Few people know that, maybe, the magic of Manchester United might be down to Britain’s main ley line, that runs almost parallel to Bury New Road and has within its fall out the very nearby old Manchester United training ground The Cliff, and Moor Lane, home to Salford City FC.
This British Latitudinal Ley Line runs from the Isle of Wight to Durness in Scotland, and these invisible ley lines are said to cause an increase in energy and paranormal activity. Certainly what has gone on around this line, just in the realm of football, has been quite spectacular and unparalleled probably in the entire world.
First up is The Cliff, a two minute drive from Bury New Road. Originally it was the new training home of the Busby Babes, starring Duncan Edwards and Salford’s Eddie Colman. These United juniors, after winning the FA Youth Cup for five years on the run in the late 1940s and into the 1950s, evolved into the senior team which won the League in 1952,1956 and 1957 with an average age of 22. This was before eight of the players tragically died in the Munich air disaster in 1958, together with 15 other club members and journalists.
The newly built Busby team of the 1960s, developed at The Cliff and including George Best, also won the FA Youth Cup, and those players, with Dennis Law, Bobby Charlton et al, won the title in 1965 and 1967, and the European Cup in 1968.
Once these legends left the club, there was a 26 year wait to win another league title, albeit a few magical cup runs and victories along the way via the Fergie Fledglings, who included Lee Sharpe, Lee Martin, Russell Beardsmore and Mark Robbins. One of those fledglings, Derek Brazil, subsequently remarked “We were always looking over our shoulders at the Class of ’92…A lot of us left because of the likes of those boys coming through…”.
The Class of ’92 era, with David Beckham, plus Greater Manchester’s Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, began, again, with the youth team, featuring Gary Neville, David Beckham and Nicky Butt, winning the FA Youth Cup. Then, in 1993, with the lads edging their way into the first team spearheaded by Ryan Giggs, United won the first Premier League, followed by another title the following season.
It was in 1995 that Alan Hansen, infamously said on Match of the Day “You can’t win anything with kids”. That season, with the ‘kids’, they won the title again and the FA Cup in a first double for the Club. And over the next decade United would keep winning titles, as the Class of ’92 went onto world fame, whilst amassing 120 trophies between them over a glittering career.
To have one world class team being built with youngsters would have been special…but three world class teams coming out of The Cliff was remarkable, as the pattern repeated until the move to Carrington in 2000.
Meanwhile, further up Bury New Road is Moor Lane, home to Kersal Moor – the birthplace of democracy – and Salford City FC. Back then, the Ammies were marking time in the Unibond First Division North, finishing eleventh or twelfth in the past few seasons. Up until this point, highlights were taking giant killers, Blyth Spartans to extra time in the 3rd qualifying round of the FA Cup, and avoiding relegation in The Great Escape.
Fans of the non-league Salford City used to dream of getting into the first round proper of the FA Cup and, maybe, one day seeing the name Salford City FC on the BBC Final Score ‘teleprinter’. If pigs could fly…
The dream was so far removed from the reality of visiting places like Ossett and Garforth for match days, no-one dared to imagine what happened next…
Why Salford City? Why Moor Lane? Why The Cliff?
Could it be that the same ley lane that ran near the childhood homes of Mark E Smith, John Cooper Clarke, Graham Gouldman, Elkie Brooks and Mike Leigh, and the rehearsal and recording rooms of Joy Division and New Order, and the practice snooker tables of Alex Hurricane Higgins et al, also wanded its vibes and energy into football?
See also…
The Class of ’92: From The Cliff to Treble Champs to Moor Lane – What were they doing on Bury New Road? – click here
Salford City FC Before The Class of ’92 Takeover – click here
To follow…
How Salford City FC Saved The Soul of Football From The Big Club Monsters – starring Rhodri Giggs
The Class of ’92 v The Community
Salford City FC SInce The Class of ’92 Takeover
