Joe Spence

Born :	15 Dec 1898
Signed :	01 Mar 1919
Debut :	30 Aug 1919 v Derby County (A) League
Goals total :	168
Appearances total :	510
Position: :	Forward
Left United :	01 Jun 1933

One of United’s few true stars between the wars, Joe Spence's scintillating wing play made "Give it to Joe" the most regularly aired terrace chant during his 14 years at Old Trafford.
Indeed, such was his importance to United, and Manchester, he was known locally as ‘Mr Soccer’.

Born in Throckley, Northumberland, the young Spence played for Blucher Juniors and Throckley Celtic. While with the former, he scored an astonishing 42 of the team’s 49 goals in his first season. At 13 he began work as a miner and was conscripted into the army at 17, where he served as a machine-gunner.

He guested for Liverpool,

Newburn and Scotswood during his years in service and won the Army Cup with his battalion. But in March 1919, the year after the First World War ended, Spence signed for United from north-east amateur side, Scotswood.

He wasted no time making an impact: scoring four in a 5-1 Lancashire Section drubbing of Bury at Old Trafford on his debut. His official debut came in August when the league programme resumed and he was a model of consistency after that, making 510 appearances and scoring 168 goals.

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Tony Dunne

Born :	24 Jul 1941
Signed :	01 Apr 1960
Debut :	15 Oct 1960 v Burnley (A) League
Goals total :	2
Appearances total :	535
Position: :	Full-back
Left United :	01 Aug 1973

An unsung hero of Sir Matt Busby's trailblazing side of the 1960s, Tony Dunne is one of the greatest full-backs in the club’s history.
Signed in 1960 from Shelbourne as cover for Noel Cantwell or Shay Brennan, Dunne's big chance came when he replaced Brennan in the line-up for the 1963 FA Cup final victory against Leicester City. A brave, speedy defender, he went on to cement a place in the first team following that success and missed only six league games over the next four seasons.

That FA Cup winner’s medal was only the start. The Irish full-back also helped United to win the title in 1965 and 1967 and the

European Cup in 1968. He played in every round en route to the final and deserved his medal as much as any of the stars who scored the goals.

He left United in August 1973 on a free transfer to Bolton. In hindsight he was probably released too early as he went on to play more than 200 matches for Bolton, contributing to over 700 career league appearances in total. He won 33 Republic of Ireland caps in an international career spanning 14 years. He was Irish Footballer of the Year in 1969, a rare personal award for such a team player.

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Alex Stepney

Born :	18 Sep 1942
Signed :	01 Sep 1966
Debut :	17 Sept 1966 v Man City (H) League
Goals total :	2
Appearances total :	539
Position: :	Goalkeeper
Left United :	01 Jun 1978

Alex Stepney earned Old Trafford immortality the night Manchester United became European champions in 1968.
On that balmy May evening at Wembley, with United and Benfica drawing 1-1, Stepney held on to a ferocious shot from Eusebio to ensure the game would go into extra-time. The additional half-hour was illuminated by goals from George Best, Bobby Charlton and Brian Kidd, as the Reds run out 4-1 winners, but the importance of Stepney’s save was lost on no-one.

Stepney began his career as a trainee at Millwall, before moving to Chelsea for £52,000 in June 1966. After only three months at Stamford Bridge he made the switch

to Old Trafford, Sir Matt paying a then world-record fee for a goalkeeper of £55,000.

On his debut against Manchester City, he kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 victory and by the end of the season had won a League Championship medal to cap a wonderful first season. In fact, such was his contribution that Sir Matt Busby described signing him as “the single most important factor behind our championship in 1967.”

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Gary Neville

Born :	18 Feb 1975
Signed :	08 Jul 1991
Debut :	16 Sep 1992 v Torpedo Moscow (H) UEFA Cup
Goals total :	7
Appearances total :	602
Position: :	Full-back
Left United :	02 Feb 2011

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Gary Neville called time on an illustrious playing career on 2 February 2011, almost 20 years after making his debut for United.
He belongs to an elite group of players who have skippered the Reds to Premier League title glory. Following on from Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Eric Cantona and Roy Keane, Neville realised a lifelong dream as he became the fifth United captain to lift the Premier League trophy following the Reds' triumph in 2006/07.
Neville himself had missed the final stages of that season, having suffered ankle ligament damage just 11 minutes into the visit of Bolton to Old Trafford on 17 March

2007. The same injury kept him out for most of the 2007/2008 season.
The Bury-born defender was handed the skipper's armband following Keane’s departure during 2005/06. Being one of the Reds' most consistent and committed performers since establishing himself in the side in 1994/95 at the expense of Paul Parker, Neville was a natural choice. He is as loyal a servant as you could hope to have, and in an age where players rarely stay put for long, he's among a dying breed of one-club men. "United is the only club I've ever wanted to play for," he says

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Bill Foulkes

Born :	05 Jan 1932
Signed :	01 Mar 1950
Debut :	13 Dec 1952 v Liverpool (A) League
Goals total :	9
Appearances total :	688
Position: :	Defender
Left United :	01 Jun 1970

Bill Foulkes will always be remembered as a loyal and legendary servant of Manchester United, after an epic playing career which spanned a remarkable 18 seasons.
Foulkes, who passed away on 25 November 2013, made 688 appearances for the Reds - a total surpassed by only three men - his team-mate Sir Bobby Charlton and more recently by Paul Scholes and the club's record-holder Ryan Giggs.
An old-fashioned stopper who relished facing a bustling centre-forward, he provided so much solidity to the United rearguard that it was rare for Sir Matt Busby to omit him.

Foulkes joined the club as an amateur in March 1950

and turned professional in August 1951 after leaving his mining job at Lea Green Colliery, St Helens. His United debut came halfway through the 1952/53 campaign as a right back, but he later moved to his favoured position of centre half. The switch suited Foulkes as he preferred to keep things simple, passing to his more gifted team-mates at the first opportunity.

A survivor of the Munich air crash, Foulkes captained a depleted United in the aftermath of the tragedy and led the Reds to the 1958 FA Cup final. Defeat against Bolton Wanderers was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was a rare one.

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Paul Scholes

Born :	16 Nov 1974
Signed :	08 Jul 1991
Debut :	21 Sep 1994 v Port Vale (A) League Cup
Goals total :	155
Appearances total :	718
Position: :	Midfielder
Left United :	19 May 2013

You must have a rare and special football talent to impress the great Sir Bobby Charlton. The United legend summed up Paul Scholes perfectly: "He’s always so in control and pinpoint accurate with his passing – a beautiful player to watch."
Part of the new wave of talent that ushered in Beckham, Giggs, Butt and the Neville brothers in the mid-1990s, Salford-born Scholes scored twice on his debut in the League Cup at Port Vale in 1994/95 – and on his first league outing against Ipswich – and never looked back.
A host of golden seasons at Old Trafford include 1995/96’s Double-winning campaign, in which he

covered admirably during Eric Cantona’s suspension, finishing second behind the Frenchman in the scoring charts with 14 goals; he was a cornerstone of 1999’s Treble-winners, although suspension ruled him out of the UEFA Champions League final, and in United’s Premier League success in 2003, his 20-goal haul was vital.
Neat and compact, a misplaced Scholes pass was one of the rarest sights in football. His superb eye for goal and late runs from midfield also served his country superbly on 66 occasions.

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Sir Bobby Charlton

Born :	11 Oct 1937
Signed :	01 Jun 1953
Debut :	6 Oct 1956 v Charlton (H) League
Goals total :	249
Appearances total :	758
Position: :	Forward
Left United :	01 May 1973

Nobody embodies the values of Manchester United better than Sir Bobby Charlton. Having survived the trauma of Munich aged just 20, he played as if every game was for his fallen colleagues, recovering from his injuries to reach the pinnacle for both club and country.
In a 17-year playing career with United, he played a record 754 games, scoring 247 goals. It is unlikely his deeds will ever be matched. Although highly coveted by clubs across the country, the young Charlton, nephew of the great Newcastle striker Jackie Milburn, turned professional with United in October 1954, winning the FA Youth Cup in 1954, 1955 and 1956.

His league debut came on 6 October 1956 against Charlton at Old Trafford and the youngster made an immediate impact, scoring twice despite carrying an injury. “Mr Busby asked me if I was ok,” recalled Sir Bobby. “I actually had a sprained ankle, but I wasn’t going to admit to it and I crossed my fingers and said ‘yes’.”

Despite his dramatic bow, Charlton didn’t command a relatively regular place until the latter stages of the 1956/57 season, notching 10 goals as the Busby Babes won a first title. Competition for a first-team spot was intense, but a hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers in January 1958 certainly helped his cause, and Busby

found it harder and harder to leave out the powerful young forward.

A month later Charlton scored twice in United’s 3-3 draw against Partizan Belgrade as the Babes sealed a place in the semi-finals of the European Cup. It was on their return that disaster struck, and Charlton was among those injured. His wounds were relatively minor, however, and he was back in action within a month.

Charlton proved an integral component of the post-Munich rebuilding, plying his trade across the field while the rest of the side was reconstructed. A permanent switch to a deep-lying forward role brought the best from him, and he was vital

as United won the league championships in 1965 and 1967.

Those successes flanked international glory with England. Shortly before the 1966 World Cup, Charlton was named Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year and European Footballer of the Year in quick succession. He went on to play a starring role as Alf Ramsey’s side won the tournament, scoring twice in the semi-final win over Portugal. Charlton went on to win 106 caps – three as captain - and is still England’s record goalscorer with 49 goals

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