The Greatest Football Story Ever Told - Part 1

As part of the build-up to Tour 2015, presented by Aon, we’ll be reflecting on some of the most important and unforgettable times in the Reds’ history - something we believe to be the greatest football story ever told. We'll also be hearing from some of the key personalities who have helped create that story. In part one of our series, we look back on how Manchester United came to be...

Every journey has a starting point. For the world’s greatest football club, it was in the railyards of Newton Heath, central Manchester.

Long before the modern day Manchester United could boast England’s finest playing surface, grandest stadium and richest history, the club played amateur games on a quagmire pitch and shared its name with a cricket team.

The members of the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot who first formed Newton Heath (L & Y R) Cricket & Football Club in 1878 could never have envisaged being the trailblazers for the glory and romance which, 137 years later, has established their alliance as one of world sport’s most recognisable institutions.

Of course, such eminence does not arrive overnight, and the club had to face teams from other railway companies in order to manufacture competition in their early years. Soundly thrashed whenever they faced established sides, the Heathens steadily improved and, eight years after their formation, won their first silverware by scooping the Manchester Cup in 1886.

Newton Heath continued to gaining in repute and quality, but it nevertheless took years of banging on the door of the Football League before the club was allowed to partake in official league matches. The Heathens duly severed all connections to the railway company and became Newton Heath Football Club.

A 3-4 defeat at the then-mighty Blackburn Rovers demonstrated the newcomers’ moxie in their first ever league match, but relegation to the second division came after two seasons, and financial concerns forced the departure of several key players over the course of many seasons spent toiling in vain for promotion back to the top flight.

Newton Heath’s plight grew so desperate that in 1902 the near-bankrupt club was given a winding-up order and was set to fold, until the timely and fateful intervention of wealthy local brewer John Henry Davies. When a dog belonging to club captain Harry Stafford disappeared, it was discovered by Davies who, upon reuniting pet and owner, learned of Newton Heath’s plight and pledged support as part of a new consortium which assumed control of the club on the condition of sustained financial backing.

All that remained to be settled was the club’s name. Newton Heath no longer seemed apt, since the club had left the area eight years earlier in order to play home matches in Clayton, and so the new board, led by Davies and Stafford settled on a name which would one day be known around the world.


The Manchester United journey was underway, with a destination unknown but unlimited. The club’s first season in red and white, rather than green and gold, marked a dramatic improvement on and off the field, with attendances more than doubling in size. Ernest Mangnall became club secretary and team manager in September 1903, and in his third term in charge guided the Reds back to the First Division.

Within two years, boosted by the capture of four stars of Manchester City’s team who had been banned for alleged match-fixing, United were champions for the first time, clinching the 1907/08 by a huge nine-point margin. With the club’s first piece of silverware secured, Mangnall’s men were in the winning habit, adding the inaugural Charity Shield and the FA Cup in 1908/09, and regaining the title two seasons later. Boasting a squad replete with outstanding winners, Manchester United had become a prominent feature on the map of English football.

Credit: manutd.com