From 1878 to 1914, the team was selected by a committee whose secretary had the same powers and role as a manager has today. There were four secretaries during this period,
A. H. Albut,
James West,
Ernest Mangnall and
John Bentley. Ernest Mangnall was the first man to bring any major silverware to the club, winning the club's first ever
Football League title in 1908. This was followed by the inaugural
FA Charity Shield and the club's first
FA Cup the following season, and then another league title and Charity Shield in 1911. Despite this success, though, he left the club a year later to join local rivals
Manchester City. Coincidentally, Mangnall's last match in charge of United was the Old Trafford derby of 7 September 1912. John Bentley took over as club secretary, but was replaced two years later by
Jack Robson, who became the club's first full-time manager. He remained in the post for seven years, but resigned in December 1921 after succumbing to a bout of pneumonia. Robson was followed soon after by
John Chapman. However, in Chapman's first season at the club, they were relegated to the
Second Division for the first time since 1906. Three years in the Second Division followed, before promotion back to the
First Division. After guiding the club to 9th place in the league and the FA Cup semi-finals in
1925–26, Chapman received
a telegram from
the Football Association on 8 October 1926 informing him of his suspension from management for the rest of the season; no reason was given. Half-back
Lal Hilditch took over for the remainder of the season, before
Herbert Bamlett took permanent control. Bamlett was manager for four years, but was unable to muster any success, the club's highest position during his reign being 12th. The club was relegated to the Second Division again in 1931, and Bamlett was replaced by club secretary
Walter Crickmer. This was Crickmer's first of two spells as manager of the club, retaining his position as secretary all the while. It lasted only a season, though, as he failed to return the club to the First Division. In June 1932,
Scott Duncan was appointed as manager, but in his second season in charge he led the club to what remains a club record lowest League position; 20th in the Second Division. The club held faith in Duncan though, and he managed to get the club back into the First Division by 1936. However, the club was relegated again the following year, and Walter Crickmer resumed control until the end of the
Second World War. Before the end of the war, the club approached
Matt Busby, who had just turned down the opportunity to join the coaching staff at
Liverpool, on the grounds that he wanted more responsibility over the playing side of the club than merely the selection of the team. While Busby was in hospital recovering from the injuries he sustained in the air crash, his managerial duties were left to his assistant,
Jimmy Murphy. After Busby recovered, he set about rebuilding his side, and within five years, in
1963, he had won the FA Cup for the first time in 15 years. This was followed up by two league titles in three years, and then the greatest prize in European club football, the
European Cup. He continued as manager for one more year after this success, leaving his managerial duties to club trainer
Wilf McGuinness. McGuinness struggled in his new post, however, and Busby was convinced to return for the second half of the
1970–71 season. replaced by
Queens Park Rangers' manager
Dave Sexton. Sexton remained in the United job for four years, before he was replaced in 1981 by
Ron Atkinson. Atkinson was able to rekindle the club's cup success, leading his side to two FA Cups in his five-year tenure. He also oversaw a series of respectable finishes in the league, but after his disastrous start to the
1986–87 season, he was sacked. His replacement, Alex Ferguson, had, in recent years, become the first manager to break the dominance of
Rangers and
Celtic in the Scottish league, winning the Scottish Premier Division title with
Aberdeen three times in six years, as well as finishing as runner-up twice and winning the European Cup Winners' Cup against
Real Madrid in
1983. During his tenure, Ferguson was credited with the distinction of making some of the most shrewd purchases in the club's history, including the signings of
Peter Schmeichel and
Eric Cantona, each for less than £1.5 million. With these types of signings, combined with the club's many experienced players, Ferguson won the FA Cup in
1990, his first trophy at the club. The next season, he brought home the club's first European trophy in 23 years, the
European Cup Winners' Cup, followed by the club's first ever
League Cup in
1992. The year after, Ferguson won United their
first league title in 26 years. Over the following decade, Ferguson would go on to win the Premier League title another six times, including a hat-trick of titles from 1999 to 2001. In 1999, he led Manchester United to an unprecedented
Treble of the
Premier League,
FA Cup and
UEFA Champions League. Subsequently
knighted, Sir Alex was set to retire in 2002 but stayed on with the club. He won his 10th Premier League title in the
2007–08 season, and followed this up with his second Champions League title 10 days later. In
2008–09, Ferguson guided United to another Premier League title, making Manchester United the only club and him the only manager to have won the English league title three times in a row twice. His 12th title, in the
2010–11 season, was United's 19th overall, overtaking
Liverpool's record of 18. Ferguson won his 13th and final league title in the
2012–13 season, making it 20 titles overall for United. Near the end of the season, Ferguson announced his retirement, and he was replaced by
Everton manager
David Moyes. He retired as the most decorated manager in football history. In his first match, Moyes won United their 20th Community Shield and his first trophy as United manager; however, after failing to lead the club to Champions League qualification, he was sacked before the end of his first season, with
Ryan Giggs taking temporary charge for the final four games of the 2013–14 season where the club finished seventh, their lowest league finish since the establishment of the Premier League.
Netherlands manager
Louis van Gaal was appointed as Moyes' permanent replacement on 19 May 2014, taking charge after the end of the
2014 FIFA World Cup. In his inaugural season, United signed many prominent players and returned to the Champions League with a fourth-place finish. In his second season, United finished in fifth place behind
Manchester City, out of the Champions League positions, but won the
2015–16 FA Cup, the club's first in a dozen years. The board, however, decided that not enough progress had been made from the previous season and Van Gaal was sacked on 23 May 2016, just two days after lifting the cup. He was replaced by two-time European champion and two-time
Chelsea boss
José Mourinho four days later. Mourinho became United's fourth manager (including Giggs) in as many years since Ferguson's retirement. He won the
Community Shield,
League Cup and
Europa League in his first season – the Europa League being the first in the club's history, making United the fifth team to
win all of the main European club competitions. However, Mourinho failed to win any silverware in
2017–18 as United finished second in both the league and FA Cup. He was sacked on 18 December 2018 after the team won just seven of their opening 17 matches of the
2018–19 season. Former United forward
Ole Gunnar Solskjær was appointed as caretaker manager for the rest of the season. On 19 January 2019, Solskjær won his seventh out of seven games in charge of United, a new club record, and on 28 March 2019, following victory over
Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Solskjær was given the job permanently. He became the first former United player to manage the club permanently since Wilf McGuinness. On 21 November 2021, Solskjær left his post as the first full-time manager since Frank O'Farrell, and like McGuinness, to not win a trophy for United. He was replaced by first-team coach
Michael Carrick on a caretaking basis until 2 December 2021. German
Ralf Rangnick was appointed interim manager until the end of
the season. On 21 April 2022,
Erik ten Hag was announced as the new full-time manager. On 26 February 2023, he successfully brought United their first competitive trophy in nearly six years as they won the
EFL Cup final against
Newcastle United. The following season, Ten Hag took United to the
FA Cup final, where they defeated Manchester City 2–1 to make it successive seasons of silverware. In October 2024, Ten Hag was sacked after the club managed just three wins in their first nine league matches, leaving them in 14th place in the Premier League. Former United striker and one of Ten Hag's assistants
Ruud van Nistelrooy took interim charge for the following four matches before the appointment of
Ruben Amorim on 11 November as head coach. Amorim lasted less than 14 months before being replaced by
Darren Fletcher as interim head coach and subsequently by
Michael Carrick for the remainder of the
2025–26 season. ==Statistics==