Unlike the wealthy Gibson, Manchester United F.C. was being affected greatly by the Great Depression around the start of the 1930s. Their previous owner, John Henry Davies had died in 1927 after 25 years at the club. They had won the FA Cup and two league titles during the first 10 years of his chairmanship and by the time of Davies' death they were developing a reputation as a "yo-yo" club who regularly moved between the First and Second Divisions and their future was under threat by large debts.