Manchester United is one of the most prestigious football clubs and has always maintained a distinguished tradition, a record of consistent success, and a great history.
They are together with Liverpool, England’s most successful football clubs ever. “The Red Devils” have more national titles than Liverpool, but the rival has collected more titles in international tournaments.
- Manchester United were formed in 1878
- They were originally called Newton Heath
- Newton Heath initially played on a field on North Road, close to the railway yard; the original capacity was about 12,000
- The club changed their name in 1902, to Manchester United
- The clubs nickname, is the Red Devils
- 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.
- Their current stadium is Old Trafford
- This has a capacity of over 75,000
- This is the largest of any club stadium in the United Kingdom
- It is nicknamed the Theatre of Dreams
- The record attendance is 76,962 in 1939
- The football field has a size of 105 by 68 metres
- The stadium officially opened in 1909
- It cost around £90,000 to build
- To date Manchester United have won, a record 20 league titles
- They have also won 12 FA Cups
- An impressive four league cups
- A record 21 FA Community Shields
- In Europe, the club has won three European Cups
- The 1958 Munich Air Disaster claimed the lives of eight players
- Sir Alex Ferguson, won 38 trophies during his regin, between 1986 and 2013
- Manchester United was the second highest earning football club in the world, in 2014, with an annaual revenue of $1 billion
- They are the worlds most valuable sports brand, estimated to be woth around $1.5 billion
- United have several rivalries, most notably with Liverpool, Manchester City and Leeds United
- The team traditionally plays, in red shirts, white shorts and black socks
- The Manchester United away strip has often been a white shirt, black shorts and white socks, but there have been several exceptions. These include an all-black strip with blue and gold trimmings between 1993 and 1995
- In 1902, the club had debts equivalent to $500,000, they were served with a winding up order
- 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.
- Following the death of principal benefactor John Henry 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 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,
- Busby led the team to second-place league finishes in 1947, 1948 and 1949, and to FA Cup victory in 1948. In 1952, theclub won the First Division, its first league title for 41 years
- With an average age of 22, the back-to-back title winning side of 1956 were labelled “the Busby Babes” by the media
- on the way home from a European Cup quarter-final victory against Red Star Belgrade, the aircraft carrying the Manchester United players, officials and journalists crashed while attempting to take off after refuelling in Munich, Germany. The Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958 claimed 23 lives, including those of eight players
- Reserve team manager Jimmy Murphy took over as manager while Busby recovered from his injuries and the club’s makeshift side reached the FA Cup final, which they lost to Bolton Wanderers.
- Busby rebuilt the team through the 1960s by signing players such as Denis Law and Pat Crerand, who combined with the next generation of youth players – including George Best – to win the FA Cup in 1963.
- In 1968, Manchester United became the first English (and second British) club to win the European Cup, beating Benfica 4–1 in the final
- Matt Busby resigned as manager in 1969 and was replaced by the reserve team coach, former Manchester United player Wilf McGuinness
- Dave Sexton replaced Docherty as manager in the summer of 1977. Despite major signings, including Joe Jordan, Gordon McQueen, Gary Bailey, and Ray Wilkins, the team failed to achieve any significant results
- they finished in the top two in 1979–80 and lost to Arsenal in the 1979 FA Cup Final. Sexton was dismissed in 1981,
- He was replaced by Ron Atkinson, who immediately broke the British record transfer fee to sign Bryan Robson from West Bromwich Albion. Under Atkinson, Manchester United won the FA Cup twice in three years
- 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
- 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 the 1998–99 season, Manchester United became the first team to win the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League
- Manchester United is one of the most popular football clubs in the world, with one of the highest average home attendance in Europe
- The club states that its worldwide fan base includes more than 200 officially recognised branches of the Manchester United Supporters Club (MUSC), in at least 24 countries
- The club has the third highest social media following in the world among sports teams (after Barcelona and Real Madrid), with over 71 million Facebook fans as of September 2016
- In an initial five-year deal worth £500,000, Sharp Electronics became the club’s first shirt sponsor at the beginning of the 1982–83 season
- On 30 July 2012, United signed a seven-year deal with American automotive corporation General Motors, which replaced Aon as the shirt sponsor from the 2014–15 season. The new $80m-a-year shirt deal is worth $559m over seven years and features the logo of General Motors brand Chevrolet
- Since the start of the 2015–16 season, Adidas has manufactured Manchester United’s kit as part of a world-record 10-year deal worth a minimum of £750 million.
- Ryan Giggs is the record appearance holder with 963 games
- Youngest first-team player: David Gaskell – 16 years, 19 days (against Manchester City, Charity Shield, 24 October 1956)
- Oldest first-team player: Billy Meredith – 46 years, 281 days (against Derby County, First Division, 7 May 1921
- Oldest post-Second World War player: Edwin van der Sar – 40 years, 211 days (against Barcelona, UEFA Champions League, 28 May 2011
- Most consecutive League appearances: 206 – Steve Coppell, 15 January 1977 – 7 November 1981
- Shortest appearance: 11 seconds – Chris Smalling v Norwich City, Premier League, 26 February 2012
- Most goals in a season in all competitions: 46 – Denis Law, 1963–64
- Most League goals in a season: 32 – Dennis Viollet, Division 1, 1959–60
- Most League goals in a 38-game season: 31 – Cristiano Ronaldo, Premier League, 2007–08
- Goals in consecutive league matches: 10 consecutive matches – Ruud van Nistelrooy, 22 March 2003 to 23 August 2003
- Fastest hat-trick: 4 minutes – Ernie Goldthorpe v Notts County, Second Division, 10 February 1923
- Fastest goal: 15 seconds – Ryan Giggs v Southampton, Premier League, 18 November 1995
- Fastest four goals: 13 minutes – Ole Gunnar Solskjær v Nottingham Forest, Premier League, 6 February 1999
- Most hat-tricks: 18 – Denis Law (3 November 1962 – 17 April 1971)
- Manchester United’s record signing is Paul Pogba, who signed for the club from Juventus for a world record fee of £89.7 million in August 2016
- The club’s record sale came in July 2009, when they sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for £80 million
- First full-time manager: Jack Robson – Robson was manager of Manchester United for 6 years and 10 months, starting on 28 December 1914, before pneumonia forced his retirement in October 1921
- Longest-serving manager: Sir Alex Ferguson – 26 years, 194 days (1,500 matches) (6 November 1986 to 19 May 2013)
- Record win: 10–0 v Anderlecht, European Cup Preliminary Round, second leg, 26 September 1956