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Manchester United FC
Manchester United Football Club is a professional club based in Manchester, that competes in the Premier League, and is known for having won the most trophies in English club football. The club was founded in 1878, originally by the name of Newton Heath LYR Football Club before changing its name to Manchester United in 1902. In 1910 Manchester United relocated to its current home ground of Old Trafford that has a capacity of 74,140.
⚽History
Manchester joined the Football League in 1892 when it merged with the Football Alliance, the club started in the first division but was relegated after two seasons. However, under the management of Ernest Mangnall they secured promotion to the first division in 1906 and went onto win the league for the first time in 1908. The following few years were also a success with a Community Shield win, FA Cup title and a second League victory.
The 1920s and 30s were a turbulent time for Manchester United as the club yo-yoed between first and second division and was also plagued with significant financial difficulties. Thankfully James Gibson invested in Manchester United and took control of the club, but the team finished 14th in the First Division in the last year of football before WWII.
In 1945 football resumed and Matt Busby was appointed as manager, leading the team to league titles in 1952, 56 and 57. In 1957, “the Busby Babes” so named due to the average age of the squad being 22, became the first English team to compete in the European Cup. The following year in 1958 when the team were flying back from a European Cup quarter final victory, the aircraft carrying the players, officials and journalists crashed when attempting to take off after refuelling in Munich, Germany. This tragedy is known as the Munich air disaster and it claimed 23 lives, including 8 players, with several more injured.
Following the tragedy, Bubsy rebuilt the team during the 60s and United won the FA Cup in 1963, going on to have a few successful years before a downturn in performance during the 70s and early 80s.
In 1986 Alex Ferguson stepped in as manager and after a rocky start eventually brought the team to victory in the 1990 FA Cup final. The following 23 years under Ferguson were the best in the club’s history with Manchester United winning an incredible 38 trophies with Alex Ferguson as manager.
Since the departure of Ferguson in 2013, United has struggled to live up to its long standing reputation and has hired a number of different managers with none of them delivering the desired results. The most recent manager, Ralf Rangnick, has been appointed as interim until the end of the 2021-2022 season.
