The 1909–10 season was Manchester United’s 18th season in the Football League and fourth in the First Division.

In February 1910, the club moved from their old ground at Bank Street to a new home at Old Trafford. Before 1902, Manchester United were known as Newton Heath, during which time they first played their football matches at North Road and then Bank Street in Clayton. However, both grounds were blighted by wretched conditions, the pitches ranging from gravel to marsh, while Bank Street suffered from clouds of fumes from its neighbouring factories.  Therefore, following the club’s rescue from near-bankruptcy and renaming, the new chairman John Henry Davies decided in 1909 that the Bank Street ground was not fit for a team that had recently won the First Division and FA Cup, so he donated funds for the construction of a new stadium. Not one to spend money frivolously, Davies scouted around Manchester for an appropriate site, before settling on a patch of land adjacent to the Bridgewater Canal, just off the north end of the Warwick Road in Old Trafford.

Designed by Scottish architect Archibald Leitch, who designed several other stadia, the ground was originally designed with a capacity of 100,000 spectators and featured seating in the south stand under cover, while the remaining three stands were left as terraces and uncovered. Including the purchase of the land, the construction of the stadium was originally to have cost £60,000 all told. However, as costs began to rise, to reach the intended capacity would have cost an extra £30,000 over the original estimate and, at the suggestion of club secretary J. J. Bentley, the capacity was reduced to approximately 80,000. Nevertheless, at a time when transfer fees were still around the £1,000 mark, the cost of construction only served to reinforce the club’s “Moneybags United” epithet, with which they had been tarred since Davies had taken over as chairman.

In May 1908, Archibald Leitch wrote to the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) – who had a rail depot adjacent to the proposed site for the football ground – in an attempt to persuade them to subsidise construction of the grandstand alongside the railway line. The subsidy would have come to the sum of £10,000, to be paid back at the rate of £2,000 per annum for five years or half of the gate receipts for the grandstand each year until the loan was repaid. However, despite guarantees for the loan coming from the club itself and two local breweries, both chaired by club chairman John Henry Davies, the Cheshire Lines Committee turned the proposal down.

The CLC had planned to build a new station adjacent to the new stadium, with the promise of an anticipated £2,750 per annum in fares offsetting the £9,800 cost of building the station. The station – Trafford Park – was eventually built, but further down the line than originally planned.[6] The CLC later constructed a modest station with one timber-built platform immediately adjacent to the stadium and this opened on 21 August 1935. It was initially named United Football Ground, but was renamed Old Trafford Football Ground in early 1936. It was served on match days only by a shuttle service of steam trains from Manchester Central railway station.

Construction was carried out by Messrs Brameld and Smith of Manchester and development was completed in late 1909. The stadium hosted its inaugural game on 19 February 1910, with United playing host to Liverpool. However, the home side were unable to provide their fans with a win to mark the occasion, as Liverpool won 4–3. A journalist at the game reported the stadium as “the most handsomest [sic], the most spacious and the most remarkable arena I have ever seen. As a football ground it is unrivalled in the world, it is an honour to Manchester and the home of a team who can do wonders when they are so disposed”.

The first game at Old Trafford took place on 19th February, 1910. A crowd of 45,000 saw Liverpool beat Manchester United 4-3. This attendance record was beaten a few weeks later when 50,000 saw United beat Bristol City 2-1. The following season, 65,000 watched a FA Cup tie against Aston Villa.

United finished in fifth place but were unable to successfully defend the FA Cup.

 

First Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	ResultF – A	Scorers	Attendance
1 September 1909	Bradford City	H	1 – 0	Wall	12,000
4 September 1909	Bury	H	2 – 0	J. Turnbull (2)	12,000
6 September 1909	Notts County	H	2 – 1	J. Turnbull, Wall	6,000
11 September 1909	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2 – 2	J. Turnbull, Wall	40,000
18 September 1909	Preston North End	H	1 – 1	Roberts	13,000
25 September 1909	Notts County	A	2 – 3	S. Turnbull (2)	11,000
2 October 1909	Newcastle United	H	1 – 1	Wall	30,000
9 October 1909	Liverpool	A	2 – 3	S. Turnbull (2)	40,000
16 October 1909	Aston Villa	H	2 – 0	Halse, S. Turnbull	20,000
23 October 1909	Sheffield United	A	1 – 0	S. Turnbull	30,000
30 October 1909	Arsenal	H	1 – 0	Wall	20,000
6 November 1909	Bolton Wanderers	A	3 – 2	Homer (2), Halse	20,000
13 November 1909	Chelsea	H	2 – 0	S. Turnbull, Wall	10,000
20 November 1909	Blackburn Rovers	A	2 – 3	Homer (2)	40,000
27 November 1909	Nottingham Forest	H	2 – 6	Halse, Wall	12,000
4 December 1909	Sunderland	A	0 – 3		12,000
18 December 1909	Middlesbrough	A	2 – 1	Homer, S. Turnbull	10,000
25 December 1909	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0 – 3		25,000
27 December 1909	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1 – 4	Wall	37,000
1 January 1910	Bradford City	A	2 – 0	S. Turnbull, Wall	25,000
8 January 1910	Bury	A	1 – 1	Homer	10,000
22 January 1910	Tottenham Hotspur	H	5 – 0	Roberts (2), Connor,Hooper, Meredith	7,000
5 February 1910	Preston North End	A	0 – 1		4,000
12 February 1910	Newcastle United	A	4 – 3	S. Turnbull (2), Blott,Roberts	20,000
19 February 1910	Liverpool	H	3 – 4	Homer, S. Turnbull, Wall	45,000
26 February 1910	Aston Villa	A	1 – 7	Meredith	20,000
5 March 1910	Sheffield United	H	1 – 0	Picken	40,000
12 March 1910	Arsenal	A	0 – 0		4,000
19 March 1910	Bolton Wanderers	H	5 – 0	Halse, Meredith, Picken, J. Turnbull, Wall	20,000
25 March 1910	Bristol City	H	2 – 1	Picken, J. Turnbull	50,000
26 March 1910	Chelsea	A	1 – 1	J. Turnbull	25,000
28 March 1910	Bristol City	A	1 – 2	Meredith	18,000
2 April 1910	Blackburn Rovers	H	2 – 0	Halse (2)	20,000
6 April 1910	Everton	H	3 – 2	J. Turnbull (2), Meredith	5,500
9 April 1910	Nottingham Forest	A	0 – 2		7,000
16 April 1910	Sunderland	H	2 – 0	S. Turnbull, Wall	12,000
23 April 1910	Everton	A	3 – 3	Homer, S. Turnbull, Wall	10,000
30 April 1910	Middlesbrough	H	4 – 1	Picken (4)	10,000

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
4	Newcastle United	38	19	7	12	70	56	45
5	Manchester United	38	19	7	12	69	61	45
6	Sheffield United	38	16	10	12	62	41	42

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	ResultF – A	Scorers	Attendance
15 January 1910	First Round	Burnley	A	0 – 2		16,628