Full name - Manchester United Football Club
Nickname(s)- The Red Devils
Founded - 1878, as Newton Heath LYR F.C.
Ground - Old Trafford (capacity: 75,765)
Owner - Manchester United plc (NYSE: MANU)
Co-chairmen - Joel and Avram Glazer
Manager - Sir Alex Ferguson (until 1 July 2013),
David Moyes (from 1 July 2013)
League - Premier League 2012–13
Premier League, 1st
was formed in 1878 as
Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the Carriage and
Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railway (LYR) depot at Newton Heath. The team initially played games against other departments and rail companies, but on 20 November 1880, they competed in their first recorded match; wearing the colours of the railway company – green and gold – they were defeated 6–0 by Bolton Wanderers' reserve team.
By 1888, the club had become a founding member of The
Combination, a regional football league. Following the league's dissolution after only one season, Newton
Heath joined the newly formed Football Alliance, which ran for three seasons before being merged with the
Football League. This resulted in the club starting the
1892–93 season in the First Division. After two seasons, the club was relegated to the Second Division.
In January 1902, with debts of £2,670 – equivalent to
£210,000 as of 2013 the club was near to be closed. 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 changed the name on 24 April
1902, Manchester United was officially born. In 1922, three years after the resumption of football following the First
World War, the club was relegated to the Second Division, until 1925. Relegated again in 1931, Manchester United became a yo-yo club, achieving its all-time lowest position of 20th place in the Second Division in 1934. After the death of the club's principal benefactor, J. H. Davies, in October
1927, the club had serious financial problems. Thanks to
James W. Gibson, who, in December 1931, invested £2,000
Manchester United in the 1938–39 season, the last year of football before the Second World War, the club finished
14th in the First Division.
In October 1945, the impending resumption of football led to the managerial appointment of Matt Busby, who demanded an unprecedented level of control over team selection, player transfers and training sessions. Busby led the team to second-place league finishes in 1947, 1948 and 1949, and to
FA Cup victory in 1948. In 1952, the club won the First
Division, its first league title for 41 years. With an average age of 22, the media labelled the back-to-back title winning side of 1956 "the Busby Babes", a testament to Busby's faith in his youth players .In 1957, Manchester United became the first English team to compete in the European Cup, despite objections from The Football League, who had denied
Chelsea the same opportunity the previous season. En route to the semi-final, which they lost to Real Madrid, the team recorded a 10–0 victory over Belgian champions Anderlecht, which remains the club's biggest victory on record.
The team's chartered plane, an Airspeed Ambassador owned by
British European Airways, left Belgrade on 6 February and stopped at Munich to refuel. Takeoff had to be aborted twice because of boost surging, a common problem in the "Elizabethan".
The problem was caused by the fuel mixture being too rich, which caused the engines to over-accelerate: this problem was exacerbated by the altitude of the Munich airport.
The pilots were able to control the surging on the third takeoff attempt, but as they reached the V1 "decision speed" (after which it is unsafe to abort takeoff), the airspeed suddenly dropped. The aircraft left the runway, crashed through a fence and into a house. The left wing and the tail were ripped off, while the starboard side of the fuselage hit a fuel tank and exploded.
Officially, the cause of the accident was build-up of slush on the runway, which caused the aircraft to lose speed, preventing it from achieving takeoff.
Mark Jones, David Pegg, Roger Byrne, Geoff Bent, Eddie
Colman, Liam Whelan, and Tommy Taylor were killed outright, in addition to club secretary Walter Crickmer, and coaches Tom
Curry and Bert Whalley. Duncan Edwards, Matt Busby, and
Johnny Berry were critically injured; Edwards died fifteen days later. Berry and Jackie Blanchflower survived but never played again. Four other passengers and two of the crew were also killed, as were eight sportswriters travelling with the team, including former England goalkeeper Frank Swift.
Alex Ferguson and his assistant
Archie Knox arrived from Aberdeen on the day of Atkinson's dismissal, and guided the club to an 11th-place finish in the league. Despite a second-place finish in 1987–88, the club was back in 11th place the following season. The following season, Manchester United claimed its first Cup Winners' Cup title and competed in the 1991 UEFA Super
Cup, beating European Cup holders
Red Star Belgrade 1–0 in the final at
Old Trafford. In 1993, the club won its first league title since 1967.
Championship of England (13) – years : 1993, 1994, 1996,
1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013
Cup of England (5) –years 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
Cup of English league (4)- years 1992, 2006, 2009, 2010
FA Community Shield/Charity Shield (10)- years 1990,
1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011
Champions League (2)- years 1999, 2008
Campions League Finals (2)- years 2009, 2011
European Cup Winners Cup (1) - year 1991
Intercontinental Cup (1)- year 2008
Football League Cup (1)- year 2008
1998/1999 season was definitely the best in Manchester United career.
The Red Devils completed an unprecedented treble sweep of trophies: the league, FA Cup and Champions League. The success coincided with the club becoming the world's richest and most valuable sporting brand worldwide.
The Old Trafford is one of the largest and impressive stadiums in Britain. At the beginning of Manchester
United’s successes, which occurred in 1998/1999 season, each match was seen by 55.000 spectators, whereas three years later, the number of them increased to 67.000. And, last but not least, in the summer
2006 after the stadium grandstands were enlarged, the capacity increased to over
76.000 seats.