The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 7: First Premier League Title

It was already a great achievement that Mangnall led the Red Devils from the second division to the first division, and it was even more extraordinary that he led the Red Devils to win the English Football League One championship. From the second division to the first division, from a newcomer to the championship, Mangnall made the Red Devils truly achieve a breakthrough and began to enter the ranks of the strong teams in English football.

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As the Red Devils battled for the second division, a major scandal broke out in English football.

This was the "Brown Envelope Incident" widely reported by journalists, an event that directly affected the subsequent football landscape and shocked society.

The story begins with the British government's "salary cap order". At that time, the British government opposed the professionalization of players and adopted salary caps to limit the situation. The purpose was to make professional players the same as ordinary working class people, to avoid excessive disparity between the rich and the poor and social unrest. The British government stipulated that the maximum salary of players should not exceed 4 pounds per week, and should not exceed 3 pounds during the off-season.

After the British government issued the salary cap order, all clubs and players were very dissatisfied with it. The British government remained unmoved and directly rejected the clubs' opinions.

Some clubs dared to take risks and break the law knowingly. The most typical example is Manchester City. Manchester City was supported by the City Hall and donated by local wealthy businessmen in Manchester, and its financial resources were very strong. Manchester City, which was determined to dominate the football world, did not take the salary cap seriously and decided to operate in secret. Manchester City violated the rules and broke the standards of the salary cap, promising players salaries far exceeding the salary cap. In actual operation, Manchester City was very cunning. On the surface, it paid weekly wages according to the standard, but privately paid extra money in "brown envelopes".

These envelopes contain different amounts of pounds and are distributed to different players every week. This behavior seriously violates government regulations, but almost everyone is used to it.

Meredith, the famous Manchester City star at the time, even contained a huge sum of 20 pounds in his envelope!

Manchester City's operation was very low-level and was soon exposed in 1904. Through informants, the media not only found the envelope where the money was hidden and the records of Manchester City's expenditures, but also recorded the conversations of the stars about the amount of money in the envelope.

"Dirty money", "dirty football", "cheater"...all kinds of evidence and details were made public, and public opinion was surging. The government was enraged, and the public was even more strongly bombarded, believing that Manchester City Club broke the law knowingly, which was a bad behavior. Manchester City Club became a rat crossing the street, and they soon suffered.

The English Football Association was furious and decided to impose severe punishment. Manchester City was involved in the scandal, and the main players became the protagonists. While the English Football Association was conducting an internal investigation, the English judicial department also launched an investigation into suspected corruption.

The incident did not come to an end until November 1906, when the English Football Association issued severe fines. 11 players who exceeded the maximum weekly salary were ordered to leave Manchester City immediately and were banned from playing for Manchester City for life. The club's management and financial staff were fined heavily and ordered not to enter the football industry again. Manchester City Club suffered multiple penalties at the same time, and the only lucky thing was that it was able to retain its league qualification.

This is the "Brown Envelope Affair" in English football. To this day, the English media still uses "Brown Envelope" to refer to illegal transactions behind football and other fields.

Manchester City was badly hurt, and the players involved in the scandal were scattered like birds and beasts. Some Manchester City players who were not investigated also left. The media said, "Manchester City's player supermarket has opened, and now it's the turn of other clubs to come in with money."

The Red Devils also saw their opportunity.

For the Red Devils, who have just been promoted to the First Division, there is a very good time to find ways to strengthen the team. Mangnall took the initiative and decisively contacted those "tainted" players in advance to start recruiting them as soon as possible.

Not only did Mangnall meet with the players in person, he also encouraged the club to offer the highest salary to bring Meredith in.

Stars such as Meredith, who were punished by the FA, accepted the invitation of the Red Devils without hesitation and accepted the olive branch handed over by Mangnall. Because he was in the same city as Manchester City, Mangnall was close to the water and took in many cleaned-up Manchester City players.

The Red Devils now have many famous players, and their strength has been greatly improved. The team's talented superstar Meredith has long been famous in the British Isles. He was a truly famous thigh back then and was known as the "Welsh Magician". He is gifted, not only has superb footwork, but also has the advantage of speed. He is very good at wing attacks and often enters the right wing without any obstacles. Meredith has gorgeous skills and can break through at will on the court. He also has excellent awareness and is very sharp in organizing attacks. Of course, as a striker, Meredith's strongest point is his shooting ability, which is as easy as chopping melons and vegetables.

In addition to his reputation as a superstar, Meredith also had a strong fighting spirit. He was like a catfish thrown into the Red Devils' pool, quickly changing the dull atmosphere of the team. Meredith directly sparked a wave of enthusiasm within the club, and many Red Devils players began to imitate his skills and his style.

Meredith was tall, very masculine, funny, and eloquent, and was very popular with fans and reporters. He was one of the most popular stars in English football at the time. In short, his joining led to more fans starting to love the Red Devils, and his influence went beyond the city of Manchester.

In addition to Meredith, the Red Devils also recruited three players from the former Manchester City team. They are Herbert Burgess, Alex Sandy Turnbull and James Bannister. Burgess plays as a left back. Although he is only 1 meters tall, he is very strong and can stand alone in the back line. Bannister plays as a right inside forward. He is a tacit partner with Meredith, the right winger, and they often play solo. Sandy Turnbull plays as a striker. He is very good at heading and has excellent footwork. He is good at scoring goals and has become the guarantee for the Red Devils to end their offense.

As Mangnall continued to recruit players, the Red Devils began their first season after being promoted to League One. This season's league was in turmoil due to the "brown envelope incident". The Red Devils made steady progress throughout the season and eventually finished eighth in the league.

Mangnall began to look forward to higher goals, and Davis continued to make big purchases at critical moments, satisfying the coach's recruitment requirements as much as possible. The Red Devils introduced many players before the start of the new season. George Wall is a representative of the new players. He is fast and strong. Unlike Meredith, who has gorgeous skills, he likes to go straight to the penalty area and shoot hard. George Wall has played 316 times for the Red Devils and contributed 98 goals. He is a legendary striker in the history of the Red Devils. James Turnbull did not show his talent when he joined, but soon replaced Alex Menzies' main center position with his outstanding performance.

The Red Devils had already assembled a very strong squad before heading out for the league in the summer of 1907. This was a team that Mangnall had worked hard to build, and he also had high hopes for it.

The 1907-1908 English League One season officially kicked off, and Mangnall led the Red Devils to a fantastic start. After a big win over rivals Aston Villa in the first game, they beat Liverpool in the second game.

The Red Devils had their first league match away to Aston Villa. The Red Devils got off to a whirlwind start, with Wall scoring the first goal in the 4th minute with an assist from his teammate Bannister. In the second half, Meredith scored twice and Turnbull scored one goal. In the end, the Red Devils beat their opponents 4-1 to get off to a good start.

The Red Devils faced Liverpool at home in the second round of the league. It was a big battle. Liverpool had won two English League One titles at that time and was a well-known strong team in the league, while the Red Devils were still an ordinary player in the First Division and were unanimously looked down upon before the game. The fans were almost packed with fans at the Bank Street Stadium, actively cheering for the home team. The Red Devils' forward line was brilliant, Sandy Turnbull scored a hat trick, Wall contributed 1 goal and 2 assists, and Meredith was extremely energetic throughout the game, omnipresent, and organized the attack sharply and directly, pushing the Red Devils to defeat their opponents 4-0 like a landslide.

In the third round, the Red Devils beat Middlesbrough 2-1 at home, but in the fourth round, they were defeated by the same opponent Middlesbrough away due to carelessness.

After the first defeat in the league, the Red Devils won an amazing 10 games in a row from the fifth round. Mangnall's team won consecutive games and took the top spot in the standings, becoming the favorite to win the championship. In these 10 games, the Red Devils were invincible and scored an amazing 37 goals. Among them, the 6-1 victory over the defending champion Newcastle at St. James Park shocked the entire league. In this crucial battle of the defending champion with 6 goals, Meredith was extremely brave and fully demonstrated his heroic qualities. He not only scored 1 goal, but also performed an assist hat trick, becoming the commander of the frontcourt offense, directly organizing many destructive attacks by himself, and destroying Newcastle with great momentum. On November 1907, 11, the Red Devils defeated Arsenal 23-4 at home. In this game, it was Sandy Turnbull's turn to be majestic and staged a "big four" alone, defeating the Arsenal without any suspense.

The Red Devils' 10-game winning streak was ended by Sheffield Wednesday away from home, but after catching their breath, the Red Devils had an excellent record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 7 rounds unbeaten.

In this unbeaten streak, the derby between the Red Devils and Manchester City has become the focus of widespread attention. The Red Devils quickly took the initiative after the start of the game and launched a fierce offensive. Wall took the lead for the Red Devils, Meredith took a free kick with beautiful footwork, and Sandy Turnbull scored with a header. Then Sandy Turnbull scored twice in the second half to help the Red Devils lock in the victory. Manchester City only scored a face-saving goal by Bill Eddy, and finally lost miserably. In addition to the score, the Red Devils encountered violent hostility from their opponents in this game. Meredith and his teammates were fouled by their opponents in retaliation, but the Red Devils players were not soft eggs and also fought back. Sandy Turnbull was sent off with a red card in the second half, but the Red Devils still defeated their opponents powerfully.

德比大战的4天后，红魔在圣诞节当天迎战争冠对手伯里。这场比赛红魔2比1取胜，在少赛1场的情况下领先第二名纽卡斯尔9分。进入1908年之后红魔主场1比1逼平了纽卡斯尔联队，连续以1比0的比分小胜贝利、切尔西和伯明翰，保持了积分领先的优势。尽管3月25日红魔客场4比7惨败于利物浦脚下，但在积分榜依然领先。随后在对阵谢菲尔德星期三和布里斯托尔的比赛里红魔取得了1胜1平战绩，顺利摆脱困境。

In the 32nd round of the league, the Red Devils went to Goodison Park to challenge Everton. Halls, who temporarily served as the center forward, took the lead for the team in the first half. After Everton tenaciously equalized in the second half, the Red Devils striker Sandy Turnbull scored a crucial penalty. In the end, the Red Devils destroyed the opponent's resistance, and Wall's goal helped the Red Devils lock in a 3-1 victory.

After this battle, the Red Devils secured the league title 6 rounds in advance!

When the news of victory came, the whole city of Manchester celebrated. The Red Devils fans celebrated wildly, and the whole of Manchester was flooded with red.

The Red Devils were overjoyed, as they won the first top league title in the team's history. After thirty years of struggle from the founding of the team in 1878 to 1908, the Red Devils finally reached the pinnacle of the top league.

After going through countless challenges and enduring tremendous pressure, Mangnall finally led the team to success.

The Red Devils team made countless efforts to achieve the goal.

The club's owner, Davis, has made great contributions, providing financial support and full trust in the coach;

Mangnall made a great start, built a super team, and commanded the team properly during the long season, responding to various challenges reasonably.

From struggling in the second division to advancing to the first division, and then to the top of the league, Mangnall broke all the impossible. No matter how hard it was before, no matter how hard it was, no matter how much pressure and criticism from the outside world, Mangnall finally led the Red Devils to win the league championship, and the team also entered the ranks of the real strong teams in English football.