North Road (Manchester) Cup match against Eccles on 31 January 1885. The earliest recorded four-figure attendance at the ground was 3,000 for a friendly with West Gorton (St. Mark's) on 12 November 1881. This was the first recorded meeting of the two sides that eventually became Manchester United and Manchester City. Notes Bibliography North Road (Manchester) North Road was a football and cricket ground in Newton Heath, Manchester, England. It was the first home of Manchester United Football Club – then known as Newton Heath Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Football Club – from its foundation in 1878 until 1893, when the club moved
Manchester United F.C. after the resumption of football following the First World War, the club was relegated to the Second Division, where it remained until regaining promotion in 1925. Relegated again in 1931, Manchester United became a yo-yo club, achieving its all-time lowest position of 20th place in the Second Division in 1934. Following the death of principal benefactor John Henry Davies in October 1927, the club's finances deteriorated to the extent that Manchester United would likely have gone bankrupt had it not been for James W. Gibson, who, in December 1931, invested £2,000 and assumed control of the club. In the 1938–39