Introduction
Manchester United began life in 1878 as Newton Heath, formed by workers of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. They nearly went bankrupt in 1902 and were rescued and renamed as Manchester United. They have won the FA Cup 11 times, the most of any team, and 15 league championships. They have also won the European Cup (now Champions League) twice. These trophies make them the second-most successful club ever in England, behind Liverpool who have a record 18 league titles, 5 European Cups and 6 FA Cups, although Manchester United have sustained their successes over far longer periods.

1999 was United's most successful season, in which the Red Devils won the Premier League, the FA Cup (beating Newcastle United 2-0 in the final) and the Champions League. The Champions League final was especially memorable, as United scored two goals in stoppage time to defeat Bayern Munich 2-1.

Champions Manchester United had a mixed first few months in the Premier League, slipping up and down the top ten of the 22-club division. But the acquisition of Eric Cantona, the Frenchman who had helped Leeds win the previous season's title, in late November helped United improve their league form and cruise to the league title after a 26-year wait. Young winger Ryan Giggs was voted PFA Young Player of the Year for the second running. After the season was over, United paid an English record fee of £3.75million for Nottingham Forest's 22-year-old Irish midfielder Roy Keane. Alex Ferguson saw Keane as a long-term replacement for the ageing Bryan Robson, who would remain at Old Trafford for one more season before leaving to become player-manager of Middlesbrough.
Ooh Ahh CantonaThe final piece in the puzzle was finally pushed home as Eric Cantona was signed for £1.2 million from Leeds. After 26 years, Manchester United won the inaugural FA Carling Premiership in 1993.In a season marked by the death of Sir Matt Busby on January 20, 1994, United gunned for the domestic treble, the League Cup, FA Cup and the FA Premier League.

On a brighter note, United broke the English transfer record again by paying £7million for Newcastle United's free-scoring striker Andy Cole. He had been signed just two weeks before the Cantona incident as an eventual replacement for Mark Hughes, but with Cantona suspended it was Hughes who ended up being Cole's partner for the rest of the season.United almost made it three Premiership titles in a row, but just couldn't get the better of West Ham United who held them to a 1-1 away draw on the final day of the season. But United began the season without a major signing and a side made up of young players like David Beckham (20), Gary Neville (20), Philip Neville (18), Paul Scholes (21) and Nicky Butt (20) lost 3-1 at Aston Villa on the opening day of the season. Many pundits wrote United's title chances off and expected big spending clubs like Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal to win the season's honours.

The North Stand was demolished at the end of the 1994-95 season and was rebuilt as a three tier Stand making Old Trafford once again the biggest club stadium in England, with a capacity of 68,000.
Until the new Wembley Stadium is completed Old Trafford will have the largest ground capacity of any English football stadium, holding just over 68,000 spectators. Planning permission has been granted to expand this to around 76,000 by the 2006-07 season. Currently, the only larger football ground in the United Kingdom is the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.