FC United of Manchester, The Red Rebels, FCUM are various names of the same club. But don’t confuse this Northern Premier League Premier Division club for the English top-flight giants Manchester United. This club was formed in 2005 after hundreds and thousands of fans detached themselves from United following the takeover by American businessman Malcolm Glazer. The takeover which was controversial in many ways, including huge loans from hedge funds, is still being opposed by Man. United fans in the way of the “Anti-Glazer” Green and Gold campaign. This campaign was launched only recently by the independent Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST). The trust started with an intent of taking over the club from the Glazer family and launched the campaign which has 167369 supporters as on 22-03-2011 08:37 IST. For more information on the MUST, visit http://action.joinmust.org
The Glazers managed to retain David Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson at the club considering the great successes achieved by the duo in all the past years. But this effort didn’t hinder the small group of disgruntled supporters from forming a small club known as ‘FC United of Manchester’. This club is based in Bury, Greater Manchester. FC United started their journey in the English club football on 14th June 2005 at the Gigg Lane ground which they share with Bury F.C. They entered the tenth level of the English club football system which is known as the second division of the North West Counties Football league. Since their formation, the first three years they saw ultimate success with winning promotion thrice in a row and lifting themselves to Northern Premier League Premier Division where they currently play. Currently, FC United is managed by the ex-Macclesfield Town player Karl Marginson.
The club recently came to light when for the first time they reached the first round proper of the FA Cup. They were anticipated to face their parent club Manchester United in some later stages had the former not been beaten in a replay against Brighton & Hove Albion. This young club has a lot of promise and aims to build its own ground before 2012 which will be known as the ‘Ten Acres Lane’. The club has a fund-raising campaign for their new home known as ‘Make it so?’ where it collects pledges and donations from supporters.
The Golden period of this club was from April 29th to September 30th 2006 when they were unbeaten for 22 games in a row making it the longest unbeaten streak for the FC United. The highest recorded attendance was on December 8th 2010 at the Gigg Lane ground where they hosted their FA Cup opponents Brighton & Hove Albion and 6,731 supporters registered their attendance. The endeavour put in by the all time top scorer of FCUM, Rory Patterson was enough for the club to attract the interest of various professional clubs all across Great Britain.
-PRANAV MUKUL
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