Manchester United history

The team initially played games against other departments and railway companies, but on 20 November 1880, they competed in their first recorded match; wearing the colours of the railway company – green and gold – they were defeated 6–0 by Bolton Wanderers' reserve team.

By 1888, the club had become a founding member of The Combination, a regional football league.

The team first entered the English First Division, then the highest league in English football, for the start of the 1892-93 season.

Beginning with a tentative meeting in 1898, Manchester United players led the unionization of their newly created trade.

Captain Harry Stafford found four local businessmen, including John Henry Davies (who became club president), each willing to invest £500 in return for a direct interest in running the club and who subsequently changed the name; on 24 April 1902, Manchester United was officially born.

The Football Association finally allowed for the formation of such a union in 1908, however it ordered all players to resign from it the following year when the union made overtures to join the Federation of Trades Unions.

The club's greatest manager, Matt Busby, was born in Orbiston, a mining village near Glasgow, on May 26, 1909.

Our Old Trafford stadium, commonly known as "The Theatre of Dreams," was originally opened on February 19, 1910 with a capacity of approximately 80,000.

Manchester United won the First Division for the second time in 1911, but at the end of the following season, Mangnall left the club to join Manchester City.

In the 1938–39 season, the last year of football before the Second World War, the club finished 14th in the First Division.

During the Second World War, Old Trafford was used by the military as a depot, and on March 11, 1941 was heavily damaged by a German bombing raid.

In October 1945, the impending resumption of football after the war led to the managerial appointment of Matt Busby, who demanded an unprecedented level of control over team selection, player transfers and training sessions.

Old Trafford was rebuilt and in 1948 Manchester United was valued at £100,000.

The stadium was rebuilt following the war and reopened on August 24, 1949.

In 1952, the club won the First Division, its first league title for 41 years.

The league champion team of 1956-57 cost £79,000 in transfer fees.

In 1957, Manchester United became the first English team to compete in the European Cup, despite objections from The Football League, who had denied Chelsea the same opportunity the previous season.

In February 1958, an airplane crash resulted in the death of eight of our first team players.

The maximum wage was abolished in 1961 and transfer fees kept climbing.

In 1962 the club paid an Italian team £115,000 for Denis Law, then a staggering amount.

The team won the FA Cup in 1963; other championships followed.

Along the way, physical violence began to erupt on the field and in the stands, notably at the 1965 FA Cup semifinal against Leeds.

In 1968, Manchester United became the first English club to win the European Cup, beating Benfica 4–1 in the final with a team that contained three European Footballers of the Year: Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best.

Busby resigned as manager in 1969 before being replaced by the reserve team coach, former Manchester United player Wilf McGuinness.

Docherty saved Manchester United from relegation that season, only to see them relegated in 1974; by that time the trio of Best, Law, and Charlton had left the club.

The team won promotion at the first attempt and reached the FA Cup final in 1976, but were beaten by Southampton.

Dave Sexton replaced Docherty as manager in the summer of 1977.

Despite major signings, including Joe Jordan, Gordon McQueen, Gary Bailey, and Ray Wilkins, the team failed to win any trophies; they finished second in 1979–80 and lost to Arsenal in the 1979 FA Cup Final.

Busby was made president in 1980.

Martin Edwards, son of Louis Edwards, was made chairman in 1981.

In 1985–86, after 13 wins and two draws in its first 15 matches, the club was favourite to win the league but finished in fourth place.

In 1986, our club appointed Sir Alex Ferguson as manager.

Despite a second-place finish in 1987–88, the club was back in 11th place the following season.

Reportedly on the verge of being dismissed, Ferguson's job was saved by victory over Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup Final.

When Martin Edwards could not sell the club, he recruited executives who made it the most profitable team in the U.K. It began trading on the London Stock Exchange in 1991.

In 1992-93, Manchester United Football Club plc had an operating profit of £7.3 million on a turnover of £25.2 million, thanks largely to merchandising and brand extensions such as Champs Cola, which were worth £5.3 million, up from just £828,000 five years earlier.

In July 1993 the club paid a record £3.75 million transfer fee for midfielder Roy Keane.

Sir Matt Busby died on January 20, 1994, after five years with blood cancer.

It was in a 16-year, £24 million deal with electronics maker Sharp and a five-year, £743 million deal with Rupert Murdoch's broadcasting arm BSkyB and the BBC. In 1997 it launched its own television channel, MUTV, in cooperation with BSkyB and Granada Media Group.

BSkyB offered £624 million for the club in September 1998.

In November 1999, the club became the only British team to ever win the Intercontinental Cup with a 1–0 victory over the strong 1999 Copa Libertadores winners Palmeiras in Tokyo.

Mourinho has managed at the top level of European football since 2000 and, in that time, he has won 25 trophies in four countries including two Champions League titles, three Premier League titles, two Serie A titles, one Europa League title, one La Liga title and two Portuguese league titles.

The Red Devils counted on an unexpected goalkeeper fail by future 2002 FIFA World Cup winner Marcos and a disallowed goal scored by Alex to win the game.

They won the 2003–04 FA Cup, beating Millwall 3–0 in the final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to lift the trophy for a record 11th time.

In December 2008, the club became the first British team to win the FIFA Club World Cup and followed this with the 2008–09 Football League Cup, and its third successive Premier League title.

In 2010, Manchester United defeated Aston Villa 2–1 at Wembley to retain the League Cup, its first successful defence of a knockout cup competition.

At the end of the 2012/13 season, Sir Alex Ferguson retired as team manager.

On 8 May 2013, Ferguson announced that he was to retire as manager at the end of the football season, but would remain at the club as a director and club ambassador.

On 19 May 2014, it was confirmed that Louis van Gaal would replace Moyes as Manchester United manager on a three-year deal, with Giggs as his assistant.

Former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager José Mourinho was appointed in his place on 27 May 2016.

Wayne Rooney scored his 250th goal for United, a stoppage-time equaliser in a league game against Stoke City in January 2017, surpassing Sir Bobby Charlton as the club's all-time top scorer.

On 18 December 2018, with United in sixth place in the Premier League table, 19 points behind leaders Liverpool and 11 points outside the Champions League places, Mourinho was sacked after 144 games in charge.

On 28 March 2019, after winning 14 of his first 19 matches in charge, Solskjær was appointed permanent manager on a three-year deal.