The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 4 Towards Professionalism

"The road to specialization and professionalism for Newton Heath LYR is very difficult. It is easy for football enthusiasts to form an amateur team to play football out of interest, but it is extremely difficult for an amateur team to become a professional team. It is far from being solved by interest and spirit alone."

--Inscription

Newton Heath LYR officially registered for the FA Cup in 1886 and the team gradually became professional.

The rules of the FA Cup in its early days were not very clear. After Newton Heath LYR drew 2-2 with Fleetwood Rovers, they refused to play extra time and wanted to go to a penalty shootout. The referee directly ruled them out for "dissatisfaction with the referee's decision".

Newton Heath LYR protested against this, and the FA imposed additional penalties on the grounds of "rudeness and contempt for the rules", banning Newton Heath LYR from participating in the FA Cup until 1889.

Newton Heath LYR's first FA Cup campaign came to an end. Misunderstandings and recklessness led to their elimination, and the additional penalties were even more sad.

Even so, the Newton Heath LYR team has its own aspirations and they also have lofty ideals.

The team needs to break through the narrow circle of amateur teams and aim for higher goals.

On the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Newton Heath LYR, in 1888, seven football clubs in central England met in London to discuss the organization of a national football club competition.

This was the earliest prototype of a national football league in England and also the first professional football league in the world.

Football clubs in the northwest, northeast and south of England were unable to participate due to distance and transportation issues. Some teams in central England got the news but had no intention of participating. Teams in Scotland and Ireland had no idea about it and could not participate.

Newton Heath LYR were in Manchester at the time and were not invited, so they were unable to organise the league.

There are 12 teams in the English Football League. The league adopts a points system. Teams compete in a serpentine manner and finally calculate the points to determine the ranking. This points system is different from the FA Cup tournament system and has a stronger appeal. Each team competes with different opponents, showing themselves, attracting fans, and seeking progress, which is more conducive to the promotion of football.

The English Football League has become a hot topic in the football world since its launch, and participating teams have all given their best efforts. Among them, Preston is very strong and they finally won the championship with an undefeated record. Not only that, Preston also won the FA Cup, becoming the first "double champion" in English history.

One year after the establishment of the English Football League, Newton Heath LYR team joined 1889 other teams in the northeast of England to establish the Football Alliance in 11. These 12 teams include many familiar names today: Manchester City (then called Ardwick), Stoke City, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, etc.

This new league adopted the same competition system as the English Football Club League, and the competition between the 12 teams was also very exciting. In the first season, Newton Heath LYR team finally won the eighth place.

In addition to participating in the league, the Newton Heath LYR team officially separated from the railway company in 1890 and changed its name to Newton Heath - this was a key step in the team's professionalization. The team first removed the word LYR, completely separated from the railway company, and became a self-financing football club. The original team members had to make a choice whether to leave the team and return to the railway company, or stay with the team and leave the railway company.

In addition, the team previously relied on the railway company for expenses, but now it has to raise funds on its own, rent office facilities, rent stadiums, and organize competitions on its own.

The key issue is that the club needs to be responsible for its own profits and losses and rely on itself for survival and development.

Newton Heath soon suffered. An independently operated club needs funds, and without money it is difficult to move forward. The first fund after the club separated from the railway company was completely self-raised, relying on the players' own pockets. This soon led to a deficit, and they had to continue to raise funds and actively seek ways to sell shares to attract funds.

Professional teams need players, coaches, staff and even more business talents. All of this was too difficult for Newton Heath Club, whose management had no experience at the beginning.

Especially after failing to raise enough club share funds, the club found that it could not support itself by playing games. The cost of participating in a game is not small, and sometimes even the ticket revenue is very low.

For a long time, Newton Heath Club was unable to solve the dilemma of its expenses not covering its income, and the salaries of staff and players could not be paid in full and on time.

There are many other clubs in the same situation as Newton Heath. Many of them failed to survive and disappeared into the dust of history.

Newton Heath FC tried every possible means to survive. In addition to participating in more games, striving to win more bonuses and obtain more ticket revenue, the club also worked hard to develop fans, attract donations from fans, and collect sponsorship from fans.

In the early days, players and club staff often had multiple roles, being players, workers, accountants, waiters, designers... The meager salaries were not enough for them to live a decent life, but they also tried their best to contribute more to the team and support the team along the way.

After the sponsorship from the railway company disappeared, Newton Heath Club continued to face increasing difficulties. Ticket revenue was not enough to cover various expenses, and other income was not stable. The club could not even pay the stadium rent, and could not pay the salaries of players and staff. It was truly in a dilemma of "running out of money and food".

Many players left, many staff members resigned, but there are still many people who persisted and did not give up. They did not even need the club to pay them, they worked for free out of passion, and some players did the same, they played football out of love for football.

When the team was in the most difficult time, the entire Newton Heath team went directly to the streets to hold a fundraiser and charity sale, and they were just short of asking for money on the street.

In this way, Newton Heath Club survived with great difficulty.

No one would have thought at the time that this team, which did not even have a base, training ground, or stadium, could survive and develop and become a super giant of such a scale today. It was like a dream.

Thanks to their love for football, Newton Heath Club has survived the most difficult period.

Newton Heath participated in the English Football League in 1892. They lost only three games in the whole season and finished second to Nottingham Forest. Their strength was recognized by everyone. In the same year, the English Football League was officially merged with the English Football League and divided into Class A and Class B. Newton Heath and five teams from the original Football League, including Darwin, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest and Stoke City, were lucky enough to enter Class A and began to compete in the national unified league.

The English Football League began to implement a promotion and relegation system, which promoted the rapid development of football competition. After the two leagues merged, they were divided into the English League One and the English League Two. The English League Three also appeared in 1920, and the English League Four was established in 1958. Amateur leagues in various regions also began to be established. In the subdivided communities, more small leagues continued to emerge, and the number of clubs in England reached an astonishing level.

The English Football League has developed rapidly from its emergence to its expansion, from one level to multiple levels. In the blink of an eye over 50 years, the football league has been like a surging wave, and the four-level professional league and multi-level amateur league system we see today has been fully established.

The establishment of the league, the increase in levels, and the increase in teams mean that there are more and more games and the competition is becoming more and more fierce. Preston made a big splash and won the first two league championships, but then lost its prestige. Everton emerged as a dark horse and won one championship, and then Sunderland took it out strongly and won two championships, becoming the new overlord. Aston Villa won the First Division championship in the 1893-94 season, and then failed to defend the title and lost to Sunderland. After making a comeback, they won the championship in the 1895-96 season and the 1896-97 season. After the goal of three consecutive championships was sniped by Sheffield United, Villa rose again and won two consecutive English First Division championships in the 1898-99 season and the 1899-1900 season. After the 20th century, all teams increased their investment, and the championship competition fell into an extremely fierce melee. During this period, Liverpool had a brief period of stunning success, winning the championship in the 1900-01 season. Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Newcastle and other teams have also won the championship trophy and were the powerful teams at the time.

The English Football League was full of vitality in its early days, and the promotion and relegation mechanism greatly stimulated the clubs. In the development of the league, staying in the top ranks and competing for the championship are the goals of every team. Newton Heath naturally also hopes to be at the forefront of independence, but they are trapped by weak foundations and lack of support from big financial backers, making it difficult for them to stand out.

Compared with other community teams, Newton Heath was born from a railway company and lacked community fans, so the difficulties were greater. Newton Heath was short of money for a long time and relied on the owner's investment and fans' support. Daily operations depended on ticket revenue, fans' subscription fees and some sponsorship, as well as prize money from games and income from commercial activities.

The team's lack of funds also affects its ability to attract talented players. This economic situation makes the team walk on thin ice and puts a lot of pressure on it. Once the team's performance is poor, or the style becomes dull, or something unexpected happens, it will easily fall into trouble.

In addition to Newton Heath, other rivals have also entered their own development tracks. The teams that initially relied on urban residents or community resources have continued to grow in strength, further highlighting Newton Heath's internal and external difficulties.

After Newton's first season in the First Division, they suffered setbacks and lost games one after another. At the end of the final season, the team finished last. Although there was no direct relegation system at the time, Newton Heath was able to stay in the top league, but the team became the "bottom of the league", and the alarm bells began to ring.

In the second season, Newton Heath was unable to reverse the decline and once again finished at the bottom of the league. At this time, the league had introduced a promotion and relegation system, and Newton Heath was relegated to the Second Division.

Relegation meant a bigger crisis. The club's appeal quickly declined, and its income continued to decrease. Under the crisis, the club was on the verge of bankruptcy and the team was almost forced to disband. The club could only reduce expenses, reorganize its business strategy, focus on local youth training, rebuild a team to participate in the second division, and strive to be promoted to the first division as soon as possible.

From amateur to professional, from Class A to Class B, from the railway company LYR team to the Newton Heath Club, this team encountered countless difficulties and almost failed to survive, but they always maintained their faith, remained tenacious and strong, and fearlessly forged ahead amidst the thorns.

In this way, Newton completed the professionalization of the team. Despite multiple setbacks and the crisis of bankruptcy, it finally persevered.