When the Chairmen/President of the Club still had a day job!

[manchesterunitedman1]

Louis C Edwards was a Butcher in the 1950's and had shops all around Manchester, when he finally managed to take chargel of Manchester United in the early 1960's after buying up as many shares to obtain control[some of a dubious nature as the stories go in swopping prime beefstake for some little old lady who may have had one share or and few others!] he was still doing his day job and ecventually handed over the reigns to one of his sons who in later life would flog the club to the Glazer family and the rest is pure disaster after that in how they have raped and pillaged the UK's biggest club and one that vies for top spot with only perhaps Real Madrid for it's worldwide appeal[with Bayern Munich a close 3rd in popularity] but recently United slipped to 3rd place in the money stakes, but that is not the essence of this post, the headline is the important issue.

It is known of course that workers from the wagon and carriage works of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways, at their Newton Heath Depot in the poor side of East of Manchester would form in 1878 a new football club but who would EVER consider that this could make the club challenge the world one day in the aforementioned popularity stakes amongst everything else.

From little acorns, from the humblest of beginnings the Superintendent Engineer at Newton Heath Carriage and Wagon works was a Mr.Frederick Attock-that was his day job but his passion was being a founder member of the Newton Heath L & Y R club and was elected shortly after the formation to become the club's first President.

This is a document initialled on the front and signed on the back on original Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways Carriage & Wagon works dated January 24th 1894 by Frederick Attock and is to my knowledge the oldest piece of paper in exstence linking the Railways with the fledgling football club through it's origins of creation via the railways.
https://flic.kr/p/ntYW6e

Leslie Millman is manchesterunitedman1