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HARCHESTER UNITED HISTORY ...

HARCHESTER UNITED - THE EARLY YEARS
In April 1985 at the Dragon Leather Tannery in Harchester, a group of men, led by tannery owner Robert Ball, got together to form a football club in the hope of rivalling the other local club, Harchester St.Augustine. The club was named Harchester United.

There may have been friendly rivalry between United and St.Augustine, but good sportsmanship remained throughout as St.Augustine offered United the chance to play their home matches at their own Palmerston Road sports ground. United gratefully accepted.

Between 1895 and 1898, the club had such a fantastic record in the FA Cup for an amateur side that they managed to get together funds to turn professional. The record was so great that upon an application to join the Football League, they were instantly elected to do so by the other clubs.

The first season in Football League Division Two saw Harchester United win it but a fair distance and they were promoted to the First Division. After a brief yo-yo period of several ups and downs in the next few years.

They won promotion back to the First Division in 1907. However, at the end of the 1907/08 season, Palmerston Road owners Harchester St.Augustine were suffering badly and ordered United to find a new place to play so that they could sell off their ground. United moved into the new Addison Road Stadium and obtained a 100 year lease for the ground.

In 1908, London businessman Ian Mayes brought the club from owner Robert Ball, who by this time had closed down the Tannery. Mayes decided to follow suit of other football clubs and bring in a new manager that had not been involved with the club before. That man was Joseph Peterson.
 
 
 
HARCHESTER UNITED - THE PRE AND POST-WAR ERA
Peterson’s involvement never went down well with local supporters and in 1920 he resigned from the club following back to back relegations. This is where David Cooper came in to repair damage and finally won promotion from Division Three North in 1926/27.

In 1932/33, Harchester United regained top flight status under the reigns of new manager Edward Evans. Sadly, Evans left the club in 1939 following the abandonment of the league due to the Second World War and was never contacted again.

After the War came new changes. First, Trevor Chamberlain became the new owner of the club in 1945 and appointed his friend Arthur Charlton as manager. Charlton had previously played for Portsmouth before the war and was a part of their FA Cup winning team.

Sadly, Charlton’s reign got off to the worst possible of starts with relegation in 1947. However, in a very successful 1957/58 campaign, a Division Two title was in the bag and Harchester United were promoted again. Tragedy would end Charlton’s era as boss in March 1965 as the longest serving manager in Dragons history died following a heart attack during a league game with Blackburn Rovers at Addison Road.

Arthur Charlton’s assistant Jim Stephenson instantly became the manager following the tragedy but disasters on the pitch were to follow with relegation in 1966/67.
 
 
 
HARCHESTER UNITED - THE JOY AND PAIN
By the time of 1970, Harchester United were back in the top flight under the managerial guidance of the first non-English manager – the Scotsman, Robert McClaren. He won the side promotion in 1968/69 and in 1973/74, the club finished 4th – their highest ever! McClaren left at the end of that season to join German club Hamburg.

Former West Ham United manager Harry Sidwell then took over as manager and had nearly 11 years in charge of the Dragons. There were a couple of decent Cup Runs during his time, but nothing really materialised than mid-table positions and he left the club by mutual consent in May 1985.

In June 1985, Kenny Bruce became the new manager and really revolutionised the club. He made young talent Terry Glover captain and built a team around young sensation Kevin Nelson.
 
The revolution was a success and following a home win over Manchester City in May 1986, Harchester United were crowned Champions for the first time in the clubs history. More good news followed the next month with Kevin Nelson becoming the first Dragon to play for England in the World Cup.

Nelson was then sold to Barcelona and that really damaged any chances of Harchester United retaining their Championship. Following a serious of poorer finishes in the league Kenny Bruce was sacked as manager in January 1990. But this was not for on-pitch reasons, but due to allegations of a relationship with a players wife .
 
 
 
HARCHESTER UNITED - THE PREMIER LEAGUE, FA CUP AND BEYOND
Steve Tomkins took over as boss was responsible for the clubs relegation at the end of 1989/90. In November 1992, former Youth Team player and die-hard Dragon Michael Jacobs took over control of the club. In December 1992, he decided to replace Tomkins as boss with the more experienced Ron Atkinson who’d left Aston Villa to take over.

Big Ron made big changes, so much so that the reward paid off with promotion to the Premiership for the first time in 1993/94. Survival was then they key for the Dragons, and after doing so in their first season, they were sadly relegated following a defeat to Queens Park Rangers at the end of the 1995/96 season.

The following year, Harchester United reached the Semi Finals of the FA Cup and were also promoted back to the Premiership thanks to the fantastic goalscoring abilities of Karl Fletcher. Big Ron wanted to improved the squad this time, but wasn’t allowed funds by chairman Michael Jacobs, so he resigned from his job.

Atkinson was replaced by former PSV Eindhoven boss Ian Coates who helped keep the club in the Premiership at the end of 1997/98. Tragedy struch during that season however as chairman Michael Jacobs sadly died of a heart attack during a training session in which he joined in with his team.

1998/99 saw new changes to the club. Millionaire Building Supplies tycoon Jerry Block became the new chairman and was prepared to plough millions into the club. He signed Argentine sensation Luis Amor Rodriguez and together they’d bring the FA Cup to Harchester.

However, in May 1999 following an emphatic FA Cup Final victory over Manchester United at Wembley, an unknown hitman attempted to shoot Jerry Block’s wife Lynda Block but shot club captain John Block dead instead.

Tragedy followed that September following the clubs first European adventure. After knocking Ajax out of the UEFA Cup, four first team members were killed in a plane crash just off the coast of Dover on the way home from the game.
 
Luis Amor Rodriguez quit as player/manager of Harchester United in March 2000 but stuck around as a player long enough to ensure the club fort off relegation before leaving for Boca Juniors.

In Harchester United’s first European adventure, they went out at the Quarter Final stage to Spanish side RCD Mallorca where former hero Karl Fletcher was ploughing his trade. He returned as a Dragon less than 24 hours after that match!!
 
 
 
HARCHESTER UNITED - EUROPEAN DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES
In 2000/01, Ray Wyatt brought in Nigerian striking sensation Monday Bandele from French side Paris St.Germain in a massive coup for the club. The deal paid off as the signing turned the club around and a 3rd Place finish was enough to ensure Champions League football next term.

The Champions League dream was short lived with defeat to the auld adversary RCD Mallorca in the 3rd Qualifying Round. Under the later guidance of Patrick Doyle, European dreams were made with the Dragons first ever appearance in a European final. It was a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan in the UEFA Cup Final.

The Dragons were severely weakened for that game though following a coach crash whilst travelling to that game in which three players were killed. Following the accident, manager Patrick Doyle promised to bring success to the club but it was later revealed that he had another motive of attempting to relegate the club.
 
When all this information came to light, it was revealed that goalkeeper Jamie Parker had been in on the plan and the Dragons were thrown out of the FA Cup which meant they lost their final place.

They were allowed to replay their final Premiership game with Everton though which had previously been abandoned at Half Time as a now-mentally-ill Jamie Parker took the team hostage during the interval. He was tragically killed by armed police following that incident. Harchester United did survive relegation but Doyle didn’t as he was found dead.
 
 
 
HARCHESTER UNITED - THE PROMISED LAND
In 2003/04, there was an ongoing court case taking place to decide just who should own the club following a raffle by former owner Phil Wallis.

Whilst this was going on, it was damaging the clubs reputation with sponsors and following a £28million transfer of Luke Davenport at the start of the year, ongoing financial trouble saw Harchester United cease trading in March 2004.

This was not the choice of the club, but more the choice of Coopers Bank who were funding Harchester United’s loans at the time. Following campaigning from players, staff, fans and other Premiership clubs, Coopers Bank gave Harchester United a reprieve until the end of the season.

At the end of that season, qualification for the Champions League was achieved after a 3-2 win at home to Manchester United on the final day of the season. However, the club were relegated on grounds of match fixing by UEFA following revelations by former Chief Executive Pilar Hernandez and former manager Stuart Naysmith.
 
2004/05 saw Harchester United in the Champions League and the newly formed Championship.

The Dragons were brave in their European adventure reaching the Quarter Finals where they were knocked out by Arsenal. In the league, a Play Off Final victory of West Ham at Cardiff secured promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt.
 
 
 
HARCHESTER UNITED - RISING FROM THE ASHES
However, tragedy struck as an explosion on the team coach killed all but 3 members of the Harchester United party.

This led to new owners, Dragons Corporation. It was later revealed that new striker Casper Rose was actually the owner of that company and ultimately Harchester United - details of this ownership would only emerge following Rose's death in April 2006 and were kept secretive until this time.

During the 2005/06 season, Harchester United had themselves three different managers over the course of the season - first German Felix Hahn who left the club in Jaunary, then Lawrie Hannigan who went on to disappear without even managing one first team game and then Alex Rose who led the club to their first Carling Cup Final (which ended in defeat to Chelsea).
 
Alex Rose also led Harchester United to the FA Cup Final and this time it was a victory for the Dragons - the second time in the club's history that the FA Cup had been lifted thanks to a Darren Tyson brace in a 2-1 victory over Arsenal.

Alex Rose later handed himself into police after admitting to killing his brother Casper Rose. This led to Jimmy Craig being appointed boss and Terry Harrison purchasing the club from Rose.
 
 
 
HARCHESTER UNITED - CHAMPIONS AGAIN
The 2006/2007 season is a year that will forever be cherished in the memory of all Harchester United supporters for many reasons.

It was the season that the Dragons not only went the entire Premier League season unbeaten, but they also captured the Premier League title becoming Champions of England for only the second time in the club's history.

Jimmy Craig was the manager in charge of leading the side to such a high, but the season wasn't without contraversy especially regarding former captain Danny Sullivan.

Sullivan returned to the club as a coach after being forced to retire through injury, but it later emerged that the whole time he was in this role he was undermining the club's ambitions to capture the Premier League title. Sullivan felt better towards the club and Craig in particiular and blamed him for his career ending the way it did - he was eventually imprisoned for attempted murder of Jimmy Craig and thousands of others after causing a fire at the Dragon's Lair on the final game of the 2006/07 season.

Harchester United's unbeaten run went on for a record breaking 54 games before being broken in a 5-1 defeat by Manchester United during the 2007/08 season. Later that year, the Dragons went on to reach the UEFA Champions League Semi Finals eventually losing out to Chelsea on penalties.

Jimmy Craig resigned as manager at the end of that season and was replaced by his assistant Steve Kramer. This was a disasterous decision though as a terrible run of results at the start of the 2008/09 season including early exits in the Carling Cup and UEFA Cup saw Kramer sacked.

Steve Kramer was replaced by former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich boss Erik Gentner in October 2008 and it was an appointment that went on to highlight the ambition Harchester United desired. .
 
 
 
HARCHESTER UNITED - THE GENTNER ERA
In his first season in charge, Gentner led the Dragons to finish 3rd in the Premier League and once again qualify for Europe's elite competition - the UEFA Champions League.

The run in the 2009/10 Champions League saw the Dragons make the Quarter Finals, losing out the eventual winners Inter Milan.

Another 3rd place finish in the Premier League though meant that Harchester United would dine at Europes top table for another season.

In February 2010, Chairman Terry Harrison had been suffering from ill health and took the decision to sell the club to Indian Billiionaire Vikram Palmer, a man who was placed at number 87 on the 2009 Forbes Rich List.

Palmer promised to plow millions into the club if it was required and, as well as helping out with stadium reconstruction costs in the past, he also have Erik Gentner a large transfer kitty if needed.

In 2010/11, Gentner led Harchester United to winning the Carling Cup Final against Manchester United - the first time the club had ever won the trophy. The 2-0 win came with goals by new signings Reijmond Van Den Bergh and Jay Marney.

The season also saw another Quarter Finals appearance in the Champions League, again losing out the eventual winners - this time Barcelona. The Dragons also went on to finish in 2nd place in the Premier League, a huge achievement in many peoples eyes but disappointing for Gentner as an end of season collapse with a poor run of results cost the Dragons the chance of actually winning the Premier League.
 


 
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