Manchester United's all-conquering basketball team and how Sir Alex Ferguson ended it

Manchester United could soon have their very own cricket team. Co-chairman Avram Glazer met with representatives in the UAE to discuss sport in Dubai as well as the creation of the 'Manchester United cricket team', according to Mansoor bin Mohammed.

But it won't be the first time United have looked away from football to expand their brand. Ironically it was during another trophy drought that United bought the Warrington Vikings basketball team and renamed them after the football club.

Under Ron Atkinson, the 80s was a dire period on the football pitch for United. Without a Premier League title since 1967, the Reds were far behind the success of rivals Liverpool - an ideal time to buy a basketball side then.

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Director and long-time club lawyer Maurice Watkins was the driving force behind the basketball team, with a dream of emulating the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona who had teams in a number of sports. He certainly wasn't messing around. Moving the franchise to Stretford Leisure Centre, United signed NBA stars Jeff Jones and Will Brown before adding Colin Irish to their ranks.

The plan was to usurp the Manchester Giants to become the top basketball side not only in the city but also the country. In 1985, United won the Championship Final 109-97 against Kingston.

Soon afterwards United absorbed the Giants in a merger and claimed the 1985–86 National League title. Their success would lead to huge European matches against the likes of the Real Madrid basketball team.

However in 1986, Atkinson was sacked from the football club and an unproven Scottish manager going by the name Alex Ferguson took the reins. According to Jones, this would spell