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FC United of Manchester | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Football Club United of Manchester | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | FCUM, Red Rebels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Gigg Lane Bury | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 11,840 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | none | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager |  CF Manager | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | NW Counties Div 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | NW Counties Div 2, 1st | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Football Club United of Manchester (FC United of Manchester, FC United, FCUoM or FCUM for short) is a semi-professional English football club currently based in nearby Bury. The club was formed in 2005 by Manchester United supporters, many of whom decided to withdraw their financial support for the club following Malcolm Glazer's takeover. FCUM currently enjoy a healthy rivalry with Salford City and Maine Road.
Although the majority of the club's support comes from Manchester and the surrounding area, its supporters club has branches in over ten countries including France, Poland, New Zealand, the United States of America and Canada. The local cable television station Channel M began a monthly series of programmes about the club, the first of which was in January 2006. Television crews from France and the Netherlands have been seen at the team's matches.
FC United's first season was very successful. FC United entered at the tenth level of the English football league system (the second division of the North West Counties Football League) and they were confirmed as champions on 15 April 2006.
In the 2005-6 season, they had the second-highest average attendance anywhere in English non-League football, only bettered by Exeter City.[citation needed] The team was managed by the former Macclesfield Town player Karl Marginson and their record attendance is 6,023 for a match against Great Harwood Town on 22 April 2006.
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The club was founded in the summer of 2005 by disgruntled supporters of Manchester United. Although those supporters had various reasons for their dissatisfaction with the club,[1] the prime catalyst for FC United's formation was the hostile takeover of Manchester United by the United States businessman Malcolm Glazer. United supporters had previously considered forming a new club in response to a proposed takeover by Rupert Murdoch in 1998, but the takeover bid was unsuccessful so the idea was not implemented. When it was announced that Glazer was considering taking over the club, the idea was brought up again as a possible "last resort" and discussed in Manchester United fanzines including Red Issue.
The Glazer family obtained overall control of Manchester United on 12 May 2005, and supporters who had opposed the takeover organised a meeting at the Manchester Methodist Hall on 19 May. Although the focus of the meeting was on continuing to oppose Manchester United's new owners rather than forming a new club, the meeting's chairman, Andy Walsh, announced that the formation of a new club would be discussed at a second meeting on 30 May and that Kris Stewart, the then chairman of AFC Wimbledon, had given much advice on setting up the club.[2] It was decided that the club would be formed if 1,000 people pledged financial support by the end of July. This target was exceeded and the steering committee pushed ahead with plans for the club.
A nearby club, Leigh RMI, were in financial difficulties at the time and asked FC United to take them over, as the extra support from FC United would have ensured their club's survival. The founders of FC United refused this proposition because they were creating the club in response to an unpopular takeover and didn't feel that taking over another existing club was appropriate.[citation needed] The clubs remained on good terms, though, and FC United's first public match was a friendly against Leigh RMI.
The club's founders originally chose the name FC United, but the Football Association rejected this as too generic. Those who had pledged money to the club were then asked to vote on a name from FC United of Manchester, FC Manchester Central, AFC Manchester 1878 and Newton Heath United FC.[3] On 14 June 2005 it was announced that FC United of Manchester had been chosen with 44% of the vote. FC United continues to be used as an abbreviated form of the club's name.
Karl Marginson was appointed as manager on 22 June, and the club held trials for players on 26 June. 900 players applied to take part in the trials, of whom 200 were selected to do so and 17 were chosen to play for F.C. United, although most of those have since left the club. By 8 July 2005, over 4,000 people had pledged money to FC United and the club had over £100,000 in the bank.[4]
FC United were admitted to the second division of the North West Counties Football League, putting the club at level ten of the English football league system, nine levels below the FA Premier League. The league had four spare places at the time, so no other club was denied promotion as a result of FC United's admission. The club was formed after the deadline for entering the FA Vase had passed so they were not eligible to play in it in the 2005–06 season, although they were able to play in the North West Counties League Challenge Cup. They are eligible to enter the FA Vase in the 2006-2007 season and the FA Cup the year after. The club then arranged to play their 2005-06 home matches at Bury F.C.'s stadium, Gigg Lane where all home games (with the exception of one league fixture in February 2006 v Holker Old Boys which was played at Moss Lane, Altrincham), have been played since.
FC United's first public match was an away friendly fixture against Leigh RMI on 16 July 2005. The match ended 0–0.
FC United entered the North West Counties Division 2, and The League arranged for F.C. United's first league match to be away to the club with the biggest ground, Leek CSOB, in order to gauge whether it would be possible for other clubs to host F.C. United at their own grounds. It took place on Saturday 13 August 2005 and was the first all-ticket match in the history of the league.[citation needed] The attendance of 2,590 set a new record for the NWCFL, and was higher than Leek CSOB's combined attendances for the whole of the previous season.[citation needed] F.C. United won the game 5–2.
After a successful season the NWCFL Division Two trophy was awarded at the home game v Great Harwood Town FC on Saturday 22 April 2006, in front of a crowd of 6,023, a NWCFL record attendance.
FC United's first match in the North West Counties League Division One (Step 5 of the National League System) was against St. Helens Town FC on Saturday 12 August 2006, FC United winning 2-0.
The season so far has been an impressive one for FC United, with a strengthening squad and good off-field support.[citation needed] They will hope for promotion from the division, but were eliminated from the FA Vase at the third round stage by Quorn.
F.C. United is an industrial and provident society. Membership is obtained by donating one pound or more to the club, but each member receives only one share in the club and is entitled to a single vote at meetings, regardless of the amount donated.
The club has an elected board of twelve members, but has not yet chosen a chairman. Tony Pritchard is acting as chairman until a decision is made.
The club has two full-time employee positions: Andy Walsh as chief executive and Lindsey Robertson. Andy Walsh was heavily involved in the club's formation.[5]
The club's manifesto includes the following core principles:[6]
The club accepts sponsorship but does not allow sponsors' logos to be displayed on the team's shirts. The club's main sponsor in its inaugural 2005-6 season was the Bhopal Medical Appeal. Currently FC United's main sponsor is the Williams BMW Group.
Future aspirations
In November 2006 at the club's Annual General Meeting, the club outlined bold aspirations for the forthcoming six years [7] including:
Born in Salford on 25 July 1966. A prolific striker whose previous clubs include Northwich Victoria, Crewe Alexandra, Macclesfield Town and Altrincham. FC United's assistant manager. Signed for FC United from Bacup Borough, having worked as a residential care worker for Salford Council for three years.[10]
Born in Manchester on 9 November 1967. Player-coach, who sometimes plays as a right-winger for F.C. Has played for Bury, Macclesfield Town and Altrincham. Former player-manager of Salford City and East Manchester. Signed from Flixton.
Born in Salford on 25 September 1973. A former young professional with Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa before dropping into non-League with Altrincham and Salford City amongst others. Plays in midfield or at right-back. Cullen has been appointed the new reserve team manager for FC United for season 2006-2007 and is currently taking his coaching badges, his assistant will be Lawrence Greenhalgh.
Signed for FC United from Maine Road in December 2005. He had played in over 500 matches for Maine Road, and was player-manager at the time of his transfer. Described by Karl Marginson as a "massive Manchester United fan...eager to be part of what we want to achieve here."[11]
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