First United team you remember watching

Verminator

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1973 aged 4.
My dad was excited that Georgie might be playing, and he taught me to sing "Six foot two, eyes of blue, big Jim Holton is after you." Which really amused the other fans around us.

Best didn't play, and I never saw him live.
 

LInkash

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The first game I definitely remember watching is the '99 champions League final, which seems very glory huntery but that's just the first one I remember.
 

Revaulx

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I started going to OT regularly about half way through 70/71. The lineup seemed to change every week, even after Wilf had been bounced out and Sir Matt returned. The first regular lineup I remember was from the first part of the following season:

Stepney
O'Neil
James
Sadler
Dunne
Gowling
Charlton
Morgan
Kidd
Law
Best

Despite James being crap and Gowling obviously not a midfielder, we played some great football. I'm still convinced that if we'd started a proper gradual rebuild in 1969 instead of buying nobody but Ian Ure (:houllier:) for the best part of four years, we would have been able to stay competitive at the very least. Whether we'd have been properly capable of holding off Liverpool's inexorable rise is doubtful.

First game I watched. 85 cup final.

When I started watching regularly it was something like:

Turner (Bailey always crocked)
Sivebaek
Moran (McGrath always crocked)
Hogg
Blackmore (sometimes Albiston)
Strachan
Robson / Moses
Whiteside
Colin Gibson
Olsen
Davenport
We were crap and in the relegation zone (City too and they got relegated I think).

Then Big Ron got sacked, SAF turned up and pulled it round to finish 11th
Robson, Moses (underrated and a great loss) and Whiteside were no less crocked than those you mention. On their day, that team could play some great stuff, but consistency was beyond them; even before the final meltdown. At the time everyone thought it was just the injuries, but clearly there were "cultural" issues as well.

Turner was a decent keeper, and if he'd been taller would have been a really good one.

I always felt sorry for Davenport. He seemed to be expected to replicate Sparky's style of play, despite being a completely different type of player.
6' 1" brown eyed Jim Holton's favourite song :lol:
:lol::lol:

Gutted when he got injured, but after a while it bacame apparent that as a team we played better with Brian Greenhoff in his place.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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97-98, first game I remember watching clearly we beat Chelsea 5-3 after being 5-0 up at Stamford Bridge.

I also remember watching us lose 3-2 to Arsenal at Highbury that season. Vieira & Anelka scored incredible goals in that game. I think the Chelsea game came first though.
 

Class of 63

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:lol::lol:

Gutted when he got injured, but after a while it bacame apparent that as a team we played better with Brian Greenhoff in his place.
It's weird with Jim Holton because I can remember him playing for Scotland at the World Cup in 74, and later at Coventry, but not at United but I must have seen him play 'live', and Brian was one of my early favourites, would have been interesting to see if Brian had made it in his natural position in midfield, or maybe right-back if it hadn't been Holton's double leg break, I know I was gutted when he left, but that seemed to be the norm back then.
 

TMDaines

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Remember leaving a village fete with my dad early to go and watch the 1999 FA Cup Final, and pretty sure I ran out onto the street when we won the CL that year too. Would have been 9 then. We didn’t have Sky back then, so all the memories would have been from cup games.

Very clear memory of watching Chelsea winning CWC in 1998, which might shamefully might predate my earliest clear United memory.
 

montpelier

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Stepney Forsyth Houston Daly Greenhoff Buchan Coppell Mcllroy Pearson Macari Hill

Is the first I could name all 11. 2nd half of 75/6 season, they played some great stuff, atmosphere was fantastic.
 

Revaulx

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It's weird with Jim Holton because I can remember him playing for Scotland at the World Cup in 74, and later at Coventry, but not at United but I must have seen him play 'live', and Brian was one of my early favourites, would have been interesting to see if Brian had made it in his natural position in midfield, or maybe right-back if it hadn't been Holton's double leg break, I know I was gutted when he left, but that seemed to be the norm back then.
Your post inspired me to do some googling, and I found this: https://www.11v11.com/teams/manchester-united/

Shows how time and prejudices play havoc with one's clear recollections of how things came about. Firstly, Holton's injury was quite a bit later than I'd thought, and we'd already been playing great football with him in the side. Secondly, I had totally forgotten that his injury prompted the return of Steve James, and it was his rancid performances that drove the Doc to give Brian a go in the role.

Good news is that I'm going to get so absorbed in that website, the next few weeks stuck at home are going to fly by :)
 

Rafaeldagold

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1998 one is one I remember the most. What a team.
Those games against Arsenal at that time were amazing
 

Class of 63

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Your post inspired me to do some googling, and I found this: https://www.11v11.com/teams/manchester-united/

Shows how time and prejudices play havoc with one's clear recollections of how things came about. Firstly, Holton's injury was quite a bit later than I'd thought, and we'd already been playing great football with him in the side. Secondly, I had totally forgotten that his injury prompted the return of Steve James, and it was his rancid performances that drove the Doc to give Brian a go in the role.

Good news is that I'm going to get so absorbed in that website, the next few weeks stuck at home are going to fly by :)
Cheers for that, I had to buy a new Laptop in January and I was gutted because I lost dozens of bookmarked sights like that.

Steve James eh, now there was a handsome Man ;)

ps. Never realised he found his lost medal.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-18629111
 

Ali Dia

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FA Cup Final in 1996 is he first Man Utd match I remember. I was also 6.


I then couldn't understand why Man Utd didnt just smash the ball in like that every match.

The next match i remember is this one (not Man Utd)


I remember England AND Scotland were going to qualify as England were winning 4-0 and Scotland 1-0. Until Kluivert scored meaning England OR Scotland needed to score again for Scotland to qualify. Useless Scots didnt manage it, but I felt like England let them down.
Good times! Wasn’t 1996 the year of footballs coming home? Hahaha still waiting on that one.
 

Full bodied red

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I think this is still the only full match featuring Edwards online, sadly:


Some good snippets of footage in this lovely tribute as well:


Huge Thanks.....Watched them earlier this evening although the bits of Edwards training in the Tribute video do appear ever so cheesy 60+ years later.


Similar to me but I never saw the babes.

The old fella reckons my first match was in ‘59, vs Blackpool. Don’t remember it.

First I do remember was vs Wolves. Played in the fog. Maybe 60/ 61? But I’d been to a few by then anyway. Always used to go in the ”popular side” which became United Rd. People often used to sit up in the roof rafters.

i was really generalising with the team I made but the one that really rolls off the tongue were the 63 cup winners. Always bugged me that Gaskell played instead of Gregg because the old fella had told me of his heroics and I had one of those little “Star” badges of him. Stretford End had that song for him, to the tune of ”Allouette”/Alka Seltzer ad. Vaguely remember players like Ernie Taylor and Freddie Goodwin etc but once Denis arrived we were transformed. It was like the whole team was lifted from the post Munich gloom by his infectious personality.The Cantona (dare i say “Fernandes effect”) effect but with the original King.

Absolutely agree about Denis. Not only my all-time favourite player, but having been lucky enough to meet him he's right up there with my all-time favourite people I've spent time with.

Those ' Star ' badges - forgotten all about them, but now you've reminded me, I think the first one I had was probably Harry Gregg, or it might have been Jimmy Nicholson, and then getting another one each home match until I had about 15 or 20 around my Bob Hat. Memories.....
 

Joga Bonito

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I always remember - say it rhythmically...

Gregg
Foulkes
Carolan

Goodwin
Cope
Mcguiness

Bradley
Quixall
Violet
Charlton
Scanlon

Probably 60-61 season ??

My Father used to tell me that the first match he ever took me to was November 1956 and we beat Wolves 3-0 but I don't remember anything at all about going so maybe it was my cousin who he took that day.

First match I can remember going to but can't remember anything about it other than being overwhelmed and more than a little bit frightened by the atmosphere and noise inside OT was Easter 1957 v Sunderland. The internet tells me we beat Burnley away on Easter Friday 3-1, beat Sunderland at home the next day, Easter Saturday, 4-0, and then beat Burnley at home Easter Monday 2-0.

So I saw The Babes but, sadly, have absolutely no memory / recollection of the match and players that day -

Woods
Foulkes
Byrne
Whelan
Edwards
Coleman
Blanchflower
Pegg
Charlton
Berry
Taylor

Strangely, I've never seen film of Duncan Edwards playing either. Anyone have a link to one ??
In addition to pat mustard's links.



First actual game FA Cup Final v Leicester City - 25/5/63.

A neighbour of ours told my Dad that his son had just got mumps and could not go down to Wembley with him for the final. He had noticed that I was football mad and asked him if it was OK for me to take the lads place. The 60's were a bit more laissez - faire and my father was happy to let his 6 year old son toddle off to Wembley with a relative stranger! The drive down from Leeds seemed to take hours and we parked outside the stadium :). Not a brilliant game and Leicester were all over us in the first 20 minutes and Gaskell was absolute rubbish. Then the King scored and my love affair started, both with the man himself and the club.
On my 50th birthday, my wife [who hates football and had no idea about this story] presented me with a gift that was obviously a picture of something. Suspecting it was another Picasso or Dali print I was amazed on unwrapping it, that it contained a '63 Cup Final commemorative shirt signed by Dennis himself. I will freely admit I broke down in tears.

Gaskell
Dunne
Cantwell
Crerand
Foulkes
Setters
Giles
Quixall
Herd
Charlton
Law

First league game v WBA - 14/9/63.

After the final this was the first game that my neighbour could take me to in the league. Scrappy game, but a certain young man made his debut, and the rest as they say, is history.

Gregg
Dunne
Cantwell
Crerand
Foulkes
Setters
Best
Stiles
Sadler
Chisnall
Charlton
That's amazing.

Law was truly something else that day. A complete centre forward display.


Fair to say that was his best game for United or did he happen to have better ones?
 

GeordieRed

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First game I remember vividly was agains Forest in 1994

Schmeichel
May
Irwin
Pally
Bruce
Kanchelskis
Sharpe
Giggs
Ince
McClair
Hughes
 

iammemphis

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Schmeichel
Parker Bruce Pallister Irwin
Kanchelskis Keane Ince Sharpe
Cantona Hughes

Walsh, Giggs, Robbo, McClair, Dublin,

Something like that, literally the season before the class of 92 established themselves. I was born in 86 so most of these memories came from the end of season reviews i had on VHS.
 

SirAnderson

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Unfortunately my memory sucks balls! I can't remember much of my childhood, even good memories! (Probably should go see a psychologist:nervous:)

But of the little that seeps through, thing that burns deep in my memory is me running around crazy in the streets the night and morning of our CL Final '99. My father had these 2 massive Manchester United carpets, about a meter long almost, and him and I took 1 of them with scotch tape and stuck it on the bonnet of his old Datsun and we drove around with it like that for about a week :lol: :lol:
 

Fitchett

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First United game I ever saw on TV was the 1963 FA Cup Final against Leicester. Gaskell, Dunne, Cantwell, Crerand, Foulkes, Setters, Giles, Quixall, Herd, Law, Charlton, was the team in a 3-1 win.

First game at Old Trafford was the following November, in a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool. Gregg played instead of Gaskell, with Moore replacing the transferred Giles.
 

John Keiler

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First United game I ever saw on TV was the 1963 FA Cup Final against Leicester. Gaskell, Dunne, Cantwell, Crerand, Foulkes, Setters, Giles, Quixall, Herd, Law, Charlton, was the team in a 3-1 win.
We have something in common. :)
 

Josh 76

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It was in the 1983-84 season.
Don't remember the exact first 11, but growing up my front 6 dream team was:

Hughes
Stapelton
Whiteside
Robson
Olsen
Strachan
 

vidic blood & sand

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It was in the 1983-84 season.
Don't remember the exact first 11, but growing up my front 6 dream team was:

Hughes
Stapelton
Whiteside
Robson
Olsen
Strachan
Olsen was such an enigma. One of my favourite players as a kid, but he was consistently better for Denmark than us.

 

ElDiabloRojo

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1983 or thereabouts. Robson, Moran, McGrath, Hughes, Stapleton, Bailey, Duxbury, Whiteside and Blackmore.

Long time ago
 

Denis' cuff

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In addition to pat mustard's links.





That's amazing.

Law was truly something else that day. A complete centre forward display.


Fair to say that was his best game for United or did he happen to have better ones?

Aye, that would be hard to beat but the following season, he was consistently outstanding. Two outstanding games still loom large in my memory; both 4-1 home wins vs Spurs and Bristol RoverS (cup) when he scored a hat trick, David Herd grabbing the other on both occasions. I’m sure he scored several offside goals as well in both games. “Never offside: too quick for the Lino“ my old fella used to say. Probably was, on occasion, too.

All time fave player.
 

Robindinho

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I must have watched earlier games but the team that’s sticks in my mind is the 2002 one. (I’d have been 10/11).

Barthez
Neville
Ferdinand
Silvestre
O’shea
Beckham
Keane
Scholes
Giggs
Solskjaer
Van Nistelrooy
 

Forevergiggs1

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First match attended age 13

Alex Stepney

Martin Buchan
Stewart Houston
Jimmy Nicholl
Brian Greenhoff
Steve Coppell
Gordon Hill
Sammy McIlroy
Jimmy Greenhoff
Lou Macari
Pancho Pearson
This, although I was only 10 you old git. :lol:
 

galwayfa

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85 fá final too, loved Robson and whiteside, after moran got sent off, Stapleton went to centre half, McGrath was man of the match, my dad(Lord be good to him) hated utd and we had ding dong banter for years, utd signing siveback then after Denmark destroying rep of Ireland in landsdowne, if awful to say but I always thought our best players were the best in the league but our next level of players were not next tier but probably 2 tiers down.
 

Fitchett

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In addition to pat mustard's links.





That's amazing.

Law was truly something else that day. A complete centre forward display.


Fair to say that was his best game for United or did he happen to have better ones?
Thanks for posting. First time I've seen that amount of footage of that match (apart from watching it live on TV). Denis was everywhere that day, an absolutely awesome performance!
 

Stig

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March 19, 1969

Alex Stepney
John Fitzpatrick
Tony Dunne
Paddy Crerand
Steve James
Nobby Stiles
Willie Morgan
Brian Kidd
John Aston
Denis Law
George Best

Willie Morgan 30', 75', 86', George Best 47', 67', Nobby Stiles 85', Brian Kidd 88', John Aston Jnr 89

Manchester United 8 v 1 QPR
 

Joga Bonito

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MrMarcello

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94-95 side, after Cole had arrived.

Living in the US there wasn't much global coverage outside the odd Serie A match (I think ESPN had lost their rights just before the 94 WC) and the occasional Mexican league match on Spanish language programming. Don't recall the European Cup being aired over here either, not until around 1996. I had just graduated high school in 1994 and was obsessed with the sport after the World Cup. Began searching for a pro club to follow, with the likes of Juventus (hug Baggio fan) and Barca (Romario from his 94 performances) at the top of my list initially.

There was the odd USA men's friendly/cup match but I think it was ESPN or ESPN2, or some regional sports channel we had, that would air English Premiership rights on Sunday afternoon. They would always air a solid 5-10 minutes of United highlights and if memory serves would sometimes air a condensed previously taped match later in the week. I got guite familiar with Ince, Pallister, Keane, Irwin, Hughes, etc. as they played week in, week out. And or course the Cantona/fan incident was aired in the US. I researched United and was hooked on them, reminded me of historic American sports clubs like the Cowboys, Lakers, and Yankees - hated and loved.
 

meamth

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I'd be lying if I said I remember any of the line ups to be honest, but when it comes to this thread, United vs Roma 2007 comes to mind.

I was just 17, at boarding school and it was 3 am in local time.

Watching that United side is just pure joy.. Rooney, Ronaldo, Carrick, Evra, Fletcher (was bossing that night), Oshea, Brown, Heinze, Giggs, Ole, VDS and Smith.

7-1, it was magical.
 

Offsideagain

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1st February 1964. United v Arsenal , still got the programme, it was 6d or 2 1/2 p. Think we won 3-1 with Maurice Setters scoring the last with a header from just inside the box. I went with a school mate and his Dad in the family enclosure near the scoreboard end. It was cold, smelly (stale piss) but great to watch Best, Law and Charlton. I was 11.

Gaskell
Brennan
Dunne
Foulkes
Moore
Stiles
Setters
Best
Charlton
Herd
Law
 

youngrell

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Late 80s was when I first started watching but my most vivid memory of an early, live game is probably the CWC final, or maybe the FA Cup the year before but not quite as clear as the Barca game.

First time at OT was in 99 against Croatia Zagreb in a bore draw. Sheringham missed a good chance, I remember.

Team was:

van der Gouw

Clegg
Berg
Stam
P Neville

Beckham
Wilson
Scholes
Giggs

Cole
Yorke