Analysis of History and Current Standing of Manchester United FC

This dissertation provides a comprehensive overview of Manchester United Football Club, tracing its origins from Newton Heath LYR Football club in 1878 to its current status in world football. It explores key milestones, including the Munich air disaster, the managerial reigns of Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson, and the club's financial success. The research identifies the reasons behind Manchester United's success, analyzes its rivalries, and assesses its current standing in the global football landscape, highlighting its numerous trophies and financial achievements. The study uses a literature review to build a strong argument and research methodology to support its findings.

Dissertation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Overview of the topic.............................................................................................................3
Background of the association................................................................................................4
Research aim and objectives .................................................................................................5
Research questions ................................................................................................................5
Research rationale..................................................................................................................5
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................7
Introduction............................................................................................................................7
To determine the reasons behind success of Manchester United Football Club....................7
Current standing of Manchester United Football Club in world football..............................9
To identify the history of Manchester United Football Club...............................................11
Conclusion............................................................................................................................13
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................15
DISCUSSION................................................................................................................................20
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................27
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................28

INTRODUCTION
Overview of the topic
Manchester United Football Club was established in 1878 by Newton Heath LYR
Football club. and the manager of team is Ralf Rangnick. The nickname of team is The Red
Devils. They have won various trophies as compare to other English team with record 20 league
titles, five league cups, 12 FA Cups and record 21 FA Community Shields. Manchester United
have won three European Cups, one UEFA Cup winners cup, one UEFA Europa League, one
UEFA Super cup, one FIFA World cup and one Intercontinental cup. The team was also become
first in the history of English Football in order to gain continental European treble. In 2016-17,
they have win UEFA Europa League due to which they have become one of the five clubs to
won three main UEFA trophies. In 1958, the eight players of Manchester United have claimed
the lives in Munich air disaster. Later Mat Busby become the manager of Manchester United and
become first English Football club by winning European cup. Under the management of Alex
Ferguson they have won 38 trophies, 13 premier league titles, 2 UEFA champions league and 5
FA Cups. The team become one of the corroborated football clubs in the world and also they
have several rivalries such as Manchester city, Leeds United, Arsenal and Liverpool. The team
was also become one of the highest earning football club with an annual revenue of €676.3
million. In 2109, Manchester United have become third most valuable football club. The team
has always been so controversial after they get entered into Football League in 1892 and they
also get bankrupted in 1902. Manchester United had enjoyed various league and cup success and
also they have win First Division Championship in 1908 and 1911. During the Second World
war, the club faced crisis as Old trafford gets badly ruined by German Bombing raids. The team
and stadium gets rebuild. They have appointed a manager after the crisis, Matt Busby, he gained
immediate success by winning FA Cup in 1948. He has controlled the management in effective
and smooth manner and also at unusual situation he select the teams normally. Busby started to
breakdown his management protocols and took a revolutionary step by asking employees
opinions, consulting the team about decision and also participating in management decision.
When the team win championship, they have rebuild the team with younger players. Manchester
United have talented youth due to which they have won league in 1956 and 1957. In 1971,
Busby gives his position and later the manager was Sir Ales Ferguson. He has paid a lot of

attention in order to develop the policy related to youth so that they can grow their talent in
house. He also owned world record of longest time spent in football club. Sir Ales Ferguson
manage their team with strict disciplinarian which is one of the key ingredient for their success.
In 2013, he announced his retirement as a manager of Football club but remained as an
ambassador and director.
Background of the association
Manchester United Football Club was initiated in the year of 1878 by Newton Heath
LYR Football club managed by Ralf Rangnick. The nickname of the team is Red Devils due to
their red jersey. The club has won various titles in comparison to any other English team such as
20 league titles, five league cups and 21 FA community shields. The team is also known as the
one who won Continental European Treble. In the year of 2016-17 they have won UEFA Europa
League and this is the major reason that the club has become one of he five club to win UEFA
trophies. In the year of 1958 the prominent eight players of Manchester United have claimed
their life in Munich air disaster. Later Mat Busby has become the manager for Manchester
United and known as the first football club by winning European cup. Under the managerial
functions of Alex Ferguson the club has won 38 trophies, 13 premier leagues and 5 FA cups. The
team has become one in supported football club within the world football such as Manchester
city, Leeds United, Arsenal and Liverpool. The team is regarded as one of the highest earning
team with revenue of €676.3 million. In the year of 2019, Manchester United have become the
most valuable football club around the world. The team also faced various controversies as after
they get entry in Football League 1892 but at the same time they get bankrupted in the year of
1902. Manchester United has won various league in which they won their first Division
Championship in 1908 and 1911. During the second world war the club had faced such crisis as
Old trafford which was get badly damaged by German Bombing raids. The team stadium needed
to be rebuild in which crisis manager was appointed so that this situation can be dealt in
significant manner. After that the team got success after winning the cup in the year of 1948.
Busby controlled the management of the club in effective manner and this is an unusual situation
for the team. Busby has started to break various managerial protocols in which revolutionary
steps are taken by him in order to lead the team. As the team win some championship the team is
rebuild with various young players (Horrocks and et. al, 2016). Manchester United is associated
with talented people and this is the reason that the league won the matches in 1956 and 1957. In

the year of 1971, Busby gives their position to the manager Sir Ales Ferguson. He has paid
higher attention to policies and growing significant talent within house. He also owned the
longest time spent within football club in which sir Ferguson managed the team in which various
strict disciplinarian are being followed.
Research aim and objectives
Main aim of the current research is “to examine the history behind Manchester United
Football Club and its current standing in world football.”
Objectives
 To identify the history of Manchester United Football Club
 To determine the reasons behind success of Manchester United Football Club
 To discern the current standing of Manchester United Football Club in world football
Research questions
 What is the history of Manchester United Football Club?
 What are the reasons behind success of Manchester United Football Club?
 What is the current standing of Manchester United Football Club in world football?
Research rationale
The rationale behind current research is related with examining the reasons for which
Manchester United is regarded as one of the major team within the world. This is seen that
Manchester United is the team is significantly increasing day by day and including talented
people as well. In the terms of Manchester United the team is known in the world and at the
same time they have supporter from around the world irrespective of their nationality and
background. The major objective within this research is to obtain such reasons due to which
Manchester is regarded as one of the wealthiest team. Besides this Manchester has set to be
talented players in their teams and this is why the club is winning most of their matches. Fan
following of Manchester is high as all the team members are associated with significant tactics to
play games. On the other hand the research is related with dual perspective such as personal and
professional. In terms of personal perspective the research is associated with gaining of such
knowledge in which skills and capabilities can be enhanced. Similarly these are the aspects
which are related with giving such reasons in which they can execute various researches in

significant manner. In terms of personal perspective the research will lead into gaining such
knowledge in which researcher may develop their interest in football.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
A literature review is regarded as an overview of the old published works on some
specific topic. The term is referred as the full scholarly section in which various articles and
books are used. It is collected through analysing books and articles and this helps the company in
developing more profits and gaining true advantage of the company process. This is helpful for
development of the research objectives and aims and resulting in getting reliable information.
Further, it is helpful in making organisational objectives and it is collected by getting in depth
information about a topic. Within this research, researcher is conducting research on a topic of
examine the history behind Manchester United Football Club and its current standing in world
football institutions. This brings true and valid information about a particular topic. This helps in
gaining more reliable information. It is developing of the more options and a literature review is
associated with providing the researcher and the audiences with a general image of the existing
knowledge on the topic under question.
To determine the reasons behind success of Manchester United Football Club
As per the viewpoint of Morrow, (2016),Manchester United Football Club is one of the
professional football club that focuses on competing in Premier League. In 1878, the club was
founded as Newton Health LYR Football club, later the name was changed in 1902 as
Manchester United. They have won more trophies as any other football team. In 2016-17,
Manchester United was considered as highest earning football club. There are various rivalries of
Manchester United such as Leeds United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool. The
capability of Manchester United is attributed to Matt Busby's reconstruction of team and also
they gain attainment by following the Munich air disaster. Football is considered as one of the
big industry with an excellent laboratory for studying succession possibilities of the teams.
American football has less levelling of informant between the clubs whereas English Football is
highly competitive in Market. Football is so large industry in terms of studying business in its
own precise like tourism and computer industry. There are several books which were published
on football but there is no systematic structure of the industry in terms of business. In 1990's,
Manchester United becomes one of the most successful English Football Club. They have won
four of the six titles in the foundation of Premier League in 1992 and also been runner-up on

other two occasion. Manchester United has won FA cup twice and become runner-up.
Manchester United Football Club is successful club in terms of finance and generated the income
of £249m between 1992 and 1997. In football industry, this performance is very effective and
good as compare to other club. Most of the clubs in football industry has reported pre-tax loss
due to which the performance of Manchester United Football club is good. In 1998, broadcaster
BSkyB's offer £624m in order to buy the club. The reason behind the success of Manchester
United success is that they manage the money while winning. Manchester United Football club
gain success before 1958 when Munich Airplane crash. In 1945, Mat Busby becomes the
manager of United Manchester after soccer resumed following World War II. In 1948, he gained
the victory in FA club and also won first division in 1952. Manchester United become one of the
first English team in order to compete in European Cup. In 1958, the team was flying back from
European Cup quarterly victory against Red Star Belgrade. In aircraft there was Manchester
United players, journalists and other officials which were obstructed in Munich due to failed
take-off attempt. In that scene twenty out of 44 died in aircraft and also three more get died in
Munich hospital. Busby was injured badly in crash due to which he received last rites twice but
he survived and wanted to quit the manager's job. His career also came to over 10 years after
Munich crash. In 1968, United Manchester had reached to European Cup Final and also played
the game in front of several spectators. Bobby Charlton has scored for the team in second half of
the game but later Jaime Graca equalised for Benfica. Finally, in the last 100th minute of the
game, the two survivors of Munich game were scored second and also they have gained victory
for Manchester United for the first time in European Cup. It was the historic moment for the
people despite of the injuries, the team members played well and give their best efforts in
winning the trophy. Manchester United is the biggest club as in Premier League they have
created biggest turnover in revenue as compared to other leagues because there team players
have played the game with great level of intensity. Later the history was created by Ales
Ferguson as he become one of the successful manager in Manchester United (Dey 2017).
Manchester United has dominated the league at the club due to Sir Alex Ferguson's and it was
the extended time which were spent in football club in 25 years. Sir Alex Ferguson's is a
legendary manager as he has achieved what other football manager has dreamed to live and also
his records have painted vivid pictures for everyone. In 1986, Sir Alex Ferguson's has joined the
club and also they have gained amazing average of one title all two season. One of the reason for

the success of Manchester United Football club is Sir Alex Ferguson's tactical proficiency as he
has a great knowledge and also knows the right tactic to use in order to gain success in premier.
Some of the sports journalist said that Sir Alex Ferguson's was most successful professional
football sports manager in world. During the globalisation of football, The regions outside the
UK has started hearing the name United and watch their matches rather than watching matches
of Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. Members of Manchester include Nobby Stiles, Booby
Charlton, George Best and Denis Law. The success of Manchester is contingent which is driven
by good and bad fortune. They have also contributed in the transformation of football and also
they have an ability to make high profit. The success of Manchester United Kingdom is because
of its undisputed discipline and respect which they have gained across the world. They are most
prestigious, feared and respected teams due to their performance in pitch throughout the years
(Turner, 2017). The squad depth of Manchester United Football Club is considered as one of the
biggest in premier league as the team has quality players in every position. Sir Alex Ferguson's
mainly uses Lucky dip in order to pick the midfielders for starting each match as the players
position were so massive. Manchester United stands strong in games as they have good character
and resilience. At the end of 2002-03, Manchester United has won eighth premier league title
and also reached to final of league cup and quarter-finals of the champions league. They have
gained respect due to their league title won but Chelsea still holds one of the best record for
defence in premier league.
Current standing of Manchester United Football Club in world football
According to Maglio and Rey (2017), Manchester United in full is regarded as
Manchester United FC bynames Man U and Red Devils which is an English professional football
team based in Manchester, England. The name The Red Devils due to their red jerseys and this is
one of the richest football team which is supported by not only England but also from the entire
world. The club has got victory the English top-division league championship a record of 20
times and the Football Association Cup up to 12 times. Manchester has been controlled by two
long service managers. Manchester United is far-famed for their youth team program and they
are generating various home-grown player which is one of the prominent identity of this club.
At the age of Beckham won a football contest and this helped the team to grow and deal with
league championship. Manchester United is one of the esteemed and fearfulness team in the
world of football. The club has received the privilege of gaining higher performance by their

team members. The club is accoladed by their team members such as David Beckham, Paul
Scholes and many others. The team is gaining prominence by every passing year which is one of
the positive aspect for the team and would be helpful in developing the team in future generation
as well. There are various reasons due to which Manchester Football club is gaining huge
standing in the current time as well and some of them are elaborated as under:
Inclusion of Sir Alex Ferguson's tactical proficiency: Sir Alex Ferguson was associated in
Manchester United and this way the club is having appropriate tactic plans within their playing
aspects. He always used his tactical ingenuity so that to provide strength to team members as Sir
Alex is writing each and every action on drawing board (Brechot and Flepp, 2020). Sir is always
dependent on calibre of their team members and this way their football association is getting
higher market prominence.
Depth and quality performance: Manchester United is regarded as one of the biggest premier
league which is filled by quality performance of their team members. Team members within the
association is highly dedicated towards their team and lead to develop a reason for current
existence of the club.
Character and resilience: In Manchester United plays strong game and along with this the
association is keeping high resilience which helps them to minimise number of odds against
them. The club had various negative times but with the help of their resilience they came back
into the game and won such league matches. This comeback is due to resilience of the team and
this is the reason of current standing of the association on world stage.
Respect from other teams: The team is getting high respect from other teams which means that
the association is having much attention from other teams as well. This way the association is
having prominent image among football club and giving the team higher edge to acquire more
fan following. This is used by the association in order to develop their brand image in significant
manner (Kennedy and Kennedy, 2016).
Blend of youth and experience: Experience is regarded as the key factor in which the
Manchester Football club is valuing efforts of their team members and coach as well. The team
is hanging onto the old experiences and using the same into youth so that to reach out to the
objective associated with the club. Ryan Giggs was included in the premier league from past 12
seasons but Fergie still use them in order to influence the team and pass significant message
within the young team squad.

Dominance by league titles: The traditional top four teams are holding various records such as
bragging rights and many others but Manchester United has the decent one out of all others. This
record is invincibly going through with developing the game in such a manner that they are
setting up various unbreakable records.
The success of Manchester United is due to the team's undisputed and disciplined
behaviour and this is giving higher prominence to the club. The squad depth of Manchester is
considered as one of the most depth team and this way the team is performing well in past years
as well. Sir Lucky Ferguson is using Lucky dip so that to pick midfielders in order to start each
of the match as the position of players are massive. The team also regarded as number one team
in the history of English football to get the title of continental football table. In the year of 2016-
2017 the club has won the UEFA Europa league by which the association has become one out of
five clubs those have won three major UEFA trophies. There are numerous books which was
published by taking football as their matter of subject but there is no systematic structure which
was given within the books. In the terms of Football measuring performance from other teams is
leading to developing effective team performance (Chanavat and Desbordes, 2017). Manchester
United is considered as the biggest club as a Premier league in which greatest turnover is created
as in comparison to other league teams and this is due to level of intensity shown by their
players. The success of Manchester is contingent which is dependent on several good and bad
factors which are leading the team to manage their fortune. The team has become one of the
highest gross earning football club with an annual revenue of €676.3 million. In the year of 2019
the club has become third valuable football club in the world.
To identify the history of Manchester United Football Club
According to Torchia (2020), Manchester united football club was established in 1878.
Earlier the name of the club is Newton health LYR football club, but in 1902 it was renamed as
Manchester united F.C. This club is a professional football club and is suited in Old Trafford,
Greater Manchester. The club has received many trophies than any other English football clubs.
The club is also known as Red devils. It is one of the team that fights in the Premier league. In
short it is also known as Man united. The Co Chairmen of the ball association is Joel and Avram
Glazer. The club ha received a record of 20 titles in a leagues, 12 FA cups, 5 leagues and 21 FA
community shields. Manchester united football has also won 3 European Cups and UEFA
champions Leagues and One UEFA super cup. In 1998-99 the association has achieved the first

Continental European Treble. In the year 2016- 2017 the club gas won the UEFA Europa League
and after that they has listed in the top five association to win all the three major UEFA club
competitions.
When the club was formed than in the that time they compete with other department and
railway companies but after some time on 20 Nov 1880 they for the first time compete with
officially match. The won the dress with the colour of Green and gold which is similar like the
railway company. The club has played with Bolton Wanderers and defeated by 6-0. After the
eight years the team has becomes the origination unit of a regional Football league that is the
Collection. After some time the originating has been dissolved and at that time they only play
one match and then they joined a newly settled Football alliance (Numerato, 2018). The alliance
has played only three sessions and after they merged with the Football league. After being
integrated in 1892 to 1893 the club ranked in first season and they officially become
independent. This result in dropping the “LYR” from their name. One of the biggest tragedy
happen in 1958 when an air plane had been crashed and in that there eight players was dead. In
1986 the association has appointed there first manger that is Sir Alex Ferguson. In the year 1990
they association has won their first FA cup (Ghosh, 2018). From that day till now the Manchester
football club is still ranking high and it at the peak of Success. When they won their First FIFA
world cup from that time they are known as the most roughest and a successful team in England.
In 1968 the man united has won the title of European Cup and they was the first English team
who beat Benfica by 4-1. the team ha the three most talented Footballer at that time that is
Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best. Then in the next in the year 1968 an
Intercontinental Cup was announced and the company has participated in that. In this tournament
the association fight with Estudiantes of Argentina (James, 2020).
In that league they were a tie but the club has lost after the tie. At that time the coach of
the association was Busby but he resigned in 1969 and then Wilf Mc Guinness assigned as a new
coach for the united Manchester club. In June 1971 another manger was appointed by them that
is Frank O'Farrell but he lasted for only 18 months and in 1972 a replacement is made by
Tommy Docherty. For the very first time the club won a promotion and then they reached to the
finale of FA cup In 1976, but the association doesn't won the tournament and was lost by
Southampton. In the year 1977 they again reached the finals and in this time the were playing
opposite to the Liverpool and this time the score was 2-1 and they won. In 1979 they again lost