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The First Great United Side

                
 

 
The First Great United Side
 
Davies appointed Ernest Magnall as team manager in 1903 and the club began to move forward, winning promotion to the First Division in 1906, the league title in 1908 and the FA Cup in 1909. Davies helped pay for a new stadium in 1910, located in the Stretford area. It was named Old Trafford and was capable of holding more than 70,000 supporters as well as having top class facilities for players and spectators alike.
 
United marked their first full season in their new home by lifting another league title in 1911. This was to be their last major honour for many years. Their manager Ernest Magnall joined Manchester City, and from
then on the club drifted like a boat without a rudder.
 
 
The Inter-War Years

Successive managers, including Herbert Bamlett, John Chapman and Scott Duncan,

attempted to put Manchester United back on course. But still the club bounced from First to Second Division and back again, perhaps uncertain as to their rightful place. Added to this, money was again a problem.

J.H Davies died in 1927 to be succeeded by James W. Gibson. He too injected cash into the club and fought off the creditors.

By 1938, Manchester United were back in the Second Division but their debt now amounted to more than £70,000.

Old Trafford is Bombed

First-class football was suspended for the duration of the Second World War (1939-45), but Manchester United continued to compete in part-time regional competitions. Old Trafford was severely damaged during a German air raid on Manchester in the early hours of 11 March 1941. It took eight years to build and until 1949 United ground-shared with neighbouring Manchester City at Maine Road.
 
 
This is a picture of Old Trafford from
1926, it stayed pretty much the same
all the way up to the war when the
Germans bombed it.  Comsidering it
is 1926 this is quite an impresive stadium
and just like the modern day Old Trafford
was probably the envy of all the other
clubs !!  (This is the earliest picture of
Old Trafford I have been able to find. If
anyone out there has pictures of Old
Trafford, is there any chance you could
send them to me at unitedzone.info.
It would be much appreciated.

Matt Busby

When the war ended in 1945, 36-year-old Matt Busby was named as the club's new
 
 
 manager. He had just finished his playing career which had seen him turn out for Manchester City and Liverpool as well as the Scottish national side. Busby had a limited transfer budget so many of his players were homegrown. The only major signing of the post-war years was Scottish winger Jimmy Delaney from Celtic, while several players remained from the immediate pre-war years.
 
He was ahead of his time, and is thought to have been the first manager to go out on the field with his players during training sessions. 

A series of astute signings added on to the nucleus of the squad, and he began the youth system that would later pay big-time dividends.

The Great Post-War United Side
Matt Busby helped end Manchester United's 37-year wait for a major trophy when his side defeated Blackpool (then a big club containing world class players like Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen) 4-2 in the 1948 FA Cup final. Busby had unearthed new stars in the shape of captain Johnny Carey and the forward-line of John Downie, John Aston (father), Jack Rowley and Stan Pearson. The side's good progress continued into the 1950's and they won the league title in 1952—the club's first league championship in 41 years.

By 1952, the side captained by Johnny Carey was beginning to show its age and a new set of players had to be found.