Manager: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Owners: Manchester United PLC

Co-chairpersons: Avram Glazer, Joel Glazer

Captain: Harry Maguire

Nickname: The Red Devils

Stadium: Old Trafford

Rivals: Liverpool, Manchester City, Leeds United, Arsenal, Chelsea

Nicknamed “The Red Devils”, Manchester United FC is the most successful English club when it comes to domestic competitions. They have won the English League title a record 20 times (13 Premier League titles), The FA Cup 12 times and the League Cup 5 times.

Manchester United plays their home matches at Old Trafford which houses a capacity of 75,000 fans. United have a long standing rivalry with Liverpool and the game between these two football giants is called the Northwest Derby.

According to Forbes, United are the third richest sports club in the world just behind Real Madrid and Barcelona.

HISTORY OF MANCHESTER UNITED FC

United was founded in the year 1878 but not as Manchester United. It was initially known as “Newton Heath LYR FC”.

United played their first official match against the Bolton Wanderers Reserve team in 1880 and lost the match 6-0. In 1888 Newton Heath became one of the founding members of a football league known as “The Combination”.

They did not play in the Combination for long as the league itself ceased to exist after the first season. Newton Heath then joined another league called the Football Alliance next season, played in it for three seasons before finally joining the Football League.

United played in the Football First Division in the 1892-93 season and the same year they dropped LYR from their name. Newton Heath after just two seasons in the 1^st Division were relegated to the 2^nd Division of English Football.

RISE OF A TITAN

The Club fell into huge debts at the start of the 1900s but a former Newton Heath player Harry Stafford, found four businessmen including former club president Henry Davies, to invest money in the club.

The club was changed and Manchester United was officially born in April 1902. Ernest Mangall was appointed manager in 1903 and under him, the club gained promotion back to the First Division in the 1906 season.

Under Mangall, the club won its first league title in 1908 following it up with an FA Cup win in the 1909 season. The club won one more league under Mangall’s management before he left the club and joined United’s in-city rivals Manchester City.

SHORT STRUGGLES

The team struggled to challenge for the league title again and eventually got relegated to the 2^nd Division in the 1922 season. United did manage to get themselves promoted back in 1935 but got relegated for a third time again within a few years.

United got promoted once again in the season before the Second World War and started the first season post the war in the First Division.

BUSBY BABES

Sir Matt Busby was appointed manager for the first season post the war. He was someone who believed that youth and legs trumped experience. United’s first trophy under the Busby management came in 1948 when they won the FA Cup.

More success followed in 1952 when they won the 1^st Division title for only the third time in their history. The team under Sir Matt came to be known as the “Busby Babes” after United’s back-to-back title wins in 1956. In 1957, United became the first English club to play in a European competition.

What followed was tragic as disaster struck Manchester United on 6th February 1958, when an aircraft carrying the team and officials who were returning home from a European Cup quarter-final game crashed during take-off in Munich, leaving 23 dead and several more injured, including young captain Duncan Edwards. The incident is now remembered and commemorated as the Munich Air Disaster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though the team had to be rebuilt from scratch, United went on to win glory again in 1963 with the FA Cup, which was followed by two League Cup trophies in 1965 and 1967. In 1968, the club became the first English club to win the European Cup in 1968, beating Benfica in the final.

The European Cup was the last trophy United won under Sir Matt Busby as he resigned the following year, in 1969.

THE NEXT GENERATION

United found it difficult after the departure of Sir Busby, finishing 8^th in the 1969-70 season and again struggled at the start of the 70-71 season. This forced the return of Sir Matt who stayed with the club for another year.

United was relegated in the 1974 season but did not stay in the Second Division for long as they came back up on their first attempt.

United started finding their feet again after getting promoted and won the FA Cup once more in 1977 beating rivals Liverpool 2-1.

More FA Cup success followed in the 1983 and 1985 season but after a disappointing 1985-86 season and a bad start to the 1986-87 campaign, where they were in a relegation battle, United management went on to sack the manager at the time, Ron Atkinson.

SIR ALEX FERGUSON HISTORY AT MANCHESTER UNITED

Sir Alex Ferguson joined the club as manager just a day after the sacking of Ron Atkinson in 1987. Sir Alex was able to guide the club away from the relegation battle, eventually achieving an 11^th place finish in his first season with the club.

The club achieved a 2^nd place finish in Fergie’s second season but fell back to 11^th in the table in the third season. United won their first trophy under Ferguson in 1990 when they won the FA Cup after beating Crystal Palace in the final. It is said that Ferguson was on the verge of being sacked if not for his FA Cup triumph.

From that point onwards, the United juggernaut grew in strength season-by-season under the guidance of the Scot. United won their first league title under Sir Alex Ferguson in 1993.

In the following season, United did the Double, winning the Premier League title and FA Cup in the same season, thanks to the major contribution of the “King” – Eric Cantona.

The Treble

In the 1998-99 season, Manchester United achieved the ultimate dream, winning the Treble as they won the Premier League title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League title, all in the same season! They are the only English club to have achieved this feat in 1999.

The Champions League final of 1999 was one of the greatest finals in the competition’s rich history. Manchester United played Bayern Munich at Barcelona’s Camp Nou and the Germans led from an early goal by Mario Basler in the 6th minute after a defensive lapse on United’s part.

The game seemed all but over when Manchester United won a corner in added time in the 90^th minute. David Beckham whipped a ball into the 6-yard box and Sheringham managed to find the back of the net after a poor clearance fell to Ryan Giggs at the edge of the box that he hit first time, and Sheringham was close to the goal to hit it first time to level the score in the 91st minute!

At that point, one felt like it was just meant to be. Munich looked crushed but United had their tails up and was ready to go once again. The Red Devils were relentless and in search of the Champions League trophy, now within their sights, they got another corner that was perfectly delivered by Beckham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the super sub, got the telling touch as he poked the ball into the top netting past Oliver Kahn to crush Bavaria’s hopes and send the Manchester faithful to the promised land, with a 93rd minute winner to lift the UEFA Champions League for the 2nd time in the club’s history at the time.

MANCHESTER UNITED GOLDEN ERA WITH FERGUSON – The 2000s

The 2000s were a period of huge success for Man United and during this time the team, won the Premier League title 8 times, the League Cup thrice, and the FA Cup and Champions League once as well.

United did the double in 2007-08 when Cristiano Ronaldo was in the red, white and black of Manchester. Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or worthy season led United to win the league title and the UEFA Champions League as they beat Chelsea in the final held in Moscow, that went to a dramatic penalty shootout that saw John Terry slip and miss the game-winning penalty for Chelsea.

This gave Manchester United their 3rd UEFA Champions League title, and Sir Alex Ferguson’s 2nd as United manager.

Success continued as United made the final once again the following season to lose to Barcelona and then again in 2011 to lose to the Catalans again. League success was a given under Ferguson and he decided to hang up his boots post the 2012-2013 season after winning the Premier League title one last time to take Manchester United to a record most Premier League titles as they won number 20.

Sir Alex Ferguson is still a Club Director after his resignation as manager.

United’s failure post-Sir Alex Ferguson

Post the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, David Moyes was handpicked by the former manager to succeed him as United manager. The team struggled under Moyes in the 2013-14 season and the Scot was sacked with only a few games remaining in the season. Ryan Giggs was appointed as the interim manager for the rest of the season which saw them finishing 7^th, well outside the Champions League qualification spots.

Louis Van Gaal was appointed manager at the start of the 2014-15 campaign.

After the huge disappointment in the 2013/14 season which saw them finish 7th overall and miss out on European competition, United was hoping to improve and challenge for the Champions League places once again.

Louis van Gaal managed to secure a Champions League place for United in his first season as they finished 4th but fans did not take a liking to the style of football. Man Utd was knocked out of the Champions League group stages in a very modest group, to say the least, next season and finished 5th to miss out on the Champions League.

The club did, however, lift the FA Cup title after a long long time, which was their first trophy since Sir Alex Ferguson. Jose Mourinho took over after Louis van Gaal was sacked, as he signed a 3-year contract with the Red Devils. The Portuguese manager had a disappointing first season in the league as United only managed to finish 6th however, he did win the League Cup and the Europa League in his first season.

Mourinho failed to lead United to more silverware the following season but they did manage to finish 2nd in the league and lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup final. In his 3rd season in charge, Mourinho had a torrid time. He was sacked as United sat 6th in the table, which led to the start of the new era at Manchester United FC with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The Norwegian led United to 3rd in the Premier League in his first full season as manager, including 3 semi-finals in the Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup. Signs are looking promising for United fans again and a good 2020-21 season is guaranteed to bring in more big names to strengthen the squad as there will be optimism that the team would be able to challenge in England and Europe again soon.

“OLE’S AT THE WHEEL!”

CLUB RECORDS

MOST APPEARANCES: Ryan Giggs (963)

TOP GOALSCORER: Wayne Rooney (253)

FIRST DIVISION LEAGUE & PREMIER LEAGUE TITLES: 20

FA CUP TITLES: 12

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLES: 3

LEAGUE CUP TITLES: 5

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE TITLES: 1

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUPS: 1

CHARITY/COMMUNITY SHIELDS: 21

HOW TO BET ON MANCHESTER UNITED

Before going into the details, we think it is important to let you know what this article is about and what we are hoping to achieve with it. Football is a game that is unpredictable to say the least, and all it takes is a second to score a goal and any team can beat another on a given day.

Given the unpredictable nature of the game, it is pretty safe to say that betting on football is a tough and risky business. However, there is a lot of money to be made but only if you are prepared to learn and understand what you are betting on before putting your money on the table.

Remember! Even if you do not get all your bets correct, all it takes is a success rate between 50-55% to turn in a decent amount of profit.

This will be the first of a series of articles where we will be listing out stats and facts associated with a certain team that could be extremely useful when it comes to placing certain types of bets.

Here, we discuss Manchester United.

BETTING ON MANCHESTER UNITED

This is a betting analysis on the 20-time English Champions and 3 time European Champions – Manchester United and listing out the bet types that one should consider placing by taking into account the stats and facts we have provided along with it.

The focus is on data and stats associated with the team.

MANCHESTER UNITED BETTING STRATEGY

• Over 2.5 at home against the Big 6
• Under 2.5 against the Big 6 away from home
• Over 2.5 in the Northwest Derby (vs Liverpool)
• Over 3.5 in the Manchester Derby (vs Manchester City)
• Value Bet on lower table teams to Win or Draw-no-Bet at Old Trafford
• Expect them to concede from set-pieces

Following is the data and research that led to the determination of these betting tips and strategies for United.

MANCHESTER UNITED BEFORE AND NOW

There is a before and now difference for Manchester United marked by the time Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United. During his reign, United was too strong a team, always challenging for becoming league champions of England and top contenders in the UEFA Champions League. Once the Fergie days elapsed, it left the club doing its best to rebuild.

MANCHESTER UNITED ALEX FERGUSON ERA STATISTICS

Sir Alex Ferguson ended his 27-year-old association with Manchester United at the end of the 2012-13 season but only after guiding the Red Devils to their 13th Premier League title and 20th English League Championship.

It was a highly successful campaign that saw them losing just 5 games at home and winning 28 of their 38 league games. At the time, the best betting tip was – Bet to Win! for both, away and home games.

Games: 1500

Wins: 895

Draws: 338

Losses: 267

Goals For: 2,769

Goals Against: 1,365

Win %: 59.67

Titles

Premier League: 13

FA Cup: 5

UEFA Champions League: 2

League Cup: 4

Community Shield: 10

European Cup Winners’ Cup: 1

European Super Cup: 1

Intercontinental Cup: 1

FIFA Club World Cup: 1

MANCHESTER UNITED STATS IN THE POST-FERGUSON ERA

DAVID MOYES AND HIS FAILED ATTEMPT OF WINNING OVER UNITED’S SQUAD

At the end of the 2012-13 campaign, then Everton manager David Moyes was handpicked by Ferguson to succeed him at United. However, things did not go as planned and saw Moyes getting sacked with 4 games left in the first season itself, and the team languishing 7th in the table.

Ryan Giggs took over as interim manager for the last few games of the season but the team still ended up finishing outside the Top 4 and below 3rd for the first time in their Premier League history.

Games: 51

Wins: 27

Draws: 9

Losses: 15

Goals For: 86

Goals Against: 54

Win %: 52.94

Titles

Community Shield: 1

LOUIS VAN GAAL’S “HORNY FOOTBALL”

With the premature exit of David Moyes, United went in search of a new manager, someone who could get them back to the top of English football and potentially challenge in Europe. The search ended with United appointing Dutchman, Louis van Gaal – Former Barcelona and Netherlands national team manager.

The arrival of the Dutch manager also saw the arrival of a host of new players including many big-money signings. Louis van Gaal was quick to make it clear that a top 4 finish was what he was aiming for in his first season, and by the end of the campaign he had fulfilled his promise as United finished the season in 4th place.

His second season was pretty terrible. United fans were frustrated with the style of play and lacklustre attack with Louis van Gaal spending lots of money in bringing marquee players in but failing to get results. United finished outside the Champions League qualification spots but managed to win the FA Cup, which was Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick’s last trophy as United players. With both of them leaving United, it brought an end to the era of the Manchester United team that won the Premier League and Champions League Double in 2008.

Louis van Gaal was sacked at the end of the 2015-16 season after winning the FA Cup, which surprised many fans.

Games: 103

Wins: 54

Draws: 25

Losses: 24

Goals For: 158

Goals Against: 98

Win %: 52.43

Titles

FA Cup: 1

THE SPECIAL ONE AT THE THEATRE OF DREAMS

Jose Mourinho was brought in as Manchester United manager post the sacking of Louis van Gaal. Mourinho is no doubt, one of the greatest managers ever and his influence brought in the likes of Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Mourinho set up a resolute side as he always does, and United became very tough team to beat. Jose helped United finished 2nd in the 2016-17 season, the highest finish since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure that the “Special One” termed as his “greatest achievement”.

Manchester United won silverware under Jose Mourinho, bagging the UEFA Europa League after missing out on automatic qualification through the league table. He also led United to success in winning the League Cup and Community Shield.

He was United’s most successful manager since Sir Alex. Things seemed to go down south in his 3rd season in charge as there seemed to have been a falling out between the players and manager. Eventually, the loss against Liverpool in the Premier League led to his sacking in December 2018.

Games: 144

Wins: 84

Draws: 32

Losses: 28

Goals For: 244

Goals Against: 121

Win %: 58.33

Titles

Europa League: 1

League Cup: 1

Community Shield: 1

OLE’S AT THE WHEEL

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over as interim manager when Jose Mourinho was shown the door at Manchester and what a dream start he had. Solskjaer’s side won 10 of their first 13 games while he was in charge. United also overcame a 2-0 deficit in the Champions League knockout stages to overcome Paris Saint-Germain in his first full season at the helm.

He was rewarded with a 3-year deal and Manchester United has seen promising signs under their young manager. Solskjaer’s United finished 3rd in the 2019-20 season making the semifinals of the Europa League, League Cup and FA Cup.

United started the 2020-21 season winning every game away from home and that too, after going at least a goal down and scoring a minimum of 3 goals per game. Marcus Rashford has become one of the most lethal attackers in European football and it is a treat to watch the Red Devils play counterattacking football.

Manchester United seem to be becoming the big dogs in football once again thanks to their playmaker – Bruno Fernandes and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s coaching staff.

TIPS TO BET ON MANCHESTER UNITED

RED FORTRESS

On an average United scores at least two goals per game (1.97) at Old Trafford. They also tend to lose a fewer number of games at home than away from it although the 2020-21 season was an odd one for the club.

• Betting against United at home against bottom-half teams is not a good idea
• Do not take the Over for United or Combined against middle-table up contenders (except against the big 6)
• Matches against the fellow big 6 (City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs), excluding Chelsea, always tend to be high scoring affairs. Over 2.5 against the Top 6 excluding Chelsea is a good bet.
• Bet the Under when facing strong rivals at home.
• Chelsea, Manchester City and Spurs are the 3 teams that United has struggled against at home.

HOW TO BET ON MANCHESTER UNITED AWAY GAMES

Away from home, United’s win percentage was around 49% post the Sir Alex Ferguson era and prior to Solskjaer taking over. Manchester United do not lose many games. They may end up drawing games they do not win but losses are not a common occurrence for the Red Devils.

AWAY GAME BETTING TIPS

• Away from home, Manchester United have trouble against teams from the bottom as they sit deep and put the onus on United to break them down.
• Betting Over 2.5 in Manchester United matches is the way to go given their knack of scoring goals in abundance given their attacking prowess.
• United have struggled against Everton at Goodison Park over the last few seasons so that would be an interesting bet to keep in mind.
• Chelsea, Manchester City and Spurs have done really well against United in the recent past.
• Similar to the games contested at Old Trafford, the games against the top 6 teams are high-scoring affairs so an Over 2.5 is a good bet when United visits one of the big 6.

HOW TO BET ON MANCHESTER UNITED VS LIVERPOOL (NORTHWEST DERBY)

Manchester United vs Liverpool is often termed as the biggest game in the English season and rightly so, Manchester United have held this fierce rivalry with their Merseyside rivals for well over half a century now.

United hold the upper-hand over their rivals where overall wins are concerned.

2-1 seems to be most frequent scoreline when these two meet with Manchester United generally coming out on top so an Over 2.5 is definitely the best bet for the Manchester United vs Liverpool Derby.

HOW TO BET ON MANCHESTER UNITED VS MANCHESTER CITY (THE MANCHESTER DERBY)

The Manchester City Derby is another highlight of the English season and almost always produces quality matches.

The Manchester Derby is more often than not, very high-scoring so we can safely say betting Over 3.5 in Manchester Derbies is a winning bet more often than not.

SQUADS

1998-99: Treble-winning squad

2007-08: Double-winning squad

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

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