Neo--The-RED-DEVIL

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Manchester United F.C. - My Passion

Manchester United Football Club is a world famous English football club. They are based at Old Trafford Football Ground, Trafford, Greater Manchester and the club is one of the most successful football clubs in English football history, having won the FA Premier League/Football League 15 times, FA Cup 11 times, the League Cup twice, the European Cup twice, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup once, the Intercontinental Cup once, and the European Super Cup once. The club has had the highest average attendance in English football for the past 34 seasons, with the exception of 1987-89 during redevelopment at Old Trafford[1]. The 'Red Devils' are reported to be the best-supported football club in the world.

The club was formed as Newton Heath F.C. in 1878 as the works team of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath. After nearing bankruptcy in 1902, the club was taken over by J H Davies who changed its name to Manchester United. The Old Trafford Football Ground was bombed during the Second World War, leading the club to seek charity from their then-illustrious neighbours Manchester City, who allowed them to play their games at Maine Road for a period. United appointed Sir Matt Busby as manager after the Second World War, and his then-unheard-of policy of producing most of the players through the club's youth team brought great success, with the club winning the Football League in 1956 and 1957. This success was halted by the Munich air disaster of 1958, in which eight of the club's players died. It was thought that the club might fold, but instead went on to win the football league in 1965 and 1967, and the European Cup in 1968.

The club did not see success again until the 1990s and early 2000s when Sir Alex Ferguson guided it to eight league championships in eleven years, most recently in the 2002-03 season. In 1999, Manchester United became the only team to win the treble, that is the UEFA Champions League, FA Premier League and the FA Cup in the same season.

The Treble (1998-99)

1998-99 was when Manchester United had the most successful season in English club football history as they became the first and only English team to win The Treble - winning the Premiership, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in the same season. After a very tense Premier League season, Manchester United won the title on the final day beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1, whilst Arsenal won 1-0 against Aston Villa. Winning the Premiership was the first part of the Treble in place, the one part that manager Alex Ferguson described as the hardest. In the FA Cup Final United faced Newcastle United and won 2-0 with goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes. In the final match of that season, the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final they defeated Bayern Munich in what was then considered the greatest comeback ever witnessed. After going down to an early goal from a Mario Basler free kick, United chased the game for 85 minutes. After 90 minutes they forced a corner, from which late substitute Teddy Sheringham scored. Not giving up, Man Utd went for a second and it came again from a corner, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, another late substitute, poking it into the roof of the net. Ferguson was subsequently knighted for his services to football.


Honours

posted by Avijeet Sen @ 3:16 AM  0 comments