United avoid the drop

United keeper Jack Hacking catches a cross

Modern day audiences might find it hard to believe that once upon a time Manchester United had to beat Millwall in the last game of the season in order to stay in Division 2.
As the end of the 1934-35 season approached with 41 out of 42 rounds of matches completed Lincoln City were already down with 25 points.
Notts County, in 18th, were safe on 35 points.
In between were Swansea Town (33), Millwall (33) and Manchester United (32).
United had conceded 85 goals, 10 more than any other team in the Division, and had lost 22 of 41 matches played.  Their average home attendance was just 18,500. Manchester City were drawing crowds of 30,000 plus. And so to 05.05.1934. Swansea Town would have been relieved that their crucial match was at home, they hadn't won an away game all season. They duly defeated Plymouth Argyle 2-1 at the Vetch Field with goals from Jack Firth and Wilf Milne.
Meanwhile at the Den Jackie Cape and Tom Manley gave United a 2-0 win in front of a crowd of 35,000. The Sheffield Independent described the result as one of the most remarkable successes of the day.
Manley (left) opened the scoring in the 9th minute and Cape (below) added the second in the 48th. Some controversy surrounded Cape's goal as there were suspicions of offside.

FA Cup Winner's Parades

Athletic News 04.04.83

Manchester United, 1909

Blackburn Rovers, 1928

As the first non-metropolitan team to triumph in the FA Cup it is unsurprising that Blackburn Olympic were also the first to be feted on their return 'home'.

The tradition endures, although the brake pulled by a team of 4 greys is sadly no longer a feature. 

Billy Meredith

Can't go for too long without a Billy Meredith post!
Happy Saint David's Day to all our Welsh readers.

Billy Meredith

44,000 were present at Bank Street on Christmas Day 1907 to see Manchester United beat Bury 2-1. United led the table from September and won their first League Championship title by 9 points.
Billy Meredith opened the scoring for United in the Christmas fixture .

Association Football Players Union

Armband worn by Manchester United in the 1909 season.
 The team are reported to have worn these armbands in the opening fixture, a 1-0 win over Bradford City at  Bank Street.  Incidentally Billy Meredith (a champion of the union cause) was absent for this fixture- he missed the first 4 games of the season.
see also: http://gottfriedfuchs.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/outcasts-fc.html


 

Manchester United in Budapest

A flyer advertising Manchester United's visit to Budapest in 1908.

Knocker West

Enoch West signed for Sheffield United as a 17 year old, but he failed to break into the first team and returned to minor football.
2 years later, in 1905, he joined Nottingham Forest. He scored 100 goals in 184 appearances for Forest.
In 1910 he joined Manchester United.

West was one of the players suspended indefinately by the Football Association following the revelation that the Good Friday match between Manchester United and Liverpool had been fixed.
The sorry tale is covered in depth in Graham Sharpe's Free the Manchester United One: The Inside Story of Football's Greatest Scam.

Betting on the correct score was unusual in those days. Mr Giles , a bookie in Hucknall, gave evidence that an exceptionally large number of bets were placed on a 2-0 scoreline, so much so that he stopped taking them. He still lost over £150. The fixing took place in the context of concerns that players would face hardship when football was suspended (the War had begun in 1914 and the Football League had been criicised for proceeding with the 1914-15 season).

The ban extended to preventing the men from entering any football ground in the future...

West protested and sued the FA  and  the Hulton publishing group for libel. The case was heard in July 1917 and West was unsuccesful. 
 Sandy Turnbull was killed while serving in the war, but all the other players, except West, had their bans lifted by the FA in 1919 in recognition of their service to the country; Turnbull received a posthumous reinstatement.
I can only assume that West was omitted from the amnesty for having the temerity to challenge the authority of the FA.. With an element arch black humour West's ban was lifted in 1945 when he was 59 years old. 

The players suspended were:

Tom Fairfoul (wing half, 34yrs)   Liverpool

Reinstated but did not return to football.

Tom Miller (forward, 24 yrs)        Liverpool

When the ban was announced Miller had already joined the army. Following suspension Miller returned to his native Scotland. When his ban was lifted he rejoined Liverpool. In 1920 he signed for Manchester United! After finishing his career in Scotland he had a very brief spell as manager of Barrow.

Bob Pursell (full back, 26 yrs)      Liverpool

Rejoined Liverpool in 1919 and moved to Port Vale in 1920.

Jackie Sheldon (winger, 27 yrs)   Liverpool

Sheldon joined Liverpool from Manchester United in 1913. At the time the ban was announced he was on active service on the western front. After the war (and the lifting of the ban) he played 2 further seasons for Liverpool.

Sandy Turnbull (forward, 30 yrs) Manchester United

Turnbull didn’t play in the Good Friday match. Turnbull was killed in action in Arras (1917). His life ban was posthumously rescinded by the Football Association in 1919 (!).

Enoch West (forward, 28 yrs)      Manchester United

Life ban lifted in 1945 (!)

Arthur Whalley (half back, 29 yrs)             Manchester United

Returned to United for the 1919-20 season.

Lol Cook (centre forward, 30yrs)                Chester

Cook’s career was over by the time of the enquiry.

Fred Howard (centre forward, 24 yrs)      Manchester City

At the end of his 1-year suspension (imposed for the unsatisfactory way in which he gave evidence) Howard returned to City. He later played for Gillingham, Wrexham, New Brighton and Port Vale.

West

Patrick O'Connell

The above sculpture celebrates Betis Balompié's La Liga win in 1935. Among the names on the sculpture is that of Betis' manager- former Manchester United captain Patrick O'Connell.  The team (currently Real Betis) had been promoted as winners of the 1931–32 Segunda División.

Patrick O'Connell wasn't among the 7 players suspended as a result of the Football Association's investigation into the 1915 betting scandal. There must have been some doubts, however, over his penalty miss in the Good Friday match against Liverpool that gave rise to the charges. 

Liverpool Daily Post - 03.04.15

O'Connell was raised in Dublin but began his professional football career with Belfast Celtic. 
After spells with The Wednesday (where he struggled to hold a first team place) and Hull City, O'Connell joined Manchester United in 1914, by which time he had represented Ireland 6 times. 

O'Connell was captain of Manchester United at the time of the match fixing affair.
 In 1919 he moved to Dumbarton.
 O'Connell returned to England in 1920, joining Ashington of the North Eastern League. The following season Ashington joined the Third Division (north) and O'Connell was player manager.

O'Connell moved to Spain in 1922 and was manager of Racing Santander for 7 years. he then moved to Real Oviedo before joining Betis in 1932. Following the La Liga success O'Connell moved on to Barcelona. He continued coaching in Spain until 1949.

Billy Meredith career stats

Season	Club		League			Cup		Internationals*
			apps	goals		apps	goals	apps	goals
1890-91	Chirk AAA
1891-92			Combination 7th
1892-93			Combination 4th
			Welsh 2nd
1893-94	Northwich Victoria		Div .2 15th			Welsh Cup Winner (Chirk AAA)
			11		5
1894-95	Ardwick Manchester City		Div .2 9th					2nd
			18		12			2
1895-96			Div .2 2nd					3rd
			29		12			2	2
1896-97			Div .2 6th			R1		4th
			27		10	1		3	2
1897-98			Div .2 3rd			R2		4th
			30		12	2		2
1898-99			Div .2 Champions			R1		4th
			33		29	1	1	1
1899-00			Div.1 7th			R1		2nd
			33		14	2		2	2
1900-01			Div.1 11th			R1		3rd
			33		7	1		2
1901-02			Div.1 18th			R2		4th
			33		8	4		2
1902-03			Div .2 Champions			R1		4th
			34		22	1		3
1903-04			Div.1 2nd			Winners		4th
			34		11	6	2	1
1904-05			Div.1 3rd			R2		2nd
			33		8	2	1	2	1
1905-06			Suspended by the Football Association
1906-07	Manchester United		Div.1 8th			R1		Winners
			16		5	2		3	1
1907-08			Div.1 Champions			R4		4th
			37		10	4		2
1908-09			Div.1 13th			Winners		2nd
			34			4		3	1
1909-10			Div.1 5th			R1		4th
			31		5	1		3
1910-11			Div.1 Champions			R3		3rd
			35		5	3		3
1911-12			Div.1 13th			R4		4th
			35		3	6		3
1912-13			Div1. 4th			R3		2nd
			22		2	5		3	1
1913-14			Div1. 14th			R1		4th
			34		2	1		3
1914-15			Div1. 18th			R1
			26			1
1919-20			Div1. 12th			R2		Winners
			19		2	2		3
1920-21			Div1. 13th			R1
			14		1
1921-22	Manchester City		Div1. 10th			R3
			25
1922-23			Div1. 8th			R1
			1
1923-24			Div1. 11th			Semi final
			2			4	1
* All of Meredith’s International appearances were in The British Home Championship.

	Apps	Goals
League	680	185
FA Cup	53	5
International	48	10
Others	7	2