Sinse I am a boy, I like football. Even if I live
in Norway, I support an English team. The team I like is Manchester
United. On this page I will give you personalia and pictures of the
most important Manchester United Players (in my opinion) of 1997. I
will also write a little of important happenings in The Man U
history.
1. The Players
The dream team was found in 1878. «Newton Heath cricket and football club». Their first championship as a football team was the FA-cup in 1886. The teams first opponent was Fleetwood. The game ended 2-2. The big mistake United, or Newton did here, was to refuse to play extra time. The referee declared Fleetwood the winners, and Newtons first FA-cup ended after the first round. The clubs management didn’t like this, and it would go two years before their next FA-cup. Here too they were defeated. They dropped out after the first round this year too, after a 6-1 loss against Preston. Two years later they participated in the league for the first time. They ended up in 16th place, which was dead last. However they didn’t drop out because there were no second division. Next year they too ended last, and this year they dropped down, into the new second division. Here they were for a lot of years.
In 1902 the team changed their name to what we all know: Manchester United. The next year, on the teams 25th anniversary, they finally got a manager. So far the players had been selected, trained led by the Club Secretary in co-operation with members of the club management. Mangnall was their first manager.
Ernest J. Mangnall came from the team Burnley in September. He got a really hard job. The team was positioned in the second division, and it seemed they were going to stay. But Uniteds supporters wanted something else - as well as Mangnall. That year they ended up in 3rd place in the 2nd division, the teams best placing for seven years. The interest for the club was big, and in one season, the audience number raised with 60%. Mangnall bought some good players. He spent a lot of money, but he spent them wise. Among others, he bought the goal keeper Harry Moger and the centre half Charlie Roberts. The latter played over 250 games for United. Mangnall also bought nine other players, five of them from Barnsley.
After a 2nd place in the 2nd division in the season 1905/06, United was finally ready for the 1st division again. The next season they ended 8th. And, in 1907/08, Manchester United led by Ernest Mangnall, won their first league championship. This happened on the clubs’ 30th anniversary. The next season ended with a disappointing 13th place. However, this was easily forgotten when United won 1-0 over Bristol city in the FA-cup final, and the players could lift the FA-cup trophy over their heads.
In 1910/11 United again won the league. The end of this season was very exiting for United- and Aston Villa-supporters. Villa had one point more than Manchester before the last game. United did what they had to do, and beat Sunderland with five to one. The crowd rose and cheered when the message came: Aston Villa had been beaten 3-1.
The league championship in 1911 was going to be the end of Manchester Uniteds first golden age. In 1912 they ended up in 13th place, and the following August Mangnall resigned. He was taking a job as the manager in Manchester City, to do the same for them as he did to United. More pay is said to be the reason why he left United, but it is also possible he saw where United were heading now. The next season they ended in 4th place, but then the misery began. Bad ratings every year till 1922, when they dropped down into the 2nd division again. Two seasons later they advanced back to the 1st division, but they were not good enough for that. The road back to the 2nd was only a few years long. This happened in 1931. After four bad seasons in the 2nd division, they won it in 1936. The next year they went back into 2nd, just to advance to 1st again the next year. Next year they ended at a surprising 14th place. The season 1939/40 started pretty good, with a victory, a draw and a loss in the first three games. However, there was no more that year. The war came, and six football seasons were cancelled. In 1946, there was hardly anything left of United. The players were getting older, and Uniteds stadium was bombed to pieces by the Germans.
United had to be rebuilt, and the management hired former City-player Matt Busby as their new manager. He got a very hard job. Uniteds home ground was a big crater, and the club had a debt of 15.000 pounds, which was very much that time.
Busby was a new kind of manager. He was the first manager ever who come to the training in a track suit, and really take a part in the training of the players. Other managers were sitting on the stand watching while the players were training. Busby claimed full control over the team in the line-up and. His tactics worked out fine. The first three years after the war, United ended the season in 2nd place, and in 1947/48 they won the FA-cup. The 15.000 debt was deleted already in the first season. Old Trafford was rebuilt. The first years after the war, United had used City’s stadium as their home ground, but when the season 1949/50, they could again move into Old Trafford. That year their final league position was number four and then 2nd. And then, 41 years after the last league championship, Matt Busby led United back to the top, and brought the third league cup back to Trafford. United was finally back in business, but in Busbys head, there was still a long way to go.
Matt Busby was a man with long-term plans. During the years 1945-1955 he acquired a network of spies. These were travelling around looking at schoolmatches, local youth teams and other player who were just playing in parks and backyards. If one of the spies found a talent, Busby got an immediate message. At once he left to meet this player, and make him have a go in United. By doing this, Busby got hold of players like Eddie Colman, Jackie Blanchflower, Bill Foulkes, David Pegg, Dennis Viollet and Liam Whelan.
However, Busby didn’t only provide his team with players this way. He also bought a few. Tommy Taylor was the most important one of those. Taylor came from Barnsley. Barnsleys manager wanted 30.000 to let him go, but Busby was unwilling to do this. The reason for this was not that Taylor wasn’t worth the price, cause he was. But the reason was that a price like that had only once before been paid for an English player. Busby didn’t want to put to much pressure on Taylor. He was afraid Taylor would have to much conceit, with a price of 30.000 pounds. So after a lot of negotiations, the last hours in a pub in Barnsley, Busby finally got a price of 29.999 pounds. Så etter lange forhandlinger, de siste timene på en pub i Barnsley, fikk Busby avtalt en pris på 29.999 pund. The left-over pound he gave the lady serving them at the pub as tips.
Tommy Taylor was a good bargain. However, Busby was still missing two players. One of them was Bobby Charlton. He was discovered as a schoolboy. The other man was Duncan Edwards. He was a giant. Already as a ten-year old, was as big as a sixteen-year old, and better to play football. He did never go a place without bringing his football, even parties.
Edwards was living in a small village close to Wolverhampton. Wolves was the dominating team in England at the time, and his parents and friends told him he should try playing for them. However, Duncan himself waned to be a Manchester United star player. One of Busbys spies heared of this United dream, and a few days later Busby came to Duncans parents to ask them if it was OK for them that Duncan would try his skills in United. It was, and Duncan left for Old Trafford.
Now Matts team got the nickname The Busby Babes, because he had so many young players at the A-team. Most of these players Busby had got the same way he got Duncan Edwards.
The seasons 53-54 and 54-55 Matt Busby used to build his team. In the league United ended up in 4th and 5th place, and in the FA-cup they never reached any further than the fourth round. But everybody could see something great was going on. The season 1955/56 was won by United by 11 points, and in the next season United was hoping for victory both in the league, the FA-cup and in the European cup. The league was no problem, but they lost the FA-cup final when their goalkeeper Ray Woods was run over by a player and broke his jawbone. In those days substitutions were not allowed, so the player Jackie Blanchflower was their goalkeeper for the rest of the game. They lost 2-1.
In the European cup United reached the semi final where they met Real Madrid. Home Real won 3-1, and in Old Trafford, the result was 2-2. Manchester United was beaten by that times best football team.
Then it was the season 1957/58. It started good, but by Christmas United had seven losses, and they needed reinforcements. Busby bought the goalkeeper Harry Gregg for 25.000 pounds. Five chanegs were made in the team, and the first match they won 4-0. In the European cup they won matches with the results 9-2 an 3-1, and they were playing against Red Star in the quarter final. United won
2-1 at Old Trafford. When it was time for the match in Belgrade, Busby decided that the team would use a plane instead of boat, because of a lot of nonsense and delay due to their last boat-trip.
United left for Belgrade with only international team players.
At Red Stars home ground they defied a baised referee, naughty Yugoslavian play and injuries. The final score was 3-3 and United were ready for semi final.
At the 6th of February the team left Yugoslavia, for Manchester. In München they made an intermediate landing to refuel. The players went out to stretch their legs and to have something to eat. At 2.30 pm the plane was supposed to leave München.
Home in Manchester everybody thought the European cup was already won. But...
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