The story of the FC United of Manchester

Although there is no certainty about the real origin of football, many attribute it to the English and from there we have such a great football tradition in the British Isles. Many fans support their team because their parents taught them and they in turn were taught by their parents, creating a family and sometimes city culture.

In England, due to the great growth of the Premier League, it has become common for clubs to be owned by foreign millionaires, something that has already been largely assimilated. However, not all fans accept this type of situation, leading to protests to show their disagreement. In 2005, a group of Manchester United fans opposed the purchase of the club by the Glazer family (almost as if they had a crystal ball) and this led to the birth of a new club, FC United of Manchester.

FC United of Manchester supporters

Origin

At the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, the Premier League was laying the foundations for what would be its international expansion and this brought changes in schedules, prices, etc., which were not liked by the local fans of the clubs that had the feeling that the tradition and culture of the institutions and English football was being lost in favor of generating more money. In this context, the name of Malcolm Glazer appears an American millionaire who seemed to be interested in buying majority shares in Manchester United, one of the largest clubs in the United Kingdom and the world.

A group of fans began to protest with banners against the operation led by the American who increased his shares in the Red Devils year after year until he achieved a majority percentage. These operations were carried out through loans that the Glazer family made through the club's resources and assets, that is, they put the club in debt to be able to buy shares. Logically, this was a great red flag for fans who began to tire of the direction the club was taking.

This is how on June 14, 2005, just a month after Malcolm Glazer became the main shareholder of the Red Devils, FC United of Manchester was born, a protest club formed by supporters of the Old Trafford institution who sought to recover the tradition that they considered they had lost in recent years. The idea was for the club to represent what they wanted Manchester United to be, to be by the fans for the fans.

Creating a football club is not easy, not even in England, so the group behind FC United of Manchester, who called themselves the Red Rebels, formed an administrative board whose first step was to get a group of fans who were willing to contribute financially to the nascent club. A month later, they had raised £100,000 and the support of 4,000 people.

The name was an issue since there were several proposals such as FC United or Newton Heath (original name of Manchester United) with the first being the one that received the most votes from the board of directors, however, the Federation rejected the name for being too generic which led to FC United of Manchester. The squad was formed from a group of 900 people who offered to be part of the team, of which 200 were accepted to take the tests and thus select the 17 who would remain. They were all amateur football players who had regular jobs.

Management

Todo aquel que haga un aporte de al menos, 12 libras al año al club, tiene derecho a votar en la toma de decisiones del FC United of Manchester y su voto tiene el mismo valor de cualquier otro sin importar el aporte económico que realice. Las decisiones más sencillas o diarias se toman por un grupo de 11 encargados que son seleccionados por los socios mientras que las más trascendentales se les consultan a todos los socios de forma democrática. Es el club con más socios de Inglaterra que se gestiona de esta manera.

Identity

The club, as it could not be otherwise, adopted the colors of Manchester United, red, black and white, distributing them respectively between flannel, shorts and socks. Due to the club's statutes, the flannel does not carry any type of advertising. The badge is based on the coat of arms of the city of Manchester, with a boat and three yellow stripes representing the city's three rivers. As for the stadium, from its creation until 2014, they played at Gigg Lane, Bury FC's stadium, until they were able to build their own stadium that was ready in 2015, Broadhurst Park, where they currently play and which has a capacity of 4,400 spectators.

Early success

Their first season as an institution, 2005-06, had them playing in the North West Counties Football League Division Two, which is the tenth tier of English football. The club had a great debut season, being crowned champion and achieving promotion to the North West Counties Football League Division One, which they would also win consecutively. For the 2007-08 season, FC United of Manchester was competing in the Northern Premier League Division One North and the first round of the FA Cup.

That season they would finish second in the league and achieve promotion via play-offs, that is, their third promotion in 3 years. The club would establish itself in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, seventh tier of English football, achieving promotion to the National League North in 2015 although they would be relegated in 2018-19, keeping them in the Northern Premier League Premier Division to date.

Manager

Since the first season of FC United of Manchester, the team was coached by Karl Marginson, a former football player with a lot of experience in lower divisions and who is originally from Manchester. Marginson had no experience as a manager until that moment, although he was recommended by one of the players to the board, which was a total success since he would remain at the club until 2017, leading the 4 promotions and 8 of the 10 trophies that FC United has accumulated. Tom Greaves would take Marginson's place, first as interim and then as starter, although he would only remain in office for one year. After the interim of David Chadwick, Neil Reynolds would take over as manager, a position he still holds.

In its beginnings, the club had diverse reactions, from those who criticized them for "abandoning" Manchester United as Sir Alex Ferguson once said, to those who supported them such as Éric Cantona who predicted that the club would win a European Cup in the next 50 years and even offered to play for them. Beyond this, the concept of a club that seeks to keep the tradition of football alive and that the idea is sustainable with the support of the fans is very refreshing and pleasant.