United of Manchester

Nineteen years on, FC United still runs itself: one member, one share, one vote, with no single owner able to load the club with debt the way the Glazer family did at Old Trafford. That mechanism is not incidental to the club's story — it is the reason the club exists. Supporters walked out in June 2005 over the leveraged takeover of Manchester United and started again from nothing.

They spent nine seasons as tenants at Bury's Gigg Lane before Broadhurst Park opened in Moston in May 2015, the first ground in the country built by a club its own fans own. Getting there meant winning promotion after promotion in front of crowds far bigger than the level warranted: two title-winning seasons back to back in 2005–06 and 2006–07 took the club from the North West Counties League's second division into its first, and by 2014–15 FC United were Northern Premier League Division One North champions, going up in the same year the new stadium opened.

Karl Marginson managed the club from its first match until 2017, and it was under him that FC United beat League One side Rochdale in the FA Cup first round in 2010–11 before losing in the second round to Brighton. Tom Greaves, the club's record scorer, took over from Marginson as player-manager; Neil Reynolds succeeded him and later took the club into the Fenix Trophy.

Home shirts are still red, still worn with white shorts and black socks, and the local derby is with Hyde United rather than anyone across town. Broadhurst Park holds 4,900.