Davies,
John, Henry
John Henry Davies was the wealthy managing director of the Manchester Breweries Ltd who saved the club from bankruptcy in 1902 and turned it into a force to be reckoned with. He initiated the name change from Newton Heath to Manchester United and changed the kit colours from green and gold halves to the red and white kit.
In a strange twist of fate, United may have been saved from extinction due to a dog! Newton Heath were holding a fund raising bazaar in St James' Hall Oxford Street to help with their crippling debts. United captain Harry Stafford's St Bernard dog (who had a collecting box around his neck) got loose and ran off only to be found by a pub landlord who was a friend of Davies.
Davies liked the dog and bought it off the landlord but felt guilty and traced the dog's owner. He found Stafford who told him of Newton Heath's plight. Davies was intrigued and offered to help. He headed a consortium, cleared the debt, pumped money into the club and brought in the likes of Ernest Mangnall and Billy Meredith who took the club to two league titles in 1908/1911 and the 1909 FA Cup. He would also later lend the club the £60,000 needed for the building of Old Trafford in 1909 - many millions in today's money.
Upon his death in 1927 the club quickly fell into financial trouble and decline, eventually requiring James Gibson to bail them out once again. Davies is commemorated by a plaque on the players tunnel at Old Trafford.
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Docherty,
Tommy: 1972-1977 
Tommy
"The Doc" Docherty was a manager
who always had something to say,
a brash, noisy showman of football
in the 1970's and the United fans
loved him. His United teams were
exciting, unpredictable and brilliant
to watch, based on pure attack,
they had the philosophy of "if the
opposition gets three we'll get
four".
Docherty took over United
in December 1972, at a time when
Manchester United were in total
decline and hovering just above the relegation places. A total contrast to the quiet manner of his predecessor
, Frank O'Farrell, the flamboyant Scot seemed just the man to turn things around.
And he indeed saved the club from
relegation in 1973. Yet the decline was unstoppable and in May 1974 the Doc was unable
to prevent United slumping into the old Second Division for
the first time since 1938. But despite this disaster, the United directors had faith in Docherty and relegation gave him an opportunity to radically restructure the team.
Playing with flair, flying wingers such as Hill
and Coppell as well as
Macari, Buchan
and McILroy, United easily won
the Second Division at the first attempt and returned to the First, finishing
third in 1976 and reaching the FA Cup final. A major
upset seen the Reds lose 1-0 to second Division Southampton but the Doc
maintained they would be back to win it next year - and
he was right. The following year, 1977 United did win the
FA Cup, ruining Liverpool's "treble" by beating them
2-1 in the Final. However the United career of the Doc
was cut short, he was sacked only two months after the
cup win, for having an affair with Mary Brown, wife of United's
physio Mick Brown.
The Doc's sacking for a non-football related matter,
having just put United back at the top, must surely
go down as one of the club's biggest blunders and scuppered
the chance of more potential trophies. The United board opted for a more low key manager in the form of Dave Sexton to succeed Docherty which ultimately they lived to regret.
Docherty went on to manage Derby, QPR, Preston and Wolves and is now an after-dinner speaker and controversial media pundit, often critical of Sir Alex Ferguson.
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