Manchester United History

Manchester United Football Club is a professional football club that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club is based in Greater Manchester but has a large global following. The Manchester United History is renowned for being one of the best in world football. They have won the most trophies in English club football, including:

Manchester United History Overview

The rich Manchester United History starts in 1878 where they were first formed, albeit under a different name – Newton Heath LYR (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway). By 1902 Newton Heath was £2,670 in debt and faced a winding-up order. Because of this, shareholders of the club announced that four local businessmen were willing to take over the club’s debts. The Football League approved the plan and Newton Heath became Manchester United. 

Players within the Manchester United History

Throughout the years, Manchester United have produced a large list of world class football players. Who is the best ever player for Manchester United? This is an argument many football fanatics have had for years. Some of Manchester United’s most talented players include Roy Keane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona, Duncan Edwards, Paul Scholes, Dennis Law, Bobby Charlton, George Best and Ryan Giggs. 

Historic Games

Manchester United were most successful in the Sir Alex Ferguson era, recording some iconic, mouth watering football games. This includes the late Champions League win against Bayern Munich in 1999, the record breaking 1-0 win over LDU Quito in Yokohama in 2008 to become the first English side to become FIFA Club World Cup winners. Although It’s been a tumultuous decade for Manchester United, they’ve had some iconic post Sir Alex Ferguson games along the way. In 2019, Manchester United were trailing Paris Saint Germain 2-0 going into the second leg of the tie. Remarkably, Manchester United beat PSG thanks to a very late Marcus Rashford penalty. 

Stadium Development History

The Old Trafford stadium, commonly known as ‘The Theatre of Dreams,’ originally opened on February 19, 1910 with a capacity of approximately 80,000. During the Second World War, Old Trafford was used by the military as a depot. On March 11, 1941 the stadium got heavily damaged by a German bombing raid. The stadium was rebuilt following the war and reopened on August 24, 1949. After a series of additions between 1950 to early 1980, the capacity at Old Trafford reached 56,385 in 1985. The conversion of the stadium to an all-seater reduced capacity to approximately 44,000 by 1992, the lowest in its history. Thereafter, they began to expand the capacity throughout the stadium, bringing it to approximately 58,000 by 1996, approximately 68,000 by 2000, and approximately 76,000 in 2006. The current capacity at Old Trafford is 75,454.

Ownership within the Manchester United History

Manchester United is currently under the ownership of The Glazers family. This was possible due to American tycoon Malcolm Glazer who during 2003-05, acquired United by gradually talking over the Shareholders. This cost him around 750 Million Euros. After his death in 2014, Joel and Avram Glazer were made the club’s co-chairman who are currently handling the 3.81 Billion Dollars’ worth Club on their shoulders.

Managerial History


From the beginning of the club’s official managerial records in 1892 to the start of the 2018–19 season, Manchester United have had 22 full-time managers. The current manager is Ralf Rangnick who took over as interim manager from caretaker Michael Carrick on 3 December 2021, himself replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjær on 21 November 2021. The longest-serving and most successful person to manage Manchester United is Sir Alex Ferguson, who’s managerial reign lasted over 26 years.

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Craig Johnson

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