It is said there is no football story to rival United's story, a club now revered as the most supported club in the game.
The club has scaled the heights of a record 20 league titles, a record number of FA Cups - more silverware than anyone could even imagine.
Under the likes of Busby and Ferguson United won title after title, they reached the promised land of European champions, playing exciting, attacking football.
But for every high there has also been a low. The loss of so many at Munich is one of the greatest tragedies in football history, but the club which started from such humble beginnings almost never made it past the 1930s.
If things had been different we would never have seen the likes of Duncan Edwards, George Best, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs grace the field of play in the famous red shirt.
We would never have seen Eric Cantona walk out, chest out and collar turned up, at the Theatre of Dreams.
We would never have seen the Treble loom large, Sir Alex's end of season speeches or Steve Bruce's dramatic header which sealed a comeback win against Sheffield Wednesday to help United to finally win the league again after 26 years of hurt.
The reason we are able to watch our heroes, cheer on our team, live every game, every kick, feel every heart-clenching moment both in victory and defeat is down to one man...James Gibson, the man who saved United.
By the time 1931 had come around United were in dire straits.
Much like today, the Board had not taken the supporters into their confidence and, having seen results suffer and City become the dominant team in Manchester, things got so bad that attendances began to suffer.
The club's finances were not being well managed and, with the world in the depths of a depression, United plummeted into debt.
It came to a head just before Christmas 1931 when the banks refused to grant any more credit to the club.
Players and staff remained unpaid, and it seemed for all the world that the name of Manchester United was about to be consigned to the pages of a history book.
That is until one man stepped forward at the 11th hour to breathe new life into the dying club.
When the club secretary, Walter Crickmer, visited James Gibson's house in Hale Barns on 19th December 1931 he could never have known the sudden shift of fortune he and the club were about to receive.
James Gibson had been born in Salford, not far from Old Trafford, and he knew what being a part of the community was about.
A member of the rugby and cricket clubs, Gibson had made his mark in business by manufacturing uniforms after the War.
He had heard of United's plight and felt the Board had let the club, players, staff and the supporters down.
So when Walter Crickmer arrived on that fateful day he decided he would help.
£2,000 doesn't sound a lot these days, but in 1931 it was a huge sum of money. And yet that was what Walter Crickmer left with after meeting with James Gibson, with the latter giving that as an outright gift - the money enough to pay the backlog of wages, buy every member of staff a turkey for Christmas and keep the club running until the New Year.
Gibson also promised to attend the matches over the festive period with a view of perhaps doing more to aid the cause.
Having secured United's future for at least a few weeks, Gibson spoke to his uncle, William Fell and remarked, 'there is room in Manchester for two football clubs', and with that in mind he set about taking a beleaguered club back to where they deserved to be - at the very top of the game.
That would inevitably take a long time to achieve, but James Gibson was a man of vision and, having decided to continue to support the club financially through the hardest of times, he turned his attention to bringing back the supporters to Old Trafford.
Having openly invited the head of the supporters' groups to discuss his vision for the club, Gibson opened talks with the local railway authorities to allow trains to stop at the little station at Old Trafford on match days, with steps being built to take the supporters to the ground.
The fans returned in numbers, and although the club continued to struggle on the pitch - narrowly avoiding relegation to the Third Division by beating Millwall on the final day of the 1933/34 season - United's financial future looked brighter as their Chairman acted as guarantor for the massive debt and continued to use his own money to keep the club afloat.
With players needed and money tight Gibson needed a way to bring in new blood to the club.
What he did next would be the foundations for every United team to the present day.
Gibson decided that the club needed to harness the talent of the surrounding area and formalised a new youth team set up, the Manchester United Junior Athletic Club, securing a lease on the Old Broughton Rangers Rugby Ground - known as The Cliff - for the new youth team to play.
The MUJAC system was an instant success and paved the way for some of the all-time greats to follow through the youth ranks into the first team - it was, and remains, James Gibson's greatest legacy to the club.
United began to improve on the pitch, but just as things were looking brighter the Second World War intervened.
On a fateful night in March 1941 Old Trafford was hit by an air raid and much of the ground destroyed.
When James Gibson heard of the news he cried. Everything he had built, all the effort he had put in had been literally blown away in seconds.
But he was not about to give in and quickly turned his attention to rebuilding the club for a second time.
A phoenix would once again rise from the ashes of Old Trafford, but with the War still raging there was no chance that the ruined grandstand could even be demolished let alone have the ground fit to be used.
Gibson agreed a deal which would see United play at rivals City's Maine Road until Old Trafford could be repaired.
Whilst Wartime football continued somewhat truncatedly, Gibson set to work to find a way of securing the licence and materials needed to rebuild United's own ground.
After many discussions and with the help of the local MP for Stoke, Ellis Smith, Gibson secured funding to firstly remove the broken beams of the stand and then rebuild the stadium itself, with many other clubs also benefitting from the debate.
With the War ending United also needed rebuilding on the pitch and a new manager required to lead them.
In 1945 Gibson interviewed a young Scotsman with no real managerial experience. It was a risk, but the Chairman was a good judge of character and employed him - that man was Matt Busby.
As Busby's vision on the pitch took hold, James Gibson continued to work tirelessly on his vision for the club.
That vision included returning to Old Trafford, and with work now in progress the man in charge could be well satisfied.
But he still wanted more, he wanted success for the club and for the community it served. That success would come as United won the 1948 FA Cup final.
Sadly for James Gibson he had suffered a stroke and was unable to make the trip to Wembley to see the game, but on their return the team bus stopped at his house to present the Chairman with the trophy he had fought so long for.
As James Gibson began to feel the effects of ill health, his son Alan - a devoted United supporter - was elected to the Board.
Alan Gibson would go on to serve the club diligently for almost half a century, and was proud to continue his father's legacy on to even greater heights.
United free stronger and were runners up in the league at the end of both the 1950 and 1951 seasons.
In the match programme at the start of the following season James Gibson would write that he was confident that the club would do well again. That they did as they took the First Division title in 1952 for the first time in over 40 years.
James Gibson was never to see that triumph, or any which followed. He passed away in September 1951 following another stroke.
The years that followed have been marked with both tragedy and triumph - from the dark days of the Munich Air Crash through to the celebration of the Treble and all the success the club has achieved over the past quarter of a century.
United has become arguably the biggest name in football, its name conjures up memories of great moments in the game and brings people from all backgrounds and walks of life together in a way that nothing else can.
Perhaps the past has been lost, for many now are unaware of what the club has had to go through in the past, from those early days as Newton Heath to the change to the more familiar name and colours that adorn the heroes that run out in the Theatre of Dreams.
United rose from humble beginnings to the richest club in football, but if it had not been for one man, his determination and his bravery, the name of Manchester United would be but a distant shadow, a memory long forgotten.
James Gibson was a man of the people, a man of vision, but above all else he was the man who saved United.
Written by Andrew
The club has scaled the heights of a record 20 league titles, a record number of FA Cups - more silverware than anyone could even imagine.
Under the likes of Busby and Ferguson United won title after title, they reached the promised land of European champions, playing exciting, attacking football.
But for every high there has also been a low. The loss of so many at Munich is one of the greatest tragedies in football history, but the club which started from such humble beginnings almost never made it past the 1930s.
If things had been different we would never have seen the likes of Duncan Edwards, George Best, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs grace the field of play in the famous red shirt.
We would never have seen Eric Cantona walk out, chest out and collar turned up, at the Theatre of Dreams.
We would never have seen the Treble loom large, Sir Alex's end of season speeches or Steve Bruce's dramatic header which sealed a comeback win against Sheffield Wednesday to help United to finally win the league again after 26 years of hurt.
The reason we are able to watch our heroes, cheer on our team, live every game, every kick, feel every heart-clenching moment both in victory and defeat is down to one man...James Gibson, the man who saved United.
By the time 1931 had come around United were in dire straits.
Much like today, the Board had not taken the supporters into their confidence and, having seen results suffer and City become the dominant team in Manchester, things got so bad that attendances began to suffer.
The club's finances were not being well managed and, with the world in the depths of a depression, United plummeted into debt.
It came to a head just before Christmas 1931 when the banks refused to grant any more credit to the club.
Players and staff remained unpaid, and it seemed for all the world that the name of Manchester United was about to be consigned to the pages of a history book.
That is until one man stepped forward at the 11th hour to breathe new life into the dying club.
When the club secretary, Walter Crickmer, visited James Gibson's house in Hale Barns on 19th December 1931 he could never have known the sudden shift of fortune he and the club were about to receive.
James Gibson had been born in Salford, not far from Old Trafford, and he knew what being a part of the community was about.
A member of the rugby and cricket clubs, Gibson had made his mark in business by manufacturing uniforms after the War.
He had heard of United's plight and felt the Board had let the club, players, staff and the supporters down.
So when Walter Crickmer arrived on that fateful day he decided he would help.
£2,000 doesn't sound a lot these days, but in 1931 it was a huge sum of money. And yet that was what Walter Crickmer left with after meeting with James Gibson, with the latter giving that as an outright gift - the money enough to pay the backlog of wages, buy every member of staff a turkey for Christmas and keep the club running until the New Year.
Gibson also promised to attend the matches over the festive period with a view of perhaps doing more to aid the cause.
Having secured United's future for at least a few weeks, Gibson spoke to his uncle, William Fell and remarked, 'there is room in Manchester for two football clubs', and with that in mind he set about taking a beleaguered club back to where they deserved to be - at the very top of the game.
That would inevitably take a long time to achieve, but James Gibson was a man of vision and, having decided to continue to support the club financially through the hardest of times, he turned his attention to bringing back the supporters to Old Trafford.
Having openly invited the head of the supporters' groups to discuss his vision for the club, Gibson opened talks with the local railway authorities to allow trains to stop at the little station at Old Trafford on match days, with steps being built to take the supporters to the ground.
The fans returned in numbers, and although the club continued to struggle on the pitch - narrowly avoiding relegation to the Third Division by beating Millwall on the final day of the 1933/34 season - United's financial future looked brighter as their Chairman acted as guarantor for the massive debt and continued to use his own money to keep the club afloat.
With players needed and money tight Gibson needed a way to bring in new blood to the club.
What he did next would be the foundations for every United team to the present day.
Gibson decided that the club needed to harness the talent of the surrounding area and formalised a new youth team set up, the Manchester United Junior Athletic Club, securing a lease on the Old Broughton Rangers Rugby Ground - known as The Cliff - for the new youth team to play.
The MUJAC system was an instant success and paved the way for some of the all-time greats to follow through the youth ranks into the first team - it was, and remains, James Gibson's greatest legacy to the club.
United began to improve on the pitch, but just as things were looking brighter the Second World War intervened.
On a fateful night in March 1941 Old Trafford was hit by an air raid and much of the ground destroyed.
When James Gibson heard of the news he cried. Everything he had built, all the effort he had put in had been literally blown away in seconds.
But he was not about to give in and quickly turned his attention to rebuilding the club for a second time.
A phoenix would once again rise from the ashes of Old Trafford, but with the War still raging there was no chance that the ruined grandstand could even be demolished let alone have the ground fit to be used.
Gibson agreed a deal which would see United play at rivals City's Maine Road until Old Trafford could be repaired.
Whilst Wartime football continued somewhat truncatedly, Gibson set to work to find a way of securing the licence and materials needed to rebuild United's own ground.
After many discussions and with the help of the local MP for Stoke, Ellis Smith, Gibson secured funding to firstly remove the broken beams of the stand and then rebuild the stadium itself, with many other clubs also benefitting from the debate.
With the War ending United also needed rebuilding on the pitch and a new manager required to lead them.
In 1945 Gibson interviewed a young Scotsman with no real managerial experience. It was a risk, but the Chairman was a good judge of character and employed him - that man was Matt Busby.
As Busby's vision on the pitch took hold, James Gibson continued to work tirelessly on his vision for the club.
That vision included returning to Old Trafford, and with work now in progress the man in charge could be well satisfied.
But he still wanted more, he wanted success for the club and for the community it served. That success would come as United won the 1948 FA Cup final.
Sadly for James Gibson he had suffered a stroke and was unable to make the trip to Wembley to see the game, but on their return the team bus stopped at his house to present the Chairman with the trophy he had fought so long for.
As James Gibson began to feel the effects of ill health, his son Alan - a devoted United supporter - was elected to the Board.
Alan Gibson would go on to serve the club diligently for almost half a century, and was proud to continue his father's legacy on to even greater heights.
United free stronger and were runners up in the league at the end of both the 1950 and 1951 seasons.
In the match programme at the start of the following season James Gibson would write that he was confident that the club would do well again. That they did as they took the First Division title in 1952 for the first time in over 40 years.
James Gibson was never to see that triumph, or any which followed. He passed away in September 1951 following another stroke.
The years that followed have been marked with both tragedy and triumph - from the dark days of the Munich Air Crash through to the celebration of the Treble and all the success the club has achieved over the past quarter of a century.
United has become arguably the biggest name in football, its name conjures up memories of great moments in the game and brings people from all backgrounds and walks of life together in a way that nothing else can.
Perhaps the past has been lost, for many now are unaware of what the club has had to go through in the past, from those early days as Newton Heath to the change to the more familiar name and colours that adorn the heroes that run out in the Theatre of Dreams.
United rose from humble beginnings to the richest club in football, but if it had not been for one man, his determination and his bravery, the name of Manchester United would be but a distant shadow, a memory long forgotten.
James Gibson was a man of the people, a man of vision, but above all else he was the man who saved United.
Written by Andrew