United thread 2019/20

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Big Swifty said:
Just been reading how, during the season 1914-15 (when incredibly the League carried on despite the war) United were near relegation from Div One. On Good Friday 1915 they played Liverpool. Before the game Utd and Liverpool agreed to fix the result so the rags would win 2-0. They did and Chelsea were relegated, not Utd. An investigation followed and eight players were banned. One, Knocker (Enoch) West, was banned for 30 years and the finally confessed the allegations were true.
How shameful was this? Yes, the rags do have "history". A betting scandal now would have epic repercussions. But then the war overshadowed all of this.
How many rag fans (and scousers) are aware of this stain on the two clubs?. It should be made more well known.
Click to expand...
Just unsubscribed from Sly Sports because of the constant propaganda about these two scum clubs. I bet there's no chance of them putting this on there?
 
Briggs1969 said:
Just unsubscribed from Sly Sports because of the constant propaganda about these two scum clubs. I bet there's no chance of them putting this on there?
Click to expand...

I ditched them years and years ago. I wouldn't allow it my house if it were free. Their drooling sycophancy towards the rags and the dippers is truly nauseating.

Give them my money? Not a fucking chance.
 
Big Swifty said:
Just been reading how, during the season 1914-15 (when incredibly the League carried on despite the war) United were near relegation from Div One. On Good Friday 1915 they played Liverpool. Before the game Utd and Liverpool agreed to fix the result so the rags would win 2-0. They did and Chelsea were relegated, not Utd. An investigation followed and eight players were banned. One, Knocker (Enoch) West, was banned for 30 years and the finally confessed the allegations were true.
How shameful was this? Yes, the rags do have "history". A betting scandal now would have epic repercussions. But then the war overshadowed all of this.
How many rag fans (and scousers) are aware of this stain on the two clubs?. It should be made more well known.
Click to expand...
It has been discussed on here before but yes it is not readily circulated within the mainstream media which is odd as they love harp on about certain clubs 'iiiiiiiiiistory (carefully selected mind..........).
 
Onholiday(somemightsay) said:
It has been discussed on here before but yes it is not readily circulated within the mainstream media which is odd as they love harp on about certain clubs 'iiiiiiiiiistory (carefully selected mind..........).
Click to expand...
Oh, Littlewoods and the rags love their istree.














































As long as it’s positive towards them.
 
Big Swifty said:
Just been reading how, during the season 1914-15 (when incredibly the League carried on despite the war) United were near relegation from Div One. On Good Friday 1915 they played Liverpool. Before the game Utd and Liverpool agreed to fix the result so the rags would win 2-0. They did and Chelsea were relegated, not Utd. An investigation followed and eight players were banned. One, Knocker (Enoch) West, was banned for 30 years and the finally confessed the allegations were true.
How shameful was this? Yes, the rags do have "history". A betting scandal now would have epic repercussions. But then the war overshadowed all of this.
How many rag fans (and scousers) are aware of this stain on the two clubs?. It should be made more well known.
Click to expand...

Chelsea's fault that.
 
Big Swifty said:
Just been reading how, during the season 1914-15 (when incredibly the League carried on despite the war) United were near relegation from Div One. On Good Friday 1915 they played Liverpool. Before the game Utd and Liverpool agreed to fix the result so the rags would win 2-0. They did and Chelsea were relegated, not Utd. An investigation followed and eight players were banned. One, Knocker (Enoch) West, was banned for 30 years and the finally confessed the allegations were true.
How shameful was this? Yes, the rags do have "history". A betting scandal now would have epic repercussions. But then the war overshadowed all of this.
How many rag fans (and scousers) are aware of this stain on the two clubs?. It should be made more well known.
Click to expand...

The 1914-15 season, which was played out to the backdrop of a world war, is one of the most controversial in history

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...tball-played-world-war-one-north-london-derby

Everton finished the 1914-15 season as champions, just one point above Oldham Athletic, but the real story was at the other end of the table. Chelsea and Tottenham finished 19th and 20th, respectively, and were due to be relegated. However, Manchester United had finished just one point above Chelsea and attention turned to their 2-0 win over Liverpool on Good Friday 1915.

Suspicions were raised by the referee about some of the Liverpool players’ lackadaisical approach. The Manchester Football Chronicle reporter was “surprised and disgusted” by the manner of United’s victory, with another reporter declaring the match as being “too poor to describe”. There were rumours that a group of players from both sides had met in a pub in Manchester beforehand to discuss the outcome, with bets placed at 8/1.

The Football League investigated and their findings were clear. Players from both teams had indeed placed substantial sums on the result. It was the first betting coup of its kind in English football and the punishments were suitably severe, with seven players – three United and four Liverpool – given lifetime bans.

When peace was declared in November 1918, the Football League agreed to restart with a new season in August 1919. But it was not immediately obvious which clubs should be relegated and which should be promoted. Manchester United could easily have gone down given that their players had fixed a match, but the club argued that they were unaware of the players’ betting arrangements and were allowed to keep the points they won against Liverpool. That left Chelsea and, to a lesser extent, Tottenham facing a very harsh relegation to Division Two.

In February 1919, the Football League reached a compromise. The First Division was expanded from 20 to 22 clubs and Chelsea were allowed to retain their status. It was agreed that the top two from Division Two – Derby and Preston – should join them but that still left one place available. Even though they had finished bottom of the league, Tottenham felt they had a good claim. As did Barnsley and Wolves, the clubs who finished third and fourth in Division Two.

The outlier in this were Arsenal, who had finished fifth in Division Two in the 1914-15 season and on the surface did not seem to have any right to be considered. However, Arsenal chairman Sir Henry Norris wielded considerable power. He had moved the club from Woolwich to Highbury in 1913, which left them in debt to the tune of £60,000 (£30m in today’s money), and was desperate to get them back into the top division. Norris, a property developer and MP, cajoled the Football League with an argument partly based on Arsenal being one of the oldest League clubs, partly through his force of personality and sphere of influence, and most persuasively of all, as Simon Inglis describes in his book, League Football and The Men who Made It, “by offering handsome inducements to other clubs or individuals.”

In the end, Wolves received four votes, Barnsley five, Tottenham eight and Arsenal 18. Norris had his way and Arsenal became the first club to be promoted to the top division of English football not on merit. They have not been relegated since so now hold the record for the longest continuous run in the top flight. It still rankles with many, no more so than a neighbouring club who were forced to play their matches at Arsenal’s ground in 1914-15, only to be ultimately displaced by them five years later.
 
Briggs1969 said:
Just unsubscribed from Sly Sports because of the constant propaganda about these two scum clubs. I bet there's no chance of them putting this on there?
Click to expand...
A noble gesture sir.
However, Sky weren't around then and indeed may not even be aware of that event.
I know that I didn't.
I take my hat off to the poster who uncovered this fact.
 
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