The History of Manchester United
The Beggining
After The Second War
1969-1986
The Year of the Treble
After the treble and present
The beggining of the club (1878-1945)
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.
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After the Second World War (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
refueling 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.
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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.
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The Year of the Treble (1998-99)
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 corner, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, another late substitute, poking it into the roof
of the net. Ferguson was subsequently knighted for his services to football. Later that year Manchester United won the Intercontinental
Cup after beating Palmeiras 1-0 at the National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo.
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The Years After the Treble - 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.
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