It could arguably be claimed that strapping 6ft 1in half-back Manley – 19 years and 59 days old – can be considered the first true United ‘youth product’, as a player schooled within the club before the age of 18 who was now graduating to appear in the first team. So began a pioneering trail that changed United as a club, and the wider game, forever (with due respect to Walter Whittaker and Sidney Tyler, both name-checked in the book Sons of United by authors Steve Hobin and Tony Park – authorities on the history of United’s youth and Academy teams – as earlier examples but whose senior Reds careers were very fleeting).
Made in Manchester: The story of United's youth system
