors – from green and golden to red and white.
In 1903 the position of the club’s secretary was taken by Ernest Mangnall. Under his supervision United entered the First Division in 1906 and in the 1907-08 season it won its first champion’s title. At this period some players from Manchester City joined United, among them Billy Meredith and Sandy Turnbull who became one of the key players of the time. In 1908 Manchester United won the first FA Super Cup in its history and in 1909 – its first FA Cup. In the 1910-11 season United became the Second Division Champion for the second time. But after this victory it wasn’t able to win any championship for forty-one years. In the same season the club moved to its new stadium Old Trafford.
Next ten years the club could win no new trophies and in 1922 it left the Second Division. In 1925 United returned to the First Division but was fighting only for getting into the first half of the tournament table, and in 1931 it again appeared in the Second Division. For eight years before World War II United was constantly moving between the Divisions and in 1934 it took the lowest position in the championship (the 20th in the Second Division). The pre-war season (1938-39) the club ended on the 14th place in the First Division.
Manchester United with Busby (1945—1969)
In 1945 Matt Busby was appointed the main coach of Manchester United. Under his own and his assistant’s (Jimmy Murphy’s) management, the club became the runner-up in the championship in three seasons in a row: 1946-47, 1947-48 and 1948-49, and in 1948 it won the FA Cup.
In the 1951-52 season, forty one years after the last triumph, United became the Champions of the First Division. This team’s squad was a bit old and Busby began actively inviting in the main squad the players from the youth team: Roger Byrne, Bill Foulkes, Mark Jones and Dennis Viollet. The success didn’t come at once: in the 1952-53 season the renewed team finished on the eighth place but in the 1955-56 season United became the FA Cup’s Champions. The average age of the players was 22. The young players of that time were called “the Busby Babes”. In the 1956-57 season United won the championship again and also got into the finals of the FA Cup and the semi-final of the European Cup being the first English club that had taken part in this prestigious European tournament.
Next season when the team was returning home from Belgrade after the European Cup match the plane crashed in Munich. The air crash happened on February 6, 1958 and it took away the lives of eight players - Duncan Edwards, Geoff Bent, Tommy Taylor, Eddie Colman, Roger Byrne, Mark Jones, David Pegg and Liam "Billy" Whelan as well as the other fifteen passengers including the members of the coaching team. Matt Busby was seriously injured but survived and three months later he returned to the management. To everybody’s surprise, United reached the finals of the FA Cup in 1958 when it lost to Bolton. At the end of the season UEFA offered two clubs into the English Football Association — Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United in honor of the victims of the catastrophe but Football Association rejected this proposal. Next season United ended as a runner-up.
At the beginning of the 1960s Busby became the reconstruction of the team having such players as Denis Law and Pat Crerand. At the same time he continued the policy of upbringing young talents. probably the most famous of them was George Best from Belfast. The renewed team won the FA Cup in 1963, though in the First Division it finished on the 19th place. In the 1963-64 season already United took the second place in the championship and in the seasons 1964-65 and 1966-67 the team won the champion’s title of the First Division. In 1968 Manchester United outplayed the Portuguese Benfica with the score 4:1 in the final of the European Cup, having become the first English club who had won this tournament. Three players from that squad were awarded the Gold Ball title: Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best. In 1969 Matt Busby resigned from the post of main coach and Wilf McGuinness, the coach of the reserve team and the former United player, became the main coach.
1969—1986
Under McGuinness’ guidance United took only the eighth place in the 1969-70 season and after the failure at the beginning of the 1970-71 season McGuinness left the post of the main coach. Busby agreed to return temporary to the post of the main coach but already in six months he left the club completely. At that very time several experienced players such as Nobby Stiles and Pat Crerand left the team too. Frank O'Farrell was appointed the main coach of United. As McGuinness, he held the post no more than 18 months but in contrast to McGuinness he bought new players for strengthening the team. Probably the most important of his acquisitions was Martin Buchan from Aberdeen for £125,000.
In 1972 the main coach of the club became Tommy Docherty. Docherty (nickname ‘Doc’) rescued United from dropping out in the 1972-73 season but already in the next season the club dropped out into the Second Division. By that time the most famous star players Best, Law and Charlton had left the team. They were replaced by Lou Macari, Stewart Houston and Brian Greenhoff but no one of them could be compared to the former legends of the club. Following the results of the 1974-75 season Manchester United returned to the First Division. In 1976 the team reached the finals of the FA Cup but lost to Southampton. A year later United won the FA Cup. Despite this success and his popularity with supporters, Docherty was fired soon after the final when his love affair with the wife of the club’s physiotherapist had been disclosed.
Dave Sexton took the place of Docherty at the post in the summer of 1977. During the time of his management United became playing in a defensive manner, which arose dissatisfaction among the fans who had accustomed to attacking football practiced by Docherty and Busby. Sexton didn’t manage to get any titles and in 1981 he was fired from the post of the main coach. He was replaced by the charismatic Ron Atkinson whose extravagant and public image affected his training work. He immediately beat the British transfer record having bought Bryan Robson from West Bromwich. With Atkinson United won the FA Cup twice (in 1983 and 1985). Next season the team didn’t manage to pulled themselves up and in November 1986 was balancing on the verge of dropping out from the First Division. Atkinson was fired and his post was occupied by the Scottish specialist Alex Ferguson.
Manchester with Alex Ferguson (since 1986)
In the first season under Alex Ferguson’s guidance, United ended only on the eleventh place. But already in the next 1987-88 season United was a runner-up but wasn’t able to repeat this success in the next season. At the beginning of 1990 Ferguson was on the verge of being dismissed for a series of matches without victories. However, the successful performance of the team in the FA Cup in 1990 helped Ferguson reserve the post of the main coach.
In the 1990-91 season United entered the finals of the League Cup where it lost to Sheffield Wednesday. In the same season United won the Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup titles. In the next season the club got into the League Cup final and beat Nottingham Forest. In 1991 in summer the goal-keeper Peter Schmeichel joined the team. He played seventeen matches without a ball in his goal in the 1991-92season when United finished on the second place after Leeds. In 1992 the club signed Eric Cantona for £1.2 mln. As a result, in the 1992-93 season the team wonthe champion's title – for the first time since 1967. In July 1993 Roy Keane from Nottingham Forest joined United. In the 1993-94 season United made a double for the first time in its history: the team won the Premier league and the FA Cup.
After the unlucky season of 1994-95 Ferguson decided to sell a number of key players having replaced them by young footballers: Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and David Beckham. The renewed United won the “Double” again in the 1995-96 season. When Steve Bruce left the team in 1996, Eric Cantona was named the captain of the team. he led the team to the next champion’s title in the 1996-97 season but at the end of the season he declared about finishing the career. The 1998-99 season became the most successful for the whole club’s history: Manchester United won the Premier league, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League being the first English club that had managed to win the “treble” in one season. After this victory Ferguson was given the knight title for his merits in football. At the end of the triumphant season the club became the holder of the the Intercontinental Cup after beating the Brazilian Palmeiras.
United won the Premier league in the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons but on the European stage it failed. In the 2001-02 season the club took only the third place but in the next season it won the premier league again. After this success Manchester United wasn’t able to win any champion’s title for four years. In 2004 the club won the FA Cup. In the 2007-08 season United won the ‘European double’ (became the champions in the premier League and Champion’s League). In the 2008-09 season Manchester United for the third time in a row was awarded the champion’s title in the Premier League and also won the Football League Cup and FIFA Club World Cup Final.
Manchester United: colors and crest
Under the name of “Newton Heath” the club played in the form of different colors. The most famous colors were yellow and green T-shirts in 1878-1892 and later from 1894 to 1896. These colors were returned to the team at the beginning of the 90s. In 1902 in connection with renaming the club to “Manchester United” the club’s colors changed to red T-shirts, white shorts and black socks. In the 2009-10 season the chevron in the form of the letter “V” appeared again on the home and guest uniform in honor of the 100th anniversary of the club’s stadium Old Trafford.
At present the home uniform of Manchester United is red T-shirts with black chevrons on the chest. The club’s logo is on the left side of the black chevron and the white logo of Nike is on the right side; under the chevron if the white logo of AIG.
The devil on the crest originated from the team’s nickname “the Red devils” which appeared at the beginning of the 1960s when Matt Busby borrowed this name from the rugby club Salford City. By the end of the 1960s the devil had appeared on the club’s programs and scarves and officially the devil holding a trident appeared on the crest of the club in 1970. In 1998 the design of the club’s logo underwent changes again: this time the words “Football Club” disappeared from it.
Current squad
1. Anderson (halfback)
2. Antonio Valencia (halfback)
3. Ben Amos (goal-keeper)
4. Ben Foster (goal-keeper)
5. Corry Evans (defender)
6. Danny Welbeck (forward)
7. Darren Fletcher (halfback)
8. Darron Gibson (halfback)
9. Dimitar Berbatov (forward)
10. Edwin van der Sar (goal-keeper)
11. Fábio (defender)
12. Federico Macheda (forward)
13. Gabriel Obertan (halfback)
14. Gary Neville (captain) (defender)
15. John O'Shea (defender)
16. Jonny Evans (defender)
17. Joshua King (forward)
18. Magnus Wolff Eikrem (halfback)
19. Michael Carrick (halfback)
20. Michael Owen (forward)
21. Nani (halfback)
22. Nemanja Vidić (defender)
23. Owen Hargreaves (halfback)
24. Park Ji-Sung (halfback)
25. Patrice Evra (defender)
26. Paul Scholes (halfback)
27. Rafael (defender)
28. Rio Ferdinand (vice-captain) (defender)
29. Ritchie De Laet (defender)
30. Ron-Robert Zieler (goal-keeper)
31. Ryan Giggs (vice -captain) (halfback)
32. Tomasz Kuszczak (goal-keeper)
33. Wayne Rooney (forward)
34. Wes Brown (defender)
35. Zoran Tošić (halfback)
Trophies
• First Division (till 1992) / Premier League (after 1992): (18): 1907/08, 1910/11, 1951/52, 1955/56, 1956/57, 1964/65, 1966/67, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1995/96, 1996/97, 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09
• Second Division: (2): 1935/36, 1974/75
• FA Cup: (11) (the best result in England): 1909, 1948, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
• Football League Cup:(3): 1992, 2006, 2009
• FA Charity/Community Shield: (17): 1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965, 1967, 1977, 1983, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008
• UEFA Champions League/European Cup:(3):1968, 1999, 2008
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup:( 1):1991
• UEFA Super Cup: (1): 1991
• Intercontinental Cup: (1): 1999
• FIFA Club World Cup: (1): 2008
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