5 greatest Manchester United captains of all time

With their 118-year history, record 20 league titles and a trophy-laden cabinet, Manchester United are arguably the biggest club in England. The success of any club is often down to characters in the squad, especially the captain.

The Red Devils have been lucky to have legendary managers like Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson in the past. The Scottish duo shaped United with decades of hard work and led the club to multiple trophies.

United have been equally-privileged to have several legendary names don the captain’s armband. Since 1878 when the club was called Newton Heath LYR F.C, to this date, 46 players have had the privilege of leading the team.

From the long list of leaders, we take a look at the five greatest Manchester United captains of all time.

#5 Eric Cantona

Eric Cantona spent five seasons at United, marred with controversies on and off the field. But with a ball at his feet, Cantona was a sublime goal scorer, scoring 82 goals for the Red Devils in 185 appearances and winning three titles as a player.

King Eric was handed the armband for the 1996-97 season and won his 4th and United’s 11th league title, becoming the first player from outside of the British Isles to captain the club.

The Frenchman then announced a surprising retirement from football at the end of the season at the age of 30. Although Cantona led United for just one season, he left a mark on the club's history in his unique way.

#4 Roger Byrne

Matt Busby’s ‘Busby Babes’ was one of the finest teams in Europe. To captain a team of that calibre was not a job for an ordinary person, and Rogen Byrne was the extra-ordinary person who led that team from 1955 to 1958.

Byrne more or less invented the role of an attacking full-back with his playing style. He was handed the captaincy at the mere age of 24 and led the side to two consecutive league titles in 1956 and 1957.

A one-club man, Byrne was one of the eight players who tragically lost their lives in the Munich Air Disaster in 1958. The 28-year old had made 245 appearances for United and scored 17 goals. The story of what could have been…

#3 Sir Bobby Charlton

Sir Bobby Charlton, yet another member of the Busby Babes, was fortunate enough to survive the Munich Air Disaster. Charlton was just 21 at the time of the accident and Matt Busby rebuilt the team around him in the aftermath. In his 18-year career, Charlton, made 758 appearances and scored 249 goals for United.

The legendary midfielder led United to their first-ever European Cup triumph in 1968 with a brace in the final but after Busby’s retirement, the club's troubles began.

But it was that man, Sir Bobby Charlton who led the team in the crisis and kept them afloat in the First Division before eventually suffering relegation in 1974, one year after Charlton left.

#2 Bryan Robson

United signed Bryan Robson in 1981 for a then-record fee of £1.5 million and the midfielder was made captain in 1983. Robson led United for the next 11 years, first as part of Ron Atkinson’s side and later during Sir Alex Ferguson’s first eight years in charge.

Robson served as captain from 1983 to 1994 and was simply more than any other skipper. He led United to two FA Cup titles in 1983 and 1985 before the arrival of Alex Ferguson, and then played a crucial role as the Scottish manager built a ‘once in a generation’ side at Old Trafford.

He helped guide United to glory in the first-ever Premier League season in 1992-93, winning the league title for the first time in 26 years and following it up with a second consecutive title in 1993-94.

Robson made 466 appearances for the club and scored 99 goals. Apart from his trophy-laden career and the record of longest-serving United captain, he was known for his courage and willingness to fight regardless of the situation.

No wonder he was called Captain Marvel!

#1 Roy Keane

Young football fans may recognise him as a controversial pundit, but United fans of the previous generation know him for who he really was – a true warrior!

One of the finest box-to-box midfielders of his time, Roy Keane was never the one to shy away from controversies and that made his relationship with Alex Ferguson very complex, to say the least. But even Ferguson knows that his United side would not have reached the heights it did without Keane.

He took over as United’s captain in 1997 and went on to become the most decorated captain in the club's history, leading the side to nine league titles, as well as The Treble in the 1998-99 season.

He left United in 2005 with 480 appearances and 51 goals, before 69,591 people attended Roy Keane’s testimonial game at the Old Trafford in 2006 – a then-record for the testimonial match in England.

Stats like these say a lot about a player than actual on-field stats, don’t they?

Edited by Alex Turk