2011–12 Manchester United F.C. season facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Manchester United

2011–12 season
Chairman	Avram Glazer
Manager	Sir Alex Ferguson
Stadium	Old Trafford
Home Away
← 2010–11

The 2011–12 season was the 20th time Manchester United played in the Premier League. It was a very exciting year for the team!

Manchester United signed a big £40 million deal with DHL for four years. This helped the club a lot.

In November, Sir Alex Ferguson celebrated 25 years as the manager of the club. This was a huge milestone for him and the team.

Pre-season Tour

Manchester United started their season with a trip to the United States. They played several friendly matches there. The tour ended with a game against Barcelona in Washington on July 30.

Here are the results from their pre-season games:

New England Revolution v Manchester United

13 July 2011	New England Revolution	1-4	Manchester United	Boston, Massachusetts
			Owen Macheda (2) Park

Seattle Sounders FC v Manchester United

20 July 2011	Seattle Sounders FC	0-7	Manchester United	Seattle, Washington
			Owen Diouf Rooney (3) Park Obertan

Chicago Fire Soccer Club v Manchester United

23 July 2011	Chicago Fire Soccer Club	1-3	Manchester United	Soldier Field
			Rooney Rafael Nani

MLS All-Stars v Manchester United

27 July 2011	MLS All-Stars	0-4	Manchester United	Red Bull Arena
			Anderson Park Berbatov Welbeck

Manchester United v FC Barcelona

30 July 2011	Manchester United	2-1	FC Barcelona	Maryland
	Nani Owen

Community Shield Match

Manchester United played against Manchester City in the Community Shield. This is a match played before the main season starts, between the winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup.

Player Changes

Football teams often buy and sell players. Here's who joined, left, or signed new deals with Manchester United for this season.

Players Joining

New Players

Position	Name	From Team	Cost
DF	Phil Jones	Blackburn Rovers	£16 million
MF	Ashley Young	Aston Villa	£17 million
GK	David de Gea	Atlético Madrid	£17.8 million

Players Leaving

Players Who Left

Position	Name	To Team	Fee
DF	Wes Brown	Sunderland	£1 million
DF	John O'Shea	Sunderland	£4 million
MF	Gabriel Obertan	Newcastle United	£3 million

New Contracts

Players Who Signed New Deals

Position	Name
DF	Chris Smalling
MF	Antonio Valencia
MF	Park Ji-Sung
MF	Tom Cleverley
FW	Javier Hernández

Players on Loan

Players Loaned Out

Position	Name	To Team
FW	Bébé	Beşiktaş
DF	De Laet	Norwich City

Players Released or Retired

Players Released Position Name MF Owen Hargreaves

Players Who Retired Position Name GK Edwin van der Sar MF Paul Scholes

Team Squad

Here are the players who were part of the Manchester United squad for the 2011–12 season.

Number Position Name 1 GK David de Gea 29 GK Tomasz Kuszczak 34 GK Anders Lindegaard 40 GK Ben Amos

Number Position Name 3 DF Patrice Evra 4 DF Phil Jones 5 DF Rio Ferdinand 6 DF Jonny Evans 12 DF Chris Smalling 15 DF Nemanja Vidić 20 DF Fábio 21 DF Rafael

Number Position Name 8 MF Anderson 11 MF Ryan Giggs 13 MF Park Ji-Sung 16 MF Michael Carrick 17 MF Nani 18 MF Ashley Young 23 MF Tom Cleverley 24 MF Darren Fletcher 25 MF Antonio Valencia 28 MF Darron Gibson

Number Position Name 7 FW Michael Owen 9 FW Dimitar Berbatov 10 FW Wayne Rooney 14 FW Javier Hernández 19 FW Danny Welbeck 27 FW Federico Macheda 32 FW Mame Biram Diouf

Premier League Season

Manchester United had a strong start in the Premier League. They won their first five matches! This included a huge 8-2 win against Arsenal.

Here are some of their early Premier League results:

After 3 games, Manchester United were at the top of the league:

They continued their winning streak:

After 6 games, they were still at the top:

The season continued with more matches:

After 10 games, Manchester United were second in the league:

More results from the Premier League:

Player Statistics in Premier League

Here are some top players for goals and assists in the Premier League during this period.

Top Scorers

Number	Position	Name	Goals
10	FW	Wayne Rooney	9
14	FW	Javier Hernández	6
17	MF	Nani	3
19	FW	Danny Welbeck	3

Top Assists

Number	Position	Name	Assists
18	MF	Ashley Young	5
17	MF	Nani	4
11	MF	Ryan Giggs	2

Cards Received

Players can get yellow cards () for minor fouls or red cards () for serious fouls.

Number Position Name 18 MF Ashley Young 3 3 DF Patrice Evra 3 6 DF Jonny Evans 2

Number Position Name 6 DF Jonny Evans 1

Champions League Journey

In the UEFA Champions League, Manchester United were in Group C. They played against Benfica, Basel, and Otelul Galati.

Here's how the group looked after four matches:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Manchester United	4	2	2	0	8	4	+4	8
S.L. Benfica	4	2	2	0	5	2	+3	8
FC Basel	4	1	2	1	6	7	–1	5
FC Oțelul Galați	4	0	0	4	1	7	–6	0

Here are the results from their Champions League group stage matches:

1 14 September 2011	Benfica	1-1	Manchester United	Lisbon
	Cardozo		Giggs

2 27 September 2011	Manchester United	3-3	Basel	Old Trafford
	Welbeck (2) - Young		Fabian Frei - Alexander Frei (2)

3 18 October 2011	Oțelul	0-2	Manchester United	Galaţi
			Rooney (2)

4 2 November 2011	Manchester United	2-0	Oțelul	Old Trafford
	Valencia - Rooney

5 22 November 2011	Manchester United	v	Benfica	Old Trafford

League Cup and FA Cup Matches

Manchester United also competed in two other important cup competitions: the League Cup and the FA Cup.

League Cup

Manchester United were drawn to play against Crystal Palace in the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

Here are their results in the League Cup so far:

Images for kids

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  Scoreboard during United's pre-season game against Barcelona

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  Teams lining up at Wembley prior to the match