Club History: Newton Heath 1877 - 1902

1877 - 1893: Newton Heath is Born

Newton Heath's first season turned out to be a near disaster with only a victory in a relegation/promotion playoff game saved them from dropping into the lower division. Their first home game was against Burnley and the result was a 1-1 tie, heavy defeats followed from Everton (6-0) Burnley (4-0), West Brom (4-0). Then came an amazing 10-1 victory over Wolves at the North Road ground, but more defeats followed and they finished their first season in 16th place (last) with 18 points and 85 goals conceded. They won their playoff game 5-2 against Stoke City in a replay after the first game turned out a 1-1, the game played at North Road in front of 4,000 on a mud path of a pitch. The facilities in those days were not very good and the teams actually changed in a pub down the road called the Three Crowns.

1893 - 1894: Heathens Relegated to Second Division
Newton Heath's second season turned out to be worst than the first when they again finished bottom of the League, this time with only six wins in 30 games. They were again scheduled to play a make or break playoff game to decide their fate, this time the opponent was Liverpool who had only been in existence for two years and had won the second division without losing a game. This time there was no respite for the Heathens, they lost 2-0 and were relegated to the second.

Visiting teams had complained so much about the apalling conditions at North Road that the Club moved across town prior to the season beginning to a ground in Bank street, Clayton. This new home proved to be not much of an improvement due to a chemical works that stood next to the ground that bellowed out toxic fumes that drifted across the pitch.

1894 was the first year of the Manchester Derby, it was played on November 3rd at the then Manchester City ground Ardwick. The teams had met before in the Manchester Cup, the Football Alliance, and even the FA Cup but this was the first League meeting of the two great rivals. The game was watched by 15,000 fans in threatening weather. The Heathens drew first blood on their neighbors with a 5-2 victory (also won the return fixture 4-1). The game was notable by the home debut of a Manchester City player named Billy Meredith who would go on to become United's first major star in future years.

1894 - 1895: Record breaking season for Newton Heath
The Heathens had been playing at Bank Steet since leaving the mud of North Road in 1893, but Bank Street turned out to be just as bad and visiting teams continued to complain. On the 9th of March 1895 Walsall Town were the visitors, after arriving they inspected the pitch and immediately lodged a complaint with the League, they grumbled it was not fit for schoolboys to play on. Newton responded by throwing on another layer of sand and thus the fixture took place as scheduled.

This was a regular 2nd division match, with the Heathens attacking from the outset, and by halftime they had a comfortable lead of 3-0. Newton really went to town in the second half though, running a score of 14-0 before the ref blew the final whistle. The Football League however were not impressed with the Heathens victory and after more complaints from the Walsall players who were supported by the referee, Mr Jefferies, they cancelled the result and demanded the teams play again. And after Newton had worked on the pitch for a week they did play, the result? Heathens 9 Walsall 0.

Newton had scored a total of 23 goals in the two matches. The season was a little more successful than the previous, but although they spent much of the year in second place they did not gain promotion, because by the end of the year they stood in third position in division two.

1895 - 1896: Kit Change
The season 1895/96 wasn't much better than their first season in the second division. The Heathens couldn't adopt their style of playing to the second division. And by the end of the season they were a long way off the promotion places, they finished sixth with 15 wins and 12 defeats out of 30 games played.

In the FA cup they reached the second round, one round further than last year. 1895 was the year that Newton Heath changed their club's colours. Till this time the club colours had been green and gold, but it now changed to white shirts and blue shorts.

1896 - 1897: Promotion agony
After their best season in years Newton Heath finished in 2nd place in the 2nd division and in the play-offs with Burnley and Sunderland, who had finished at the bottom of Div 1, and Notts County, who had won the 2nd div Championship.

After beating Burnley 2-0 at home they lost by the same score in the return match and then faced Sunderland at Bank Street. The Sunderland team had been having much success prior to the season having taken the division 1 Championships in 92, 93 and 95, but they had fallen on hard times that year (although that was not to last very long).

More than 18,000 fans turned out for the game which finished in a 1-1 draw and sent the Heathens to Roker Park and Notts County only needing a draw to secure a 1st div place, alas this was not to happen as they lost both games and had to settle for another season in div 2.

1897 - 1898: Bogged down in Division 2
As 1898 drew to a close Newton Heath and across town rivals Man City were the top two teams in the 2nd div, with a team called "New Brighton Tower" in third. On Boxing day the two teams faced each other, the Heathens coming off a 9-0 thrashing of Darwen while City were also coming off a big win against Blackpool (4-2).

Confidence was high but it was City who came out the victors making short work of their neighbours in a 4-0 win. Newton never recovered from this and finished the season in 3rd place, 3 points behind Glossop North End and 6 points behind City who won the title and promotion to the first.

Once more they had challenged for promotion only to fall by the wayside. In five seasons in the second they had never finished lower than sixth.

1898 - 1899: Player scandal at Newton
1899 was to be known for the infamous riots between Celtic and Rangers. After a Scottish Cup final replay the fans tried to burn down the ground and trouble continued for several hours in the streets of Glasgow with 81 policemen having to be treated in hospital. There was also trouble at Everton's Goodison Park after the ref had abandoned a game.

Newton Heath had their own problems with a "scandal" behind the scenes when two players (Boyd and Cunnigham) were suspended by the club for their extracurricular activities. The two players were have said to have been drinking, the Athletic News reported:

"If men who are paid good wages don't think it worth their while to keep themselves in condition they are better off out of the team."

By all reports the referee had been very poor and the youths had been provoked by several dubious decisions. The result of the game seriously dented any hopes of Newton Heath's promotion chances for that year.

1899 - 1900: New century, same old story
The start to the 20th century held little relief for the Heathens who had acheived little in recent years and were languishing in the shadow of their rivals Man City who had been recently promoted to the 1st division.

The team at that time did see a few changes with Frank Barrett in goal, Harry Stafford and Fred Erentz at the fullback positions, Morgan Griffiths and Carwright were regular choices as centre back, while up front Bryant, Jackson and Cassidy were the regulars.

The club had forged strong links Wales at the time and boasted seven Welsh internationals in the line-up, many of them arriving in Manchester looking for work on the railroad. Although rich in Welsh international talent the Club had not a single English International on the books (Billy Bryant was picked to represent the Football League). But even with a solid team and a lot of Welsh internationals Newton Heath could not get the promotion they so desperately needed.

For the third time in a row they finished fourth in the second division.

1900 - 1901: Worst season in seven years
The season 1900/01 was the worst season for Newton Heath in seven years of second division football. They started the season with hopes of promotion to the first division, but finished a long way off their target.

They ended the season at the tenth place, with 16 defeats out of 34 matches played. Their goal average was just positive with +6 (38-32). This was the sign for the directors to fire their secretary Mr A.H. Albutt and appoint a new one. The new secretary was Mr James West.

1901 - 1902: Manchester United Football Club is born!
Newton Heath at the turn of the century were indeed at their lowest ebb. After a decade in the Football league all they had to show was two years in the top flight (both years finishing at the bottom) and eight years in the second. It was decided by the directors that new players had to be bought, but there were no funds available so a Bazzar was arranged by the club to attempt to raise cash.

The event was to start on Wednesday 27th February and run for 4 days, the Manchester Evening News reported that the Northern military and Bess-o'th'-barn Brass bands would be playing. The Bazzar ended on Saturday evening but after paying off the cost of renting the hall it was found that the event had hardly been a success and the funds needed still had not been found.

The Club's fortunes then took a strange twist, Harry Stafford the Newton Heath captain owned a St Bernard dog, he had taken the dog to the Bazzar and tied a collecting box around its neck, the dog escaped from the hall and was found wandering the City by a Pub landlord, who showed it to a Mr Henry Davies who was then a managing director of the Manchester Brewers.

Davies took a fancy to the dog and immediatley bought it off the landord. Feeling guilty Davies decided to trace the dog's owner and soon found out that it belonged to the Newton captain, after meeting with Stafford the businessman decided to help and made a financial contribution to the club, and made further promises of help for the future. Stafford did not forget that promise! Mr John Henry Davies would become chairman and president of the club in the future.

Newton Heath finished the season worse than last and by the end of the season they stood on a 15th place in the league, with 17 defeats out of 34 games played and a negative goal difference (38-53).

In this season Newton Heath changed their club colours again, this time the white shirts and blue shorts were replaced by red shirts and white shorts. The name of Newton Heath was not liked by all, they had left their home in Newton Heath 9 years previously, and following the reorganisation of the Club many called for a name change. Manchester Central was suggested, but it was decided that it sounded too much like a railway station, also suggested and rejected was Manchester Celtic, then a Mr Louis Rocca hit upon the name Manchester United. The name had been suggested before but had not met much support, but this time it stuck and on Saturday 26th April 1902 Newton Heath became Manchester United.

This must have pleased many of the visiting teams and supporters who for years had been showing up for games at the old Newton Heath only to find a dilapidated and empty pitch, and then had to dash across town to arrive minutes before the kickoff.

Pre-War United 1902 - 1915