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Manchester United F.C.

Foreword

I have chosen this club because I have seen a lot of matches of them and I admire their professionalism and abilities.

Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.

Having won 18 league titles, four League Cups and a record 11 FA Cups, Manchester United is one of the most successful clubs in the history of English football. The club has also won three European Cups and is unique in having won a Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League Treble, in the 1998–99 season.

Manchester United is one of the wealthiest and most widely supported football teams in the world. The club is said to be worth £1.19 billion, making it the most valuable football club in the world.

Chapter I. History

1.1. Early years (1878–1945)

Manchester United was formed in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway 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. However, following the league's dissolution after just 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, by which time it had become independent of the rail company and dropped the 'LYR' from its name. After just two seasons, the club was relegated to the Second Division.

In 1922, three years after the resumption of football following the First World War, the club was relegated to the Second Division, where it remained until regaining promotion in 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. Following the death of the club's principal benefactor, J. H. Davies, in October 1927, the club's finances deteriorated to the extent that Manchester United would likely have gone bankrupt had it not been for James W. Gibson, who, in December 1931, invested £2,000 and assumed control of the club. In the 1938–39 season, the last year of football before the Second World War, the club finished 14th in the First Division.

1.4. Ferguson years (1986–present)

Alex Ferguson has been manager of Manchester United since November 1986.

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 , the club was back in 11th place the following season. Reportedly on the verge of being dismissed, victory over Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup Final replay (after a 3–3 draw) saved Ferguson's career. 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. A second consecutive League Cup final appearance followed in 1992, in which the team beat Nottingham Forest 1–0 at Wembley. In 1993, the club won its first league title since 1967, and a year later, for the first time since 1957, it won a second consecutive title – alongside the FA Cup – to complete the first 'Double' in the club's history.

David Robert Joseph Beckham played for Manchester United, as well as the England national team, for whom he holds the all-time appearance record for an outfield player.

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, born 5 February 1985), commonly known as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo became Manchester United's first-ever Portuguese player when he signed for €15 million (£12.24 million) after the 2002–03 season.

Chapter II. Crest and colours

The club crest is derived from the Manchester City Council coat of arms, although all that remains of it on the current crest is the ship in full sail. The devil stems from the club's nickname 'The Red Devils'; it was included on club programmes and scarves in the 1960s, and incorporated into the club crest in 1970, although the crest was not included on the chest of the shirt until 1971 (unless the team was playing in a Cup Final).

Manchester United badge in the 1960s

A photograph of the Newton Heath team, taken in 1892, is believed to show the players wearing a red-and-white quartered jerseys and blue shorts. Between 1894–96, the players wore distinctive green and gold jerseys which were replaced in 1896 by white shirts, which were worn with blue shorts. After its name change in 1902, the club colours were changed to red shirts, white shorts, and black socks, which has become the standard Manchester United home kit. Very few changes were made to the kit until 1922 when the club adopted white shirts bearing a deep red 'V' around the neck, similar to the shirt worn in the 1909 FA Cup Final. They would remain part of their home kits until 1927. In 1934, players sported cherry and white hooped shirts, but the following season the red shirt was recalled after the club's lowest ever league placing of 20th in the Second Division. The black socks were changed to white from 1959 to 1965, where they were replaced with red socks up until 1971, when the club reverted to black. The current home kit is a red shirt with a white collar, worn with white shorts and black socks.

The Manchester United away strip has more often than not been a white shirt, black shorts and white socks, but there have been several exceptions. These include the navy blue shirt with silver horizontal pinstripes worn during the 1999–2000 season, and the current away kit which is a white shirt with red and black flashes on the sleeves, with black shorts and white socks. An all-grey away kit worn during the 1995–96 season was dropped after just two games because players claimed to have trouble finding their team-mates against the crowd. In 2001, to celebrate 100 years as 'Manchester United', a reversible white/gold away kit was released, although the actual match day shirts were not reversible. The club's third kit is often all-blue, this was most recently the case during the 2008–09 season, to celebrate 40 years since it was worn for the club's first European Cup win in 1968. Exceptions include blue-and-white striped shirts worn during the 1994–96 season, an all black kit worn during the Treble winning season, and white shirts with black-and-red horizontal pinstripes worn between 2003–05. The club's 2008–09 season away kit – a white shirt with blue and red trim, worn with blue shorts and white socks – was used as the club's third kit during the 2009–10 season.

Chapter III. Grounds

Newton Heath initially played on a field on North Road, close to the railway yard; the original capacity was about 12,000, but club officials deemed the facilities inadequate for a club hoping to join The Football League. Some expansion took place in 1887, and in 1891 Newton Heath used its minimal financial reserves to purchase two grandstands, each able to hold 1,000 spectators. Although attendances were not recorded for many of the earliest matches at North Road, the highest documented attendance was approximately 15,000 for a First Division match against Sunderland on 4 March 1893. A similar attendance was also recorded for a friendly match against Gorton Villa on 5 September 1889.

In June 1893, after the club was evicted from North Road by its owners, Manchester Deans and Canons, who felt it was inappropriate for the club to charge an entry fee to the ground, secretary A. H. Albut procured the use of the Bank Street ground in Clayton. It initially had no stands, by the start of the 1893–94 season, two had been built; one spanning the full length of the pitch on one side and the other behind the goal at the 'Bradford end'. At the opposite end, the 'Clayton end', the ground had been 'built up, thousands thus being provided for'. Newton Heath's first league match at Bank Street was played against Burnley on 1 September 1893, when 10,000 people saw Alf Farman score a hat-trick, Newton Heath's only goals in a 3–2 win. The remaining stands were completed for the following league game against Nottingham Forest three weeks later. In October 1895, before the visit of Manchester City, the club purchased a 2,000-capacity stand from the Broughton Rangers rugby league club, and put up another stand on the 'reserved side' (as distinct from the 'popular side'). However, weather restricted the attendance for the Manchester City match to just 12,000.

When the Bank Street ground was temporarily closed by bailiffs in 1902, club captain Harry Stafford raised enough money to pay for the club's next away game at Bristol City and found a temporary ground at Harpurhey for the next reserves game against Padiham. Following financial investment, new club president J.H. Davies paid £500 for the erection of a new 1,000-seat stand at Bank Street. Within four years, the stadium had cover on all four sides, as well as the ability to hold approximately 50,000 spectators, some of whom could watch from the viewing gallery atop the Main Stand.

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However, following Manchester United's first league title in 1908 and the FA Cup a year later, it was decided that Bank Street was too restrictive for Davies' ambition; in February 1909, six weeks before the club's first FA Cup title, Old Trafford was named as the home of Manchester United, following the purchase of land for around £60,000. Architect Archibald Leitch was given a budget of £30,000 for construction; original plans called for seating capacity of 100,000, though budget constraints forced a revision to 77,000. The building was constructed by Messrs Brameld and Smith of Manchester. The stadium's record attendance was registered on 25 March 1939, when an FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town drew 76,962 spectators.

Bombing in the Second World War destroyed much of the stadium; the central tunnel in the South Stand was all that remained of that quarter. After the war, the club received compensation from the War Damage Commission in the amount of £22,278.

Chapter IV. Rivalries

Manchester United has major ongoing rivalries with three clubs: Liverpool, Manchester City and Leeds United. The most hotly contested derby fixture is often versus Liverpool, described by Ryan Giggs as 'probably the most famous fixture in English football', as both teams have dominated certain periods of English football.The rivalry is considered a manifestation of the cities' competition during industrial times, when they competed for supremacy of the north-west; Manchester was famous for its textile industry, while Liverpool was considered the world's pre-eminent port. This fixture also has a history of hooliganism; at the 1996 FA Cup Final, an unidentified Liverpool fan spat at Eric Cantona and threw a punch at Alex Ferguson as a victorious Manchester United team walked up the steps at Wembley Stadium to collect the trophy from the Royal Box. At an FA Cup match in 2006, an ambulance carrying Alan Smith, who had broken his leg during the match, was attacked by Liverpool fans.

Informally known as the 'Roses Rivalry' the rivalry with Leeds United has its origins in the Wars of the Roses fought between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, Manchester United representing Lancashire and Leeds representing Yorkshire. Independent research by the Football Fans Census showed that in English football Leeds and Manchester United are among the top three clubs which fans of other sides feel passionately against.

Chapter V. Players First-team squad

As of 14 January 2011

Note:. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Edwin van der Sar DF Gary Neville (club captain) DF Patrice Evra MF Owen Hargreaves DF Rio Ferdinand DF Wes Brown FW Michael Owen MF Anderson FW Dimitar Berbatov FW Wayne Rooney MF Ryan Giggs DF Chris Smalling MF Park Ji-Sung FW Javier Hernαndez DF Nemanja Vidić (team captain MF Michael Carrick MF Nani

No. Position Player MF Paul Scholes DF Fαbio DF Rafael DF John O'Shea DF Jonny Evans MF Darren Fletcher MF Antonio Valencia FW Gabriel Obertan MF Darron Gibson GK Tomasz Kuszczak FW Bιbι GK Anders Lindegaard MF Robert Brady DF Joe Dudgeon DF Oliver Gill MF Ravel Morrison

On loan

No. Position Player FW Danny Welbeck (at Sunderland until 30 June 2011) FW Federico Macheda (at Sampdoria until 30 June 2011) DF Ritchie De Laet (at Portsmouth until 30 June 2011) MF Corry Evans (at Hull City until 30 June 2011)

No. Position Player FW Mame Biram Diouf (at Blackburn Rovers until 30 June 2011) MF Tom Cleverley (at Wigan Athletic until 30 June 2011) FW Nicky Ajose (at Bury until 30 June 2011) GK Ben Amos (at Oldham Athletic until 30 June 2011)

Conclusions

Manchester United's first trophy was the Manchester Cup, which it won as Newton Heath in 1886. In 1908, the club won its first league title, and won the FA Cup for the first time the following year. In terms of the number of trophies won, Manchester United's most successful decade was the 1990s; the club won five league titles, four FA Cups, one League Cup, five Charity Shields (one shared), one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Super Cup and one Intercontinental Cup.

The club currently holds the record for the most FA Cups, with 11, and the record for the most FA Cup Final appearances, with 18. Manchester United and Liverpool have each won a joint-record 18 top-division titles, but Manchester United holds the record for the most Premier League titles (11), and was the first English team to win the European Cup in 1968. The most recent trophy came in August 2010, when the club won the FA Community Shield.

The only major honour that Manchester United has never won is the UEFA European League, although the team reached the quarter-finals in 1984–85 and the semi-finals of the competition's precursor tournament, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in 1964–65.

APPENDIX

Award winners

Golden Ball

The following players have won the Ballon d'Or while playing for Manchester United:

• Denis Law -
• Bobby Charlton -
• Format:Country data Northern Ireland George Best -
• Cristiano Ronaldo -

European Golden Shoe

The following players have won the European Golden Shoe while playing for Manchester United:

• Cristiano Ronaldo - 31 goals-

UEFA Club Footballer of the Year

The following players have won the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award while playing for Manchester United:

• David Beckham -

• Cristiano Ronaldo -

FIFA World Player of the Year

The following players have won the FIFA World Player of the Year award while playing for Manchester United:

• Cristiano Ronaldo -

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia.
2. Barnes, Justyn; Bostock, Adam; Butler, Cliff; Ferguson, Jim; Meek, David; Mitten, Andy; Pilger, Sam; Taylor, Frank OBE et al. (2001) [1998]. The Official Manchester United Illustrated Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). London: Manchester United Books
3. White, John (2007) [2005]. The United Miscellany (2nd ed.). London: Carlton Books.
4. Hibbs, Ben (3 April 2008). „Defence on for record”. Manchester United F.C.
5. „Home Attendances”
6. White, John D. T. (2008). The Official Manchester United Almanac. London: Orion Books. pp. 36–37. ISBN .
7. „Manchester United all time records”. Soccerbase. Racing Post