3. The 1905 Scandal
In 1905, Manchester City were the top club in Manchester. They had won the F.A. Cup the season before and registered two top-3 league finishes in succession. Manchester United, on the other hand, had only just been established three years earlier, when debt-ridden Newton Heath were forced to cease operations and so reformed under the new name. They had spent those last three seasons in the Second Division, albeit in the top half. Citys success wasnt entirely wholesome though, as following a fall-out with the club, Billy Meredith exposed City in a newspaper article for breaching the maximum weekly salary cap, then at £4. It was believed that the Blues were paying an astronomical figure somewhere between £6 and £7 to the majority of their squad. The F.A. came down hard and forced City to auction off 17 players. United Secretary/Manager, Ernest Mangnall swooped in and took six of them, including star striker, Sandy Turnbull. Within just three seasons, the Reds went from the depths of the Second Division to become English Champions in 1908, following this up with an F.A. Cup win the year after. Striker Turnbull, who bagged the only goal in the aforementioned Cup Final win over Bristol City and is credited with scoring the first ever goal at Old Trafford, was involved in further controversy whilst at United, when in 1915, in an end of season match against Liverpool, he and other players from both sides rigged a 2-0 result to ensure the Manchester sides safety from relegation, whilst also benefitting from bets placed on the score-line with 7/1 odds. Turnbull subsequently received a life ban from football and left to fight in the Great War in France. However, the forward was killed in action in 1917 and was posthumously re-instated into football two years later.