Most Noteworthy Strikers to run out for Man Utd Before Sir Alex Was Appointed Manager

Probably without a shadow of a doubt, the largest soccer club on the planet is Man Utd.  The collection of footballers offered to a football team of this stature is pretty huge. Over time Manchester Utd have as a result had some top rated players in their teams. Generally, the position in any football team that will get the maximum amount of interest is centre forward.

That brings me on to the point of all this. Who among the many Man Utd strikers of the past have been the best? What follows gives my views on some of the absolute best strikers Utd have had. You'll note however that initially I have limited my selections to those from the pre-Ferguson period. I have a strong suspicion that if you happen to be reading this your views may not align with mine, but I can live with that.

Let's start in the past and work forward - seems to be fairly logical.  Starting just before the Matt Busby era at United my first selection is Jack Rowley. He joined United before Busby came along. Though not the whole story, naturally a striker is measured to some extent by his goal tally. Rowley managed to net 211 times in 424 games for United before leaving the club in 1955. His tally of 211 makes him one of only 3 players to break the 200 mark.

Overlapping in time and therefore sharing the pitch, my next selection is Stan Pearson who scored 148 goals in 343 appearances playing between 1937 to 1953.

There were loads of fabulous players at Man United that formed the Busby Babes.  Leading the line for 291 games during that period was Dennis Violet, my next selection.  The lightening quick centre forward scored 178 goals for United and was one of the survivors of the Munich air disaster.

No list of Manchester Utd greats is complete without a certain Bobby Charlton and he is my next pick. Bobby still holds the club record for the most goals scored with a staggering 249.  He was another member of the Busby Babes who survived Munich.  As well as the goal scoring record, Bobby Charlton also held the appearances record of 758.  This record has only fairly recently been broken by Ryan Giggs who went past that total at the Champions League Final in Moscow on 21 May 2008.

Last, but certainly not least, among my top five we have little Dennis law. Playing for Utd up until 1973, having joined them in 1962 Dennis was a favorite with the fans.  Known as 'The King' and the 'Lawman' he always had a good following  During that time he played for Utd a total of 409 times, scoring an impressive 237 goals. The 64 / 65 season was a good one for Law and United. As well as helping United to their first league title since the Munich disaster with 28 goals he also won European Footballer of the Year.

As with any main-stream sport there is plenty of merchandise available in football, the major item being football clothing.  With a club the size of Man United you can guarantee there are products available, with a huge range of Manchester United football shirts on offer, including many player specific shirts.

That just about wraps it up.  Dennis Law ends my top 5 pre-Ferguson United forwards.   Are you wondering why I decided to only include pre-Ferguson players in this list?  Well, there have been a lot of years since then so the Ferguson reign justifies specific attention.  There are many of exceptional front men who have played for the red half of Manchester for Alex Ferguson.  Maybe this isn't going to be my very last word on the subject.  A write-up on the forwards who played for Sir Alex may very well be in the pipeline.