Little Book of Manchester United (14 page)

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Neville

Gary Neville belongs to an elite group of players who have skippered the club to the Premier League title. Following on from Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Eric Cantona and Roy Keane, Neville realised a lifelong dream as he became the fifth United captain to lift the Premier League trophy following the club’s record ninth triumph at the end of the 2006-07 campaign.

Neville himself had missed the final stages of the campaign, having suffered ankle ligament damage just 11 minutes into the visit of Bolton to Old Trafford on 17 March 2007. The same injury kept the Reds’ skipper out for most of the 2007-08 season but even when unable to influence matters directly on the pitch, his presence is felt in the dressing room and from the stands. Nobody wants United to win more than Gary Neville.

*Phil (L) and Gary Neville during training with Manchester United at Soldier Field, during a US tour, July 2004.

The defender, who has made more than 560 appearances in a United shirt scoring seven goals since graduating from the youth team, was handed the armband during the 2005-06 season following Roy Keane’s departure. Being one of United’s most consistent and committed performers since establishing himself in the side in 1994-95 at the expense of Paul Parker, Neville was a natural choice and to this day he still enters every game refusing to contemplate defeat. He also has 85 England caps but has yet to score an international goal.

His younger brother Phil Neville, born 21 January 1977, joined United as a trainee in 1993, breaking into the first team alongside Beckham in 1995. He struggled to maintain a regular first-team place, despite his abilities as both a full-back and midfielder. He has six Premiership titles, three FA Cups, a Champions League winner’s medal and a World Club Cup title. His performances for United, including eight goals, saw Phil win more than 50 caps for England. In a surprise move the younger Neville moved along the East Lancs Road to join Everton in August 2005 for a reported £3.5 million.

Newton Heath

Railway men from Piccadilly Station in Manchester formed a team made up of men from the carriage and wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway at Newton Heath. They formed the team, named Newton Heath LYR, in 1878 establishing themselves at a ground near the railway yard.

First games were often against other railway men and when the Football League was formed in 1888 the team did not think they were good enough to compete. Despite their lack of confidence, the team began to dominate local competitions and slowly began to look for games that could equal their talents. In 1890, Newton Heath applied to join the Football League, but without success, only gaining one vote. Undeterred, they formed an organisation called the Football Alliance and campaigned alongside other clubs to impress the Football League. After a further three applications they were eventually accepted in 1892.

*A Newton Heath fixture list from 1882-83.

The League had a reshuffle where the First Division was expanded, and included Newton Heath and the Second Division was born. Local rivals, Ardwick (later to become Manchester City), joined the Second Division. Newton Heath’s career was neither exciting nor distinguished but after many and ups and downs, including times when the team was almost disbanded and debts totalled £2,600, Manchester United Football Club was born in 1902.

Nicknames

The giving of a nickname had a special status in Viking society in that it created a relationship between the name maker and the recipient of the nickname but Matt Busby was alleged to have disliked the term bestowed on his Busby Babes because he thought it cast aspersions on their youth. He preferred instead to label his youngsters the Red Devils. This term is now the club’s nickname and is immediately identifiable all over the world.

The media was quick to label Alex Ferguson’s crop of youngsters that dominated the Premiership in the 1990s Fergie’s Fledglings. The stadium’s nickname has also become synonymous with Manchester United after former hero Sir Bobby Charlton labelled Old Trafford the Theatre of Dreams.

*The Red Devil, symbol of Manchester United.

It is not just the club, the ground or a set of players who have received nicknames over the years. Several individuals can be easily recognised by their alternatives. United have had two Kings (Denis Law and Eric Cantona) gracing the hallowed turf along with a Guv’nor (Paul Ince) and Captain Marvel (Bryan Robson), to name but a few.

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Old Trafford

After the club won its first FA Cup in 1909, John Davies paid £60,000 for a site close to the Old Trafford cricket ground. The new stadium was designed by respected Scottish architect Archibald Leitch and was built with the likelihood of extension in mind.

Old Trafford’s first match saw United play host to Liverpool on 19 February 1910 with VIP invitations boasting the new ground could accommodate 100,000 fans. A roof was erected over the United Road terrace in 1934 but bomb damage suffered during the Second World War prompted the redevelopment that began the creation of today’s stadium.

*Inside Old Trafford, home of Manchester United.

United played their home games at neighbouring Maine Road while the ground was rebuilt. The Main Stand was covered in 1951 and the Stretford End in 1959 while March 1957 saw the floodlights turned on for the first time. The ground benefited from improvement in the mid-1960s to bring a 58,000-capacity in time for the 1966 World Cup. After the Taylor Report, the terraces disappeared from the Stretford End in 1993 with the away end soon suffering the same fate which reduced the capacity to 44,000. Between 1995 and 2000, capacity was increased to 68,000.

*External view of Old Trafford.

The stadium was chosen as a venue for the 1996 European Championships and hosted its first European Cup Final in 2003. Work has taken place to extend the capacity to approximately 76,000 by filling in the corners of the North East and North West corners and by adding an additional tier to link the North Stand with the East and Stretford Ends. Future expansion is likely to involve the addition of a second tier to the South Stand, which would raise the capacity to over 90,000.

One Hundred Club

*Ruud van Nistleroy celebrates in front of stunned Southampton fans with teammates Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney after scoring the goal that condemned Southampton to relegation at the St. Mary’s Stadium, 2005.