Sir Alex Ferguson Era

Lore & Background

Nicknamed the Red Devils, they were founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, but changed their name to Manchester United in 1902. After a spell playing in Clayton, Manchester, the club moved to their current stadium, Old Trafford, in 1910. Appointed as manager in 1945, Matt Busby built a team with an average age of just 22 – nicknamed the Busby Babes – that won successive league titles in the 1950s, and became the first English club to compete in the European Cup. Eight players were killed in the Munich air disaster, but Busby rebuilt the team around star players George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton (known as the United Trinity). They won two more league titles before becoming the first English club to win the European Cup in 1968. After Busby's retirement, Manchester United were unable to produce sustained success until the arrival of Alex Ferguson, who became the club's longest-serving and most successful manager, winning 38 trophies including 13 league titles, five FA Cups and three Champions League titles between 1986 and 2013. In the 1998–99 season, under Ferguson, the club became the first in the history of English football to achieve the continental treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. In winning the UEFA Europa League under José Mourinho in 2016–17, they became one of five clubs to have won the original three main UEFA club competitions (the Champions League, Europa League and Cup Winners' Cup).

In Their Own Story

The rain lashed against the Stretford End on a cold May evening in 1999, turning Old Trafford into a cauldron of noise and tension. Inside the dugout, Alex Ferguson stared at his watch, his face an unreadable mask to everyone but those who knew him best. The score was level, time was bleeding away, and the weight of European history hung heavy in the Manchester air. He turned to his assistant, murmuring a single command that would echo through decades: 'Keep going.' As the corner flag whipped violently in the wind, he didn't shout; he simply stood tall, embodying the club's unspoken law that the game is never over until the final whistle blows. Two minutes later, the roar from the stands shook the stadium's foundations as Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær turned despair into immortality in the most dramatic finish in football history.

Reader's Guide

Manchester United is one of the most widely supported football clubs in the world and have rivalries with Liverpool, Manchester City, Leeds United and Arsenal. Manchester United was the highest-earning football club in the world for 2016–17, with an annual revenue of €676.3 million, and the world's second-most-valuable football club in 2024, valued at £6.55 billion ($5.22 billion). After being floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1991, the club was taken private in 2005 after a purchase by American businessman Malcolm Glazer valued at almost £800 million, of which over £500 million of borrowed money became the club's debt. From 2012, some shares of the club were listed on the New York Stock Exchange, although the Glazer family retains overall ownership and control of the club.

Did You Know?

• Manchester United were formed in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath.
• The club changed its name to Manchester United on 24 April 1902.
• Matt Busby was appointed manager in October 1945 and demanded unprecedented control over team selection, player transfers, and training sessions.
• Alex Ferguson won 38 trophies including 13 league titles, five FA Cups and three Champions League titles between 1986 and 2013.
• In 1998–99, Manchester United became the first English club to achieve the continental treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League.