The History Of Bangor City Football Club

Bangor City Football Club are one of the oldest football clubs in Wales, they were formed in 1876, a few months after a club was formed in nearby Caernarfon, a fierce rivalry has existed between the two teams ever since.

During the early years there wasn't a structured league for Bangor to compete and they would play friendly matches and also entered the Welsh cup when it began 1877, Bangor being the first team from North Wales to win the Welsh Cup in 1889.

A league was formed in 1893 consisting of teams from the North Wales Coast, Bangor's earlier attempts to join an all Wales league had been rejected as they would not have been able to meet the fixture commitments due to difficulty with travel arrangements and the costs involved. Bangor won the inaugural league in 1896, as well as winning the Welsh Cup, and the North West Wales Challenge Cup.

In 1898 Bangor were entered into the Combination League, where they would face a higher level of competition from teams from the North of England, which included Everton and Liverpool's reserve sides, they remained in this league until 1910 when the league disbanded.

Bangor joined the North Wales Alliance League for the following season, following a period of inactivity during the First World War, Bangor rejoined the North Wales Coast league in 1919 and for a short time were known as Bangor Comrades FC in memory of those who had fallen in the war. Bangor also moved from their original playing field at Maes-y-Dref to their The Farrar Road ground in 1919, which was originally shared with Bangor cricket club, they have remained at the Farrar Road ground ever since.

In 1932 Bangor joined the Birmingham & District League following much turbulence and constant re-organising of the Welsh leagues, where they usually finished in the top half of the table, they remained in this league until 1939 when they joined the Lancashire Combination League before joining the Cheshire League in 1950.

Bangor City won the Welsh Cup in 1962, which qualified them to enter the European Cup Winners Cup, which saw them face Italian Side Napoli. The game resulted in a 3-3 draw over to legs, which under today's rules would have seen Bangor win on the away goals, unfortunately they were forced to play a reply where they lost 2-1 at Arsenal's Highbury stadium.

At the end of 1977/78 Bangor were considered for promotion to the English Fourth Division, but as their stadium was in better order, Wigan Athletic (who now play in the Premier League) were chosen instead. Bangor instead joined the Alliance Premier League, which is the conference league of today.

In 1984-85, Bangor again qualified for the European Cup-Winners' Cup., after beating Norwegian side Fredrickstad in the First Round, Bangor lost 3-0 to Spanish side Athletico Madrid.

Following this, Bangor have qualified the UEFA Cup and Europa League qualifying rounds, but are placed at a major disadvantage having to play their European 'home' games at Wrexham's Racecourse ground which is sixty miles away, as Bangor's Farrar Road ground does not meet European specifications.

Bangor have remained a major force in Welsh football in recent years, winning the Welsh cup for the last three consecutive years and they are now one of twelve teams contesting the Welsh Premier League, at the beginning of the 2010-11 season Bangor have recorded 10 victories from 10 games.

The History of Manchester United

Manchester United are arguably the best club in the world, but this multi million pound club started as Newton Heath L&YR F.C. in 1878, as the works team for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Health.

They played on a small, dilapidated field on North Road, near the future site of the Manchester Piccadilly railway station for fifteen years, and then in 1983 they moved to play on Bank Street in a nearby town called Clayton. In 1902 this ground was closed as Manchester United were nearly kicked out of the football league due to debts of two thousand and five hundred pounds, but thankfully just before the club could be shut down they received a large investment from J.H.Davies, the managing director of Manchester breweries.

Manchester United's first major signing was of Charlie Roberts of Grimsby Town for £750 in April 1904, they believe that this signing helped Manchester United to third in the very next season. In the 1905-1906 season Manchester United were finally promoted to the First Division, where two years later they emerged as champions for the very first time.

On the 19th of February Manchester United played their first game in the still standing Old Trafford stadium, their first game was looking an ease, beating Liverpool 3-0 at half time only to lose 4-3, they went on that season to win no silver wear, and in the next ten years the club started declining in the ranks until 1922 when they were relegated back down to Division Two.

Three seasons before world war two, Manchester United were promoted, then relegated, then promoted once again, providing them with a spot in division one once the war was finally over.

In the season of 1956-57, Manchester United became the first season to compete in the European Cup, and it was in this competition that Manchester United recorded their biggest win to date, beating a Belgium team 10-0 before being knocked out in the semi finals by Real Madrid.

Tragedy struck the next season as a plane crash killed 8 of Manchester United's players on a trip to the Germany for a European match. Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Liam Whelan where the players killed that day, these players will never be forgotten.

In the early 70's Manchester United changed the badge to the badge we know off today. Soon after that, in 1986, the introduction of Sir Alex Ferguson was happening as he took over the manager's position.

Sir Alex Ferguson didn't have much success at Manchester united until the year of 1998 where his team secured the best season in the history of English Football, completing the treble of the Premier League, the FA cup and the Champions League.

Manchester United seemed ordinary until the season of 2006-07 when they won the Premier League, scraping past Chelsea. This gave Manchester United and their young guns of Rooney and Ronaldo confidence to rule the scenes in the next season as Manchester United completed the double, winning the Premier League and the European Cup.

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The First Championship - The History Of Liverpool Football Club

After winning the Lancashire League in the first year of existence, Liverpool FC was elected to the Football League Second Division for the 1893-1894 season.

As was the case with the previous season, Liverpool FC was extremely successful in their second season as well, and won the Second Division by a good margin, suffering no defeats in the process. As a result they were promoted to the the highest level of English football at the time - the first division!

As you would expect, Liverpool FC didn't just go on to win the league in their first season, but started a building up period with the aim to win the league, as well as the domestic cup competition. The first seed of success was sown in 1896, when Liverpool FC signed Tom Watson to manage the team.

Tom Watson was the manager of Sunderland AFC, and had a proven track record, since he had guided Sunderland AFC to the title 3 times in 4 seasons, and remains their most successful manager to this day.

Over the next 5 years he built a strong squad around players like Alex Raisbeck, Bill Perkins, Billy Dunlop, Jack Cox and Sam Raybould. The Liverpool FC team that started the 1900-1901 was considered to be their strongest team yet.

To give you an idea of the time this took place, this was when handlebar mustaches were in high fashion, the players travelled to the away games by train and/or horse and carriage, Queen Victorias reign was coming to an end and goats would be grazing on the grass-covered terraces of Anfield during the week.

The season got off to a perfect start with a 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers, in front of a crowd of 20,000 at Anfield, followed by a 2-1 win away at Stoke City, before West Bromwich Albion had to suffer a 5-0 defeat by the Anfield outfit.

Fourth game of the season was the first so called Merseyside Derby, an away game against Everton FC at Goodison park. Liverpool FC came from behind to claim a 1-1 draw, ending their 100 percent record. Things went worse the next week, when their unbeaten run was brought to an end by title favorites Sunderland AFC, who came away from Anfield with a 2-1 win.

Manager Tom Watson wasn't most pleased to lose out to his former club, but in the end he and Liverpool FC would have the last laugh.

Liverpool FC would have to go through testing times first though, and by the turn of the year even the most optimistic supporter wouldn't have believed the team would go on to win the league that year. Further damage was added to the campaign and their confidence through further defeats, and by mid-February Liverpool FC found themselves in 8th spot in the league table.

With nine points difference to the top team of the league, Nottingham Forest, things looked bleak. However, Liverpool FC turned things around in what was to become a trademark of the clubs title winning teams, so before the last game of the season against an already relegated West Bromwich Albion site, they were level with Sunderland AFC in the title race.

West Bromwich Albion was no pushover though, fighting for honour and pride. Liverpool FC was fortunate to be in the lead by one goal to nil at half time. After a hard fought second half, Liverpool FC managed to hang on to their lead, and as a draw would have sufficed their first league title was a reality.

Coming back on the train from the midlands, the newly crowned champions were met by a large crowd at the central station, and team captain Alex Raisbeck was carried shoulder high through the streets to the tune of 'The Conquering Hero'.

On returning to Anfield, the League Championship trophy was proudly placed in the trophy cabinet for the first time. It wasn't to be the last time this happened though.

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