Manchester United are one of the biggest clubs in world football and everyone who supports them would claim to be the biggest fan.
However, when a team has been around for over 100 years, there is every chance that the fans won’t know ALL of the facts that they think they might!
Indeed, the boys at the Football Transfer Tavern have come up with a tasty list of seven facts you might not be aware of ranging from chairmen who saved the club, to the top 10 scorers as well as an interesting yet unexpected stadium shares with one of their main rivals!
We even caught our landlord by surprise with some of these corkers! Test yourself and see how many of them you knew…..
Manchester United lost their first ever game at Old Trafford…. TO LIVERPOOL!
That’s right, in 1910, Old Trafford opened its gates for the first time as Manchester United played host to Liverpool.
In a frenetic encounter, Sandy Turnbull, Tom Homer, and George Wall gave United a 3-0 cushion as it looked like the Theatre of Dreams would open with a joyous win.
However, Liverpool fought back and turned the game on it’s head winning 4-3 with a couple of braces from Arthur Goddard and James Stewart.
Sounds like a game our punters would’ve enjoyed!
It turned out to be the only home setback during the 1909-10 campaign and United went on to finish fifth.
James Gibson is an unsung hero
Manchester United were hugely affected by the great depression in the early 30’s.
Their previous owner John Davies, who funded the building of Old Trafford died in 1927 and United found themselves with huge debts.
In stepped Gibson who reinvested £2,000 (equivalent of £118,000 in todays money) in to helping the club afford wages, debts and even a Christmas turkey!
He went onto becoming the club chairman for 20 years and he appointed Sir Matt Busby who is so fondly remembered by all at Old Trafford.
A huge debt of gratitude is also owed to Gibson it would seem.
Manchester United played home games at Manchester City’s Maine Road
Old Trafford was heavily damaged during the Blitz in World War Two so Manchester City allowed their rivals to play their home games at Maine Road for a four year period.
The Red Devils paid £5,000 a year and gave City a share of their gate receipts.
The highest league attendance for a game at Maine Road happened during this period as United hosted Arsenal in January 1948, attracting 83,260 spectators.
Manchester United NEVER finished below third under Sir Alex Ferguson in the Premier League era
Incredibly, despite managing United from 1992-93 until 2012-13 (in the Premier League era), Sir Alex Ferguson never saw his side finish below third.
That’s an incredible amount of consistency considering that spans over 20 years of service.
Prior to the First Division becoming the Premier League, Ferguson had overseen final positions such as 11th and 6th but from 1992 onwards, United and Sir Alex formed a bond making them an immovable force that dominated English football for two decades.
The top-10 scorers in United’s all time history are all BRITISH
Here at the Tavern, we’re not sure how many other clubs can boast the same feat!
The top ten ranges from the modern lads we remember such as Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney whilst some obscure players that even our landlord can’t remember like Joe Spence and Jack Rowley make the list.
Some famous United foreigners come just outside the top 10. Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to name a few…
Maybe Martial or Pogba will break that trend in years to come!
Manchester United were the first English team to win the European Cup
Just a year after Celtic defeated Inter Milan to become the first British team to conquer Europe, Manchester United become the first English team to accomplish the feat in 1968.
They defeated Portuguese powerhouses Benfica 4-1 in the final after extra time.
This incredible achievement came only 10 years after the catastrophic Munich Air Crash therefore culminating the rebuilding job Sir Matt Busby managed.
Bastian Schweinsteiger was Manchester United’s first ever German player!
Astonishingly, despite obtaining many nationalities, United had never signed a German player before Schweinsteiger signed for the Red Devils last season.
They previously had German goalkeeper Ron Robert Zieler (now of Leicester) on their books but he never made an appearance for the first team.
We at the Tavern are amazed that a club that has had some of the best local and foreign talent in the world had never obtained a German before last season. Incredible.
