Manchester United Essays - Sport In Manchester, Knights Bachelor

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club Club History Manchester United Football Club is one of the most successful clubs in Britain along with the likes of Liverpool, Rangers and Arsenal but in this paper I will take a look why United are simply just the best there is. The Birth Of A Legend It all started way back in the 1870's when a group of railway workers decided to form a football club to play in on the weekends. They called the team The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club but in 1878 renamed themselves Newton Heath. In the early 1890's the Football League accepted their application to join the league and were placed in the First Division, as there was two divisions. They started indifferently as they lost their first game to Blackburn Rovers, the powerhouse of the 1890's, 4-3 but a week later they beat Wolverhampton 10-1 to notch up their first ever victory. This victory is still a club record. In 1894 the club moved to Bank Street in Clayton because they were facing major financial problems but John H. Davies, a brewery director, was persuaded to put some money into the club therefore becoming the chairman and a director at the club. He decided changes were needed so he board renamed the club Manchester United and changed the strips from green and gold halved shirts and dark green shorts to red shirts and white shorts. The club appointed their first ever manager in Ernest Mangall in 1903 and three years later United had pulled themselves out of the Second Division back into the First Division, but real success didn't come till 1907/08 when they won the First Division title for the very first time. A year later in 1908/09 the club then won it's first F.A. Cup. John H. Davies brought a plot of land near Lancashire Cricket Club in the mid 1900's and started to build a new stadium. Old Trafford opened in 1910 but Liverpool won the first game there 4-3. In 1910/11 United won their second First Division title and a year later picked up their second Charity Shield, after winning their first in 1908. The Indifferent 30's, 40's and 50's In 1934 came a vital clash in the history of this great club. They had to travel to Millwall and beat them to stay in the Second Division otherwise they would sink to the unthinkable depths of the Third Division North. They won 2-0 and just a season later won the Second Division title to win promotion back up to the First Division. In the mid 1940's World War II erupted therefore destroying Old Trafford so the club had to sign an agreement with arch rivals Manchester City to play at their home ground Maine Road. The board also appointed Matt Busby as new team manager, a move which was to change the club dramatically. He captured his first tile in 1951/52 as United became First Division champions, but Mr. Busby wasn't happy and he decided the team needed some new blood and he brang together a group of extremely talented youngsters which became known all around the world as ? The Busby Babes ?. In 1955/56 The Babes won the First Division championship and entered the European Cup, the biggest club competition in the world. They went out in the semi-finals, to eventual Real Madrid, but they retained the league title the following season so they could enter the competition again. They wouldn't entered the 1957/58 European Cup if they knew what was going to happen next. After losing to AC Milan in the semi-finals the team stopped off at Munich. On take off the plane crashed killing eight members of the team and fifteen members of the club, press and airline staff. One of the players killed in this crash was Duncan Edwards, a player who could play any position at anytime time. This was a great loss to United because at the time he was said to have been the best player in the world. A Time Of Rebuilding The late 1950's and early 1960's was a time of rebuilding for the team and by 1963 they had won back the F.A. Cup and 1964/65 was the first time they had won the league