The legendary squads constructed by Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson set the standards that all Manchester United managers aspire to, but those great Scots’ eras comprise just two (admittedly sizeable) chunks of United history. The full story is a complicated epic, with teams of all shapes and sizes. Not all of them climbed football’s highest peaks, but that’s not to say many of them were not wholeheartedly loved by United fans.
The most memorable team of the pre-war period was forged by Ernest Mangnall – perhaps the third-best United manager in history – who led the Reds to two titles (1907/08, 1910/11) and a first FA Cup (1908/09) before moving crosstown to join Manchester City.