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List of Manchester United F.C. captains

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This article is about captains of the men's team. For a list of women's team captains, see List of Manchester United W.F.C. players § Club captains.
Bruno Fernandes was appointed captain of Manchester United on 20 July 2023.

Since 1882, 46 players have held the position of club captain for Newton Heath LYR F.C., Newton Heath F.C. or Manchester United F.C.[1]

The first club captain was E. Thomas, who was captain from 1882 to 1883.[1] The longest-serving captain is Bryan Robson, who was club captain from 1982 to 1994, although he held the position jointly with Steve Bruce for the last two years of his tenure.[1] Roy Keane, who was captain from 1997 to 2005, has the distinction of having won the most trophies as captain; he won four Premier League titles, two FA Cups, one Community Shield, one UEFA Champions League and one Intercontinental Cup. Bruno Fernandes is the current Manchester United captain.

Captains

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Caesar Jenkyns served as captain during the 1896–97 season.
Charlie Roberts was captain when Manchester United won their first league title in 1907.
Denis Law captained Manchester United to their first European honour. He made 494 appearances for the club and scored 237 goals.
Bobby Charlton is United's second-highest goalscorer and has the second-most appearances for the club. He captained the club from 1968 to 1973.
Bryan Robson made 461 appearances for Manchester United and is the longest serving captain in the club's history, serving for twelve years.
Eric Cantona made 185 appearances and scored 87 goals for Manchester United. He was the club's first non British/Irish captain.
Roy Keane made 480 appearances with Manchester United and is the most decorated captain in club history, serving from 1997 to 2005.
Gary Neville made 602 appearances for Manchester United and served as captain from 2005 to 2011.
Nemanja Vidić made 300 appearances for Manchester United and served as captain from 2011 to 2014.
Wayne Rooney is the club's all-time top scorer with 253 goals. He captained the club from 2014 to 2017.
Antonio Valencia captained the Manchester United in his final season of his ten years with the club. He was United's first captain from outside of Europe.
Dates Captain Honours[A] Ref.
1878–1882 Unknown [1]
1882–1883 E. Thomas
1883–1887 England Sam Black
1887–1891 Wales Jack Powell
1891–1892 Scotland Bob McFarlane
1892–1893 Scotland Joe Cassidy
1893–1894 Unknown
1894–1896 Scotland James McNaught
1896–1897 Wales Caesar Jenkyns
1897–1903 England Harry Stafford
1903–1904 England John Willie Sutcliffe
1904–1905 Scotland Jack Peddie
1905–1913 England Charlie Roberts
1913–1914 England George Stacey
1914–1915 England George Hunter
1915–1917 Ireland Patrick O'Connell
1917–1918 England George Anderson
1918–1919 England Jack Mew
1919–1922 England Lal Hilditch
1922–1928 England Frank Barson
1928–1929 England Jack Wilson
1929–1930 England Charlie Spencer
1930–1931 England Jack Silcock
1931–1932 Scotland George McLachlan
1932 England Louis Page
1932–1934 England Jack Silcock
1934–1935 Scotland Bill McKay
1935–1937 Scotland James Brown
1937–1939 England George Roughton
1939–1940 Scotland Bill McKay
1940–1944 No competitive football was played during the Second World War
1944–1945 England George Roughton
1945–1953 Republic of Ireland Johnny Carey[B]
1953 England Stan Pearson
1953–1955 England Allenby Chilton
1955–1958 England Roger Byrne[C]
1958–1959 England Bill Foulkes
1959–1960 England Dennis Viollet
1960–1962 England Maurice Setters
1962–1967 Republic of Ireland Noel Cantwell
1967–1968 Scotland Denis Law
1968–1973 England Bobby Charlton
1973–1974 Scotland George Graham
1974–1975 Scotland Willie Morgan
1975–1982 Scotland Martin Buchan
1982–1994 England Bryan Robson[D]
1994–1996 England Steve Bruce
1996–1997 France Eric Cantona[E]
1997–2005 Republic of Ireland Roy Keane
2005–2010 England Gary Neville
2010–2014 Serbia Nemanja Vidić [2]
2014–2017 England Wayne Rooney [3]
2017–2018 England Michael Carrick [4]
2018–2019 Ecuador Antonio Valencia[F] [5]
2019–2020 England Ashley Young [6]
2020–2023 England Harry Maguire [7][8]
2023– Portugal Bruno Fernandes [9]

Vice-captains

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The vice-captain position at Manchester United has been announced by managers after a player has been appointed on a de facto basis.[10] In general, the vice-captain has succeeded the captain.

Dates Vice-captain Captain Ref.
2010–2014 France Patrice Evra Serbia Nemanja Vidic [2]
2014–2015 Scotland Darren Fletcher England Wayne Rooney [3]
2015–2017 England Michael Carrick [11]
2017–2018 Ecuador Antonio Valencia England Michael Carrick [12]
2018 France Paul Pogba Ecuador Antonio Valencia [13]
2018–2021 Position vacant
2021–2023 Portugal Bruno Fernandes England Harry Maguire [10]
2023– Brazil Casemiro
Argentina Lisandro Martínez 		Portugal Bruno Fernandes

Notes

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  1. ^ As captain only; Bold indicates the honour was part of a domestic or continental double, Bold italics indicates the honour was part of a treble.
  2. ^ First non-British captain
  3. ^ Byrne died in the Munich air disaster
  4. ^ Longest-serving captain in United's history[1]
  5. ^ First captain from outside the British Isles
  6. ^ First non-European captain

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Newton Heath and Manchester United Captains". Manchester United Museum Information Sheets. Manchester United. June 2009.
  2. ^ a b Luckhurst, Samuel (9 January 2015). "Man United dressing room was 'concerned' by Vidic and Evra - Scholes". Manchester Evening News.
  3. ^ a b Jackson, Jamie (12 August 2014). "Wayne Rooney named Manchester United's club captain by Louis van Gaal". The Guardian.
  4. ^ "Michael Carrick". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  5. ^ Brown, Luke (20 July 2018). "Manchester United news: Jose Mourinho to make Antonio Valencia club captain after Michael Carrick's retirement". The Independent. Independent Digital News & Media. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  6. ^ Carney, Sam (3 August 2019). "Ole says Young will be new club captain". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  7. ^ Carney, Sam (17 January 2020). "Maguire to be new United captain". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  8. ^ @HarryMaguire93 (16 July 2023). "After discussions with the manager today he has informed me he is changing captain. He outlined his reasons to me and whilst I'm personally extremely disappointed, I will continue to give my all every time I wear the shirt. So I wanted to say a massive thank you to the Manchester United fans for all their brilliant support whilst I've been wearing the armband. Since the day I took on the role, three and half years ago, it's been a huge privilege to lead Manchester United and one of the proudest moments of my career to date. It's one of the greatest honours in club football. I've done everything I possibly could to help United be successful - on and off the field. I will always be grateful to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for first giving me the responsibility and I wish whoever now takes it on every success and they will have my full support. Harry" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ "Fernandes named United's new club captain". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. 20 July 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  10. ^ a b Whitwell, Laurie (8 March 2023). "Fernandes will remain Man United captain — Ten Hag". The Athletic. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  11. ^ Hann, Michael (20 December 2014). "Michael Carrick takes over as Manchester United vice-captain from". The Independent. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  12. ^ Aithal, Varun (22 July 2018). "Antonio Valencia to be the next captain of Manchester United?". Sportskeeda. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  13. ^ Jackson, Jamie (6 November 2018). "Manchester United's Paul Pogba 'unaffected' by losing vice-captaincy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
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