United Indonesia - Manchester United Indonesia Supporters Club - View Single Post

rondwisan · 16-06-2009, 09:36 AM

Pre-War United 1902 - 1915

1902 - 1903
In this season Manchester United could recover a little bit of their bad run in the second division. With Mr. James West as manager they started the season well, but because of a bad run in the end they finished in 5th place.

In the FA Cup they could not go further than the second round.

1903 - 1904: Ernest Mangnall takes over at United

Manchester United's manager in 1903 was James West, under him they had begun the season very poorly with two defeats and a draw, on Monday 28th Sept he resigned his position and Ernest Mangnall became the new United manager. Mangnall joined the club from Burnley where he had served as secretary. He would go on to become United's first "great" manager.

The new manager had been born in Bolton and was well known in sporting circles in the North west. He was known in particular for his love of cycling, and during his youth had actually cycled the length of Great Bri***n from John O' Groats to Lands end, he could often be spotted riding his bike to the ground.

With United's financial status at last secure Mangall proved himself a shrewd buyer in the transfer market. He brought goalie Harry Moger to United, along with Alex Bell, Dick Duckworth, and a great centre half in Charlie Roberts. His greatest coup however was bringing the great Billy Meredith across from Man City, other Man City rebels quickly followed Meredith's path and United stole away Herbert Burgess, Sandy Turnbull, and Jimmy Bannister from their rivals. Meredith and Roberts at the time were considered the most talented players in the land. With the new manager and new players United finished third in the league and just missed promotion to the first division.

1904 - 1905: Building a team for the top

Manchester United's manager Mangnall was building a side that looked better than anything the fans had seen so far. 20 year old Charlie Roberts proved a great buy, signed from Grimsby for the grand total of £450. He was sturdily built and extremely fast, it was reported that he could run the hundred yards in 11 seconds. This was the time that the world record stood at 9.6 seconds!

Vittorio Pozzo the Italian national team coach was reported to be a huge fan of Roberts and took back to Italy a lasting memory of the player after he visited Clayton to watch him play. Pozzo went on to create one of the finest pre-war teams ever to play the game, he had stated publicly that Roberts had been his inspiration. Strangely enough, the English team selectors didn't seem to agree and Roberts only played for England 3 times, it was believed that his image as somewhat of a rebel contributed to him being ignored this way. Roberts wore his shorts short, this was a time when the FA had ruled that all shorts were to cover the knee, he had also been a pioneer in the Players Union becoming its chairman and later becoming a leader in the "outcasts" (to be explained later).

On Boxing day 1904 united enter***ned Liverpool at Clayton, 40,000 fans showed up for the game and United defeated the Merseysiders 3-1. It was a high point in the season although Liverpool took their revenge 4 months later and hammered United 4-0 at Anfield to finish the season at the top of the table and again deny United the promotion they desperately desired. They finished on the third spot again with only five defeats out of 34 matches played and 81 goals scored.

1905 - 1906: Promotion at last!

After 12 unhappy seasons in the second division 1906 was the year that United finally claimed their place again in the top flight. One of the season's finest results in the club's young history was a Cup win over the mighty Aston Villa. Villa had won the League Championship in 1894, 1896, 1897, 1899 and 1900 and they had also won the FA Cup in 1887, 1895, 1897 and 1905. Everyone had Villa as hot favorites to hammer the 2nd div United, but before a record crowd of over 40,000 (gate receipts 1,460 pound) United proceeded to hammer the Villa team 5-1 on the mud bath Clayton pitch.

United's joy was short lived though as Woolwich Arsenal beat them in the next round 3-2. Promotion was clinched with a 3-1 victory over Leeds City (yes they were called City back then) and United finished the season in style by trouncing Burton United 6-0 at Clayton. When the final whistle blew the crowd invaded the pitch and carried the team shoulder high from the field. Ernest Mangnall addressed the cheering fans and promised them that this was only the beginning, he was right!

Although Manchester did gain promotion, they didn't win the second division. They finished on the second place with only 4 defeats out of 38 matches played and they scored an unbelievable amount of goals (90).

1906 - 1907: City's plight, United's opportunity

1907 was the year that Manchester United finally arrived as a major force in the footballing world. Boasting an exciting lineup and playing a brand of football that was to become a hallmark at the club. The backbone of the team had come across from their rivals Man City after a sensational scandal had erupted at the Ardwick club. Players were all supposed to be on a fixed wage of 4 pounds per game, it was discovered that City had been paying 6 or 7 pounds a week per player. The FA were furious about this discovery and dismissed five of the Man City directors and banned 17 of its players from ever appearing in a blue shirt again.

Mangnall acted swiftly and managed first of all to sign Billy Meredith (in 1906) later adding the services of four other City players. Meredith had also been involved in a bribe fiasco and it is said he was lucky not to be banned from the game for life. It is interesting to note here that although the players were signed in 1906, they all were serving FA mandated suspensions, so they did not make their debuts in a Red shirt until 1907.

Billy Meredith was known as the 'Welsh Wizard' as he provided the spark that set apart Man United from other clubs establishing a tradition for players of the highest quality to follow him. He was the George Best of the Edwardian era - rebellious, skilled and popular. Many questions about the player's long layoffs were soon answered in the first game of 1907 against Aston Villa when an inspired Meredith darted and teased the Villa defence, finally plotting its downfall by laying on a cross for Turnball to slam into the net.

By the end of the season United had climbed to 8th place and their brand of football was the talk of the town, more importantly they were poised to make an assault one the big prize, the Championship!

1907 - 1908: Champions!

The 1908 season began in fine style for the men from Clayton, a 4-1 hammering of Villa, a 4-0 win against Liverpool and a 2-1 win over Middlesbourgh. After 14 games had been played, United had only dropped 2 points and stood (for the first time) proudly on top of Div 1.

The wins were not squeaked out either, six against Newcastle away, five at Blackburn, four against Everton, Arsenal and Birmingham. United's football was the talk of the footballing press! But despite the roaring start to the season they finished it rather slowly, with a run of 7 defeats in a row.

But they were the Champions for the first time and set a new league record with 82 goals scored. Following the season's end the United board decided to reward the team with a trip to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They first played a combined Vienna Sport and Vienna FC team and won comfortably 4-0 before travelling on by train to Budapest for two games against Ferencvaros.

United won the first 6-2, but the second sparked off a minor diplomatic incident. United started the game in roaring style and the Hungarian fans applauded in admiration for the English Champions, but United continued to pile it on, and the scene turned sour as the referee sent off three United players and a mini-riot developed. Eventually the police got the scene under control and United finished the game with 8 players, and a 7-0 win. But it was not to end there, as the referee blew the final whistle stones were hurled from the terraces, players were spat on and police had to finally charge the crowd with swords drawn to disperse the throng.

United were transported by open top bus to their hotel, and encountered another mob that rained stones down upon them, several players sus***ned head wounds before the police again got the crowd under control. The Hungarian authorities apologised profusely and United diplomatically shrugged the incidents off and promised to return again the following year. Upon arriving back in Manchester, Mangnall vowed he would never go back to Hungary.

16-06-2009, 09:36 AM	#3
rondwisan moderator Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Soe Rock Bo Yo - Nga Lam vv Posts: 35,048 Thanks: 1,500 Thanked 4,736 Times in 2,701 Posts Mentioned: 567 Post(s)	Pre-War United 1902 - 1915 1902 - 1903 In this season Manchester United could recover a little bit of their bad run in the second division. With Mr. James West as manager they started the season well, but because of a bad run in the end they finished in 5th place. In the FA Cup they could not go further than the second round. 1903 - 1904: Ernest Mangnall takes over at United Manchester United's manager in 1903 was James West, under him they had begun the season very poorly with two defeats and a draw, on Monday 28th Sept he resigned his position and Ernest Mangnall became the new United manager. Mangnall joined the club from Burnley where he had served as secretary. He would go on to become United's first "great" manager. The new manager had been born in Bolton and was well known in sporting circles in the North west. He was known in particular for his love of cycling, and during his youth had actually cycled the length of Great Bri*n from John O' Groats to Lands end, he could often be spotted riding his bike to the ground. With United's financial status at last secure Mangall proved himself a shrewd buyer in the transfer market. He brought goalie Harry Moger to United, along with Alex Bell, Dick Duckworth, and a great centre half in Charlie Roberts. His greatest coup however was bringing the great Billy Meredith across from Man City, other Man City rebels quickly followed Meredith's path and United stole away Herbert Burgess, Sandy Turnbull, and Jimmy Bannister from their rivals. Meredith and Roberts at the time were considered the most talented players in the land. With the new manager and new players United finished third in the league and just missed promotion to the first division. 1904 - 1905: Building a team for the top Manchester United's manager Mangnall was building a side that looked better than anything the fans had seen so far. 20 year old Charlie Roberts proved a great buy, signed from Grimsby for the grand total of £450. He was sturdily built and extremely fast, it was reported that he could run the hundred yards in 11 seconds. This was the time that the world record stood at 9.6 seconds! Vittorio Pozzo the Italian national team coach was reported to be a huge fan of Roberts and took back to Italy a lasting memory of the player after he visited Clayton to watch him play. Pozzo went on to create one of the finest pre-war teams ever to play the game, he had stated publicly that Roberts had been his inspiration. Strangely enough, the English team selectors didn't seem to agree and Roberts only played for England 3 times, it was believed that his image as somewhat of a rebel contributed to him being ignored this way. Roberts wore his shorts short, this was a time when the FA had ruled that all shorts were to cover the knee, he had also been a pioneer in the Players Union becoming its chairman and later becoming a leader in the "outcasts" (to be explained later). On Boxing day 1904 united enterned Liverpool at Clayton, 40,000 fans showed up for the game and United defeated the Merseysiders 3-1. It was a high point in the season although Liverpool took their revenge 4 months later and hammered United 4-0 at Anfield to finish the season at the top of the table and again deny United the promotion they desperately desired. They finished on the third spot again with only five defeats out of 34 matches played and 81 goals scored. 1905 - 1906: Promotion at last!* After 12 unhappy seasons in the second division 1906 was the year that United finally claimed their place again in the top flight. One of the season's finest results in the club's young history was a Cup win over the mighty Aston Villa. Villa had won the League Championship in 1894, 1896, 1897, 1899 and 1900 and they had also won the FA Cup in 1887, 1895, 1897 and 1905. Everyone had Villa as hot favorites to hammer the 2nd div United, but before a record crowd of over 40,000 (gate receipts 1,460 pound) United proceeded to hammer the Villa team 5-1 on the mud bath Clayton pitch. United's joy was short lived though as Woolwich Arsenal beat them in the next round 3-2. Promotion was clinched with a 3-1 victory over Leeds City (yes they were called City back then) and United finished the season in style by trouncing Burton United 6-0 at Clayton. When the final whistle blew the crowd invaded the pitch and carried the team shoulder high from the field. Ernest Mangnall addressed the cheering fans and promised them that this was only the beginning, he was right! Although Manchester did gain promotion, they didn't win the second division. They finished on the second place with only 4 defeats out of 38 matches played and they scored an unbelievable amount of goals (90). 1906 - 1907: City's plight, United's opportunity 1907 was the year that Manchester United finally arrived as a major force in the footballing world. Boasting an exciting lineup and playing a brand of football that was to become a hallmark at the club. The backbone of the team had come across from their rivals Man City after a sensational scandal had erupted at the Ardwick club. Players were all supposed to be on a fixed wage of 4 pounds per game, it was discovered that City had been paying 6 or 7 pounds a week per player. The FA were furious about this discovery and dismissed five of the Man City directors and banned 17 of its players from ever appearing in a blue shirt again. Mangnall acted swiftly and managed first of all to sign Billy Meredith (in 1906) later adding the services of four other City players. Meredith had also been involved in a bribe fiasco and it is said he was lucky not to be banned from the game for life. It is interesting to note here that although the players were signed in 1906, they all were serving FA mandated suspensions, so they did not make their debuts in a Red shirt until 1907. Billy Meredith was known as the 'Welsh Wizard' as he provided the spark that set apart Man United from other clubs establishing a tradition for players of the highest quality to follow him. He was the George Best of the Edwardian era - rebellious, skilled and popular. Many questions about the player's long layoffs were soon answered in the first game of 1907 against Aston Villa when an inspired Meredith darted and teased the Villa defence, finally plotting its downfall by laying on a cross for Turnball to slam into the net. By the end of the season United had climbed to 8th place and their brand of football was the talk of the town, more importantly they were poised to make an assault one the big prize, the Championship! 1907 - 1908: Champions! The 1908 season began in fine style for the men from Clayton, a 4-1 hammering of Villa, a 4-0 win against Liverpool and a 2-1 win over Middlesbourgh. After 14 games had been played, United had only dropped 2 points and stood (for the first time) proudly on top of Div 1. The wins were not squeaked out either, six against Newcastle away, five at Blackburn, four against Everton, Arsenal and Birmingham. United's football was the talk of the footballing press! But despite the roaring start to the season they finished it rather slowly, with a run of 7 defeats in a row. But they were the Champions for the first time and set a new league record with 82 goals scored. Following the season's end the United board decided to reward the team with a trip to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They first played a combined Vienna Sport and Vienna FC team and won comfortably 4-0 before travelling on by train to Budapest for two games against Ferencvaros. United won the first 6-2, but the second sparked off a minor diplomatic incident. United started the game in roaring style and the Hungarian fans applauded in admiration for the English Champions, but United continued to pile it on, and the scene turned sour as the referee sent off three United players and a mini-riot developed. Eventually the police got the scene under control and United finished the game with 8 players, and a 7-0 win. But it was not to end there, as the referee blew the final whistle stones were hurled from the terraces, players were spat on and police had to finally charge the crowd with swords drawn to disperse the throng. United were transported by open top bus to their hotel, and encountered another mob that rained stones down upon them, several players sus***ned head wounds before the police again got the crowd under control. The Hungarian authorities apologised profusely and United diplomatically shrugged the incidents off and promised to return again the following year. Upon arriving back in Manchester, Mangnall vowed he would never go back to Hungary.