Posts by Maria Kazi

Manchester United won the Premier League title for the 20th time with nearly a month still left in the season after Robin van Persie’s hat trick sealed a 3-0 win over Aston Villa.

11 points clear of second-place Man City, having secured the title with four games to spare. United won 20th Premier League Title.

The same year Sir Alex Ferguson decided it was time to walk out at Old Trafford for the very last time as Manchester United manager.

An emotional Old Trafford rose to its feet as the great Sir Alex Ferguson walked out as manager of Manchester United for one final time. Following the announcement of his shock retirement days earlier, United’s most successful manager celebrated his 723rd game in charge of United with a dramatic last minute win against Swansea City.

But just before kick-off, the 71-year-old was given the most incredible of tributes as 70,000 red flags waved in unison to the song “My Way” by Frank Sinatra.

What an emotional and dramatic way to bow and walk away as the most decorated United manager of all time with the 20th title victory medal around his neck.

Eventually, it took Busby ten years to build a team that could reach the final. It was on 29 May 1968 at Wembley, a little over ten years from the painful Munich disaster, Manchester United led by Bobby Charlton, stepped out with a burning desire to win the trophy for the Busby Babes.

The 1968 European Cup Final was the final match of the 1967–68 European Cup, the premier club football competition in Europe. It was played at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 29 May 1968, and contested by Benfica of Portugal and Manchester United of England in front of a crowd of 92,225. Both teams had to go through four rounds of two-legged knockout ties to reach the final; it was Benfica’s fifth European Cup final, two of which they had won, and Manchester United’s first.

Both sides went close in a goalless first half, before Manchester United took the lead from Bobby Charlton’s header eight minutes into the second; however, Jaime Graça’s 79th-minute equaliser meant the match went into extra time. Manchester United then scored three times in seven minutes in the extra period; the first was a solo goal from George Best, followed by a header from Brian Kidd on his 19th birthday. Charlton scored his second in the 99th minute, as Manchester United triumphed 4–1 to become the first English club to win the European Cup.

Manchester United Football Club was formed in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath.

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company granted permission for the employees of its Carriage and Wagon department to start a football team, which was subsequently named Newton Heath LYR, with Frederick Attock appointed as this new club’s president. LYR stood for “Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway” and was used to distinguish the team from their colleagues from the Motive Power Division, who were known as Newton Heath Loco.

The team was funded by the railway company, who paid the lease on its first home ground, a field close to the railway yard on North Road. It is said that the players were “tough, diligent men who formed a powerful side” they initially played games against other teams of railway workers, very few of which were recorded.

During the 1882–83 season, the team played a total of 26 recorded friendly matches, and the following season competed in the Lancashire Cup but lost 7–2 in the first round to the reserve team of Blackburn Olympic.

In 1886, the club began to expand by signing players of national reputation such as Jack Powell, who became club captain, Jack and Roger Doughty, and Tom Burke. In 1886–87 the club entered the FA Cup for the first time and were drawn away to Fleetwood Rangers in the first round; they managed to earn a 2–2 but when club captain Jack Powell refused to play a period of extra time, Fleetwood were awarded the tie. A subsequent unsuccessful protest to the Football Association led to Newton Heath LYR entering a self-imposed exile from the FA Cup, which lasted until 1889.