THE
HISTORY OF
MANCHESTER
UNITED
FOOTBALL
CLUB
(THE BEGINING OF THE CLUB-THE BEGINING OF AN ERA)
Manchester United have a unique story behind their history. It began over 100 years ago. In the year 1878 when Manchester United where known as Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. It was the men who worked on the railway site that set up the team. When the league began it took two years for the 'Heathens' to be entered into the league, and when they finally got in they started off in the first of the two divisions.
So in the 1892/93 season the Heathens started off their league campaign. There first EVER league game came against Blackburn. The Heathens went on and lost 4-3 but they fought hard. Robert Donaldson was the very first person to score a goal for Newton Heath. Uniteds record league victory also came in their very first season, a 10-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers. This record still stands.
But at the end of their very first season the Heathens came 16th place, bottom of the league. But they weren't relegated straight away, in those days they had to play a play-off game against top of division two side Small Heath (Birmingham City). The Heathens won and stayed up.
After their first season they had to move from North road, as the pitch was a mud bath and the dressing rooms were half a mile down the road in the 'Three Crowns' pub. So they moved to Bank street/Clayton. The pitch attracted more spectators but was next to a chemical plant. And half way through their second season the pitch turned out to be a little more impressive than North Road, plans were straight away in action to find a brand new ground.
In the 1893/94 season the Heathens did even worse with only 6 wins in 30 games. They ended up bottom of the league again, and this time were relegated, Liverpool beating them to send them down.
The first ever league Derby was played in the 94/95 season. Newton Heath vs. Manchester City. Around 15,000 spectators turned up at Hyde road (City's ground). The Heathens won 5-2 and later on in the season the Heathens won again 4-1.
In the 1995/96 season Newton Heath recorded their BEST ever league result. It was against Walsall, and the Heathens won 14-0. But the Football league declared it a void fixture due to the pitch being so bad. The replay was another high scoring game for the heathens, they won 9-0, but it still wasn't a record.
This season also included the sale of Joe Cassidy. He made 174 appearances for Newton Heath and scored 100 goals. He was sold to neighbours, Man City.
The years went by with the Heathens never coming below 6th place. In the 1897/98 season Newton Heath won there first ever cup, the Lancashire Cup, where they beat Blackburn 2-1 in the final.
The Heathens started off the 20th century losing 2-1 to Bolton Wanderers. The regulars in those days included. Frank Barrett. Harry Stafford, Fred Erentz, Morgan, Bryant, Jackson, Cassidy, and Griffiths who made over 150 appearances, and Cartwright who made over 250 appearances.
The 00/01 season Newton Heath had their WORST ever season. Finishing 10th place in division 2. As the Heathens luck was running they needed more money to buy new players. A bazaar was held to raise money for the club lasting 4 days, hoping to raise £1000.
After four days though the money raised was lower than expected, they ended up having hardly any profits.
THE NEWTON HEATH STORY EVERY FAN SHOULD KNOW!!
At the Gala the Newton Heath captain Harry Stafford, let his dog, a St Bernard roam around with a collecting box around its neck, to try and raise more funds for the club. One day the dog escaped and was found by a friend of John Davies. John Davies was the managing director of Manchester Breweries. Mr Davies took a liking to the dog and bought the dog of his friend.
But Mr Davies wanted to know whom the dog actually belonged too. He found out that it was the Newton Heath captains, and so they got in touch. Stafford told him how the dog had escaped and told him about the clubs funds. And as a gesture of goodwill Davies said he would make contributions now and in the future.
In the 1901/02 season, Newton Heath were £2,600 in debt. The Clayton ground was closed and two games had to be called off. One because the cost of travelling was too much. Harry Stafford went all around Manchester trying to find a cheap pitch that they could play on, and after finally finding one, week in and out the Heathens didn't know how long they would last for. Then in a meeting to declare Bankruptcy Harry Stafford stood up and named 4 men including himself, who would donate £200 to the club, one of the others was John Davies. But they were not going to give up their money for nothing. They wanted to be a director of the football club. And Newton Heath couldn't refuse, come on this was going to keep them alive. So after a re-shuffle Davies ended up as the first Newton Heath President. A good swap for a dog eh!!
Following a re-organisation of the club in 1902 the name MANCHESTER UNITED was adopted, other suggestions included, Manchester Celtic and Manchester Central. Louis Rocca was the man who named the club.
