Newton Heath's first competitive match

Three pence was the price of admission to the North Road ground on 27.10.83 to witness Newton Heath LYR's first competitive match. Three pence to see the FA Cup holders? That seemed to be the deal as the visitors for the first round of the Lancashire Cup were Blackburn Olympic.
Olympic, however, fielded a reserve team.

The Athletic News 31.10.83

The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser 29.10.83

Everton v Newton Heath 1889

Dancing and funerals...

As the 1888-89 season drew to a close the press reveals that clubs were engaged in an intense schedule of friendlies. The programme above is from Newton Heath's first ever visit to Anfield.
Everton had finished in 8th place in the Football League , Newton Heath had topped the Combination.
Note that the Everton line up was not as advertised, with the following changes made:
J Angus (Waugh)
W Brown (Chadwick)
R Watson (Parry)
W Briscoe (Wilson)
W Wilson (Weir)


These two well known teams appeared at Anfield last evening it being the first appearance of Newton Heath on the ground. The visitors brought a good team with them and Everton were presented by two or three of their second team. About 3,500 spectators assembled. Williams kicked off, and Everton at once pressed. Farmer and Ross punted into goal-Briscoe sent over to Watson and he parted judiciously to Angus, who scored with a splendid oblique shot, four minutes from the start. Good play by Farmer kept Powell busy, but at length Dobson was beaten by Gotheridge. Ross cleared but Brown put the ball though when he had a good opportunity to pass. The play was kept on the Everton right, which was not to the best advantage. From a foul the ball was taken over the Everton lines for the first time. Parry passing by the whole of the home forwards took the ball down,, and Angus obtained a foul, which Farmer put over the bar. Williams and Jarrett rushed away, but Smalley cleared. Watson was fouled when clear away, but the referee gave a foul. Excellent play by Holt gave Watson and Briscoe possession, they passing to Milward and he shot into Hay's hands, who only partially cleared and Briscoe shot through. Good combined play on the part of the home forwards kept the sphere in the opponents goal, Milward at last give Hays a handful, which he had no difficulty in clearing. A good shot by Owen was diverted by Williams who headed out. Everton then secured a foul near goal, and Watson shot through, but as the ball was wrongly placed it was brought back. Williams started, and Tait and Williams ran down. Williams shot to Smalley's hands, and from some inexplicable cause he allowed the ball to fall and scored for the visitors. Back play by Dobson gave Jarratt a possible chance, but Ross came to the rescue. Hays next had a busy time, as he had to fist out five consecutive shots. Doughty and Gotheridge worked their way down, but found Ross good enough for them, and Angus gave to Brown, who raced away, but nothing came of it. This was directly afterwards followed by a foul in goal and Ross scored the third point for Everton. The home team still maintained the pressure but breaks away by Tait and Gotheridge relieved the monotony. Ross gave a foul in goal, but Holt sent up the field, and Watson forced the pace considerably, and the home forwards again became the aggressive. Score Everton 3 goals; Newton Heath 1 goal, Teams Newton Heath:- Hays (T), goal, Mitchell and Powell, backs Burke, Owen, and Jones, half-backs, Tait, Jarrett, Williams, Doughty, and Gotheridge, forwards. Everton:- Smalley, goal, Dobson, and Ross (captain), Weir, Holt, and Farmer, half-backs, Briscoe, Watson, Milward, Angus, and Brown, forwards.

The Liverpool Mercury  16.04.89

All Together Boys!

Charlie Roberts, Alex Downie and George Wall have a trot round Old Trafford, The Crewe skipper still has a love for his old clubmates and their new quarters.

Dundee Evening Telegraph 14.02.12

Glaswegian Alex Downie played for Third Lanark, Bristol City and Swindon Town before joining Newton Heath in 1902. The following year the Heathens underwent a change of name  and became Manchester United.  The half back played 191 games for the club before moving on to Oldham Athletic, United were still playing at Bank Street when he left the club.
At the time Downie was at Crewe Alexandra (1911-12) they were playing in the new Central League. They had been a League club between 1892 and 1896 and rejoined with the expansion in 1921-22.

Newton Heath's League Debut

When the Football League was founded in 1888 it is remarkable that, despite the ascendancy of Lancashire football,  there was no side from Manchester itself in a suitably advanced state of development to be considered for inclusion in the venture. Newton Heath played in the Combination (1888–89) and the Alliance (3 seasons from 1889)  before being elected to Division 1 of the Football League for the 1892-93 season. 
The club became a Limited Company (shares £1) in June 1892. Alf Albut became the first full time club secretary and a number of new signings were secured (including 8 Scotsmen). 
The Heathens first league fixture was away to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on September 3rd 1892. Rather inauspiciously the kick off was delayed until 4pm because Newton Heath arrived late.  
Within 10 minutes of the kick off they were 2 goals down. Southworth shot Rovers into the lead, the second goal, credited to Hall , came from a scrimmage. Rovers went 3 up before Donaldson pulled one back (histories credit Coupar with Newton Heath's first league goal, but contemporary newspaper reports identify Donaldson as the scorer). Coupar then added another from a scrimmage before half time. 

The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser reported a closely contested match: for three fourths of the game there was nothing to chose between the two teams- backwards and forwards the tussle went- both goals being visited in alternation.

 Chippendale put Rovers 4-2 up before the prolific Farman brought the Heathens back to within 1 goal.  Incidentally, whereas green and gold are associated with Newton Heath, largely due to the

1992/93 revival kit , the first team colours in the 1892-93 season were red and white 'halves' (more correctly 'quarters').

Warner

Goal keeper: Jimmy Warner

27 year old Warner, born in Lozells in Birmingham, had spent the first 4 seasons of league football as Aston Villa’s keeper. The previous April he had felt the wrath of Villa supporters after the FA Cup final defeat to neighbours West Bromwich Albion. The windows of his pub (Old College Inn, Spring Hill) had been smashed by angry fans. In 1892 Warner was also involved in a scandal regarding an elopement with a woman (he was married at the time).

He had been an FA Cup winner with Villa in 1887.

His Newton Heath career was virtually ended by his failure to turn up for an away match at Stoke in January 1893.

 (1.77m 79.3 kg)

Clements

Right back: John Clements

Clements, 24 , was born in Nottinghamshire and had played 2 seasons of league football for Notts County.

Brown 

Left back- James Brown

I don’t know much about Brown. He only ever made 7 League Appearances and was never on the winning side. 

Perrins

Right half- George Perrins

20 year old George Perrins was from Birmingham. Signed from Birmingham St. George's He was to spend 4 seasons with Newton Heath. 

Stewart

Centre half: Willie Stewart

22 year old Stewart was Scottish- a rangy 1.77m. He had played for Newton Heath in the Alliance, mainly as an inside forward.

Erentz

Left half: Fred Erentz

Another Scot, 22 yr old Erentz spent 10 seasons with Newton Heath, making over 300 appearances. His last match was Newton Heath's last game before they became Manchester United.  Half Danish , he was signed from Our Boys (Dundee).

 Farman

Outside right: Alf Farman

Farman was signed from Bolton Wanderers in 1889. A native of Birmingham he had been on the books of both Excelsior and Aston Villa.  He scored 53 goals in 121 appearances for Newton Heath.

Coupar

Inside Right- Jimmy Coupar

Another Scottish import from Our Boys (Dundee).  Coupar returned to Scotland in Jult 1893, joining St Johnstone.

Donaldson 

Centre Forward- Bobby Donaldson

Donaldson joined Newton Heath from Blackburn Rovers. He was another Dundee man. He finished the season as top scorer for the club with 16 goals. 

Carson

Inside left- Adam Carson

A Scotsman signed from Glasgow Thistle in June 1892, Carson was sold to Ardwick in the summer of 1893 having made 13 appearances for the Heathens. 

Mathieson

Outside left-William Mathieson

A native of Glasgow signed from Clydesdale in the summer of 1892, Mathieson was at Newton Heath until 1895. 

Newton Heath  finished the season in 16th place, and retained Div 1. status by beating Small Heath in a 'test match'.

. 

Bank Street

A match at bank Street- Newton Heath in their quartered shirts.

In 1893 Newton Heath moved to a new ground at Bank Street in Clayton. The site, originally the Bradford and Clayton athletic ground, is now the car park of the Manchester Velodrome. The club (who changed their name to Manchester United in 1902) played there until they moved to Old Trafford in 1910. 

10,000 people attended Newton Heath's first league game at the ground. By 1906 the capacity had been increased to  50,000.
Maps from the early 20th century show that behind the ground to the west was the Manchester Corporation electricity generating plant, with Albion chemical works on the north side of the ground and Bank St reet checmical works on the southern side.

This photograph shows the FA Cup 4th round match with Woolwich Arsenal played at Bank Street  in 1906. The match ended 2-3. In the background we can see the chimneys of one of the chemical works. Fantastic also to see the Edwardian attitude to spectator safety, with the fans on the roof of the stand.

The 'atmosphere' at Bank Street was legendary, with the density of the smoke (visible in the picture below) being said to favour the home side. The match shown however, resulted in another Cup defeat for United. This time Portsmouth are the visitors, a first round replay in January 1907 that Pompey won 2-1. 

The Football Alliance 1889-92

After the demise of the Combination the clubs who were not yet members of the exclusive Football League continued to look for a means of ensuring their survival. So the Football Alliance came into being. The Football Alliance owed it's relative success to the close resemblance it bore to the Football League. As we have seen, the Combination faltered because it did not go to the lengths that the League did to ensure fixity of fixtures.Those running the Alliance had learned from both the failure of the Combination and from the success of the League. 12 members meant a manageable season of home and away fixtures (just like the League). The catchment area was wider than that of the League, but the clubs were all from the midlands and the north.
10 of the 12 clubs involved in the first season of the Alliance had played in the Combination the previous year.
Final table- 1889-90:

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	The Wednesday	22	15	2	5	70	39	32
2	Bootle	22	13	2	7	66	39	28
3	Sunderland Albion	22	13	2	7	64	39	28
4	Grimsby Town	22	12	2	8	58	47	26
5	Crewe Alexandra	22	11	2	9	68	59	24
6	Darwen	22	10	2	10	70	75	22
7	Birmingham St George's	22	9	3	10	62	49	21
8	Newton Heath	22	9	2	11	40	44	20
9	Walsall Town Swifts	22	8	3	11	44	59	19
10	Small Heath	22	6	5	11	44	67	17
11	Nottingham Forest	22	6	5	11	31	62	17
12	Long Eaton Rangers	22	4	2	16	35	73	10

The Wednesday reached  the FA Cup final but were trounced by Blackburn Rovers.
Players winning international honours whilst in the Alliance (1889-90)
England- Tinsley Lindley (Nottingham Forest)  
Wales- Dr. Alfred Owen Davies, Richard Owen Jones, William Lewis (Crewe Alexandra)
Joseph Davies John Doughty (Newton Heath) 
Walter Gwynne Evans (Bootle)

A traffic developed between the Alliance and the League. During it's 3 year existence the Alliance was a de facto second division of the League.

At the end of the 1888-89 season the bottom 4 clubs in the Football League had all applied successfully for re election  (Burnley, Derby County, Notts County and Stoke) and no new clubs were admitted.
In 1889-90 when Stoke finished bottom of the  Football League they moved into the Alliance, when they won the Alliance in 1890-91 they were rewarded with 'promotion' back to The Football League.
Final Table 1890-91- the previous season's top  2 occupied the bottom 2 places:

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Stoke	22	13	7	2	57	39	33
2	Sunderland Albion	22	12	6	4	69	28	30
3	Grimsby Town	22	11	5	6	43	27	27
4	Birmingham St George's	22	12	2	8	64	62	26
5	Nottingham Forest	22	9	7	6	66	39	23*
6	Darwen	22	10	3	9	64	59	23
7	Walsall Town Swifts	22	9	3	10	34	61	21
8	Crewe Alexandra	22	8	4	10	59	67	20
9	Newton Heath	22	7	3	12	37	55	17
10	Small Heath	22	7	2	13	58	66	16
11	Bootle	22	3	7	12	40	61	13
12	The Wednesday	22	4	5	13	39	66	13
Nottingham Forest  deducted 2 points

Players winning international honours whilst in the Alliance (1890-91):
England- Tinsley Lindley , Albert Smith (Nottingham Forest), Joseph Marsden (Darwen) 
Wales- William Hughes (Bootle), William Lewis (Crewe Alexandra)

The Wednesday 1891-92

When, in preparation for the 1892–93 season the Football League was expanded to 2 divisions there was an almost blanket movement of clubs from the Alliance:

Football Alliance 1891–92
1	Nottingham Forest	Elected to Football League First Division
2	Newton Heath
3	Small Heath	Elected to Football League Second Division
4	The Wednesday	Elected to Football League First Division
5	Burton Swifts	Elected to Football League Second Division
6	Grimsby Town
7	Crewe Alexandra
8	Ardwick
9	Bootle
10	Lincoln City
11	Walsall Town Swifts
12	Birmingham St George's	Disbanded

Forest reached the semi final of the FA Cup, taking West Bromwich Albion to a second replay before being beaten 6-2. 

Players winning international honours whilst in the Alliance (1891-92):

England-Jackie Pearson (Crewe Alexandra)

Wales- Smart Arridge, William Hughes (Bootle), Caesar  Jenkyns (Small Heath), William Lewis, Benjamin Lewis (Crewe Alexandra), John Owen (Newton Heath)