The 2010–11 season was Manchester United's 19th season in the Premier League and their 36th consecutive season in the top-flight of English football. It was the first season with new shirt sponsors Aon after four seasons with AIG.
United began the season by beating Chelsea 3–1 at Wembley on 8 August 2010 to claim the Community Shield.
A successful defence of the League Cup would have seen them become only the second team to win the competition for a third successive season, after Liverpool in 1983. However, their title defence came to an end as United fielded an understrength side that was battered 4–0 by West Ham United at Upton Park in the fifth round on 30 November 2010.
On 19 December 2010, Sir Alex Ferguson became the longest-serving manager in Manchester United's history, overtaking Sir Matt Busby's record of 24 years, 1 month and 13 days in charge of the club.
On 1 February 2011, United equalled the club record league unbeaten run of 29 matches, after a 3–1 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford. They failed to extend the run however, succumbing to a 2–1 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on 5 February 2011. This was their first league defeat since 3 April 2010, a 2–1 home defeat by Chelsea. United came close to becoming the first top-flight side in 119 years to win every single home league match during the season, but a draw at home to West Bromwich Albion early in the campaign cost them that status. Their exceptional form at Old Trafford was key to United's eventual title victory, as their away form was surprisingly mediocre, with just five league wins away from home all season.
United also reached the semi-final stage of the 2010–11 FA Cup but lost 1–0 at Wembley to local rivals Manchester City on 16 April 2011. Defeat in this game ended United's chances of becoming the first club to win the league and cup double four times.
On 14 May 2011, after a 1–1 draw to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, United broke the English league title record by winning their 19th title, surpassing Liverpool's record of 18 titles, which they equalled in the 2008–09 season. This is the first time United have held the outright record in their history.
For the third time in four years, the club reached the final of the UEFA Champions League, to be played at Wembley. In a repeat of the 2009 final, they lost 3–1 to Barcelona.
This season was to be the last for goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, as on 27 January 2011, he announced that he would retire at the end of the season.
Pre-season and friendlies
Manchester United announced their first fixture of the 2010 pre-season schedule on 8 April 2010. As part of the signing of Javier Hernández, United agreed to play a friendly against Guadalajara to open their new 45,000-capacity stadium, Estadio Chivas, on 30 July.
On 6 May 2010, Manchester United announced that the team would be touring North America that summer for the first time since 2004. A 22-man squad, including new signing Chris Smalling, but minus those who took part in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, flew out to the United States on 12 July, before taking part in a training camp in Chicago, the headquarters of new shirt sponsors Aon. The first tour match was played on 16 July over the border at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, where United beat a travelling Celtic side 3–1 with goals from Dimitar Berbatov, Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley. The next fixture, against Philadelphia Union was played on 21 July at Lincoln Financial Field, one of the venues on both their 2003 and 2004 tours. United won the match 1–0 with a 76th-minute goal from Gabriel Obertan. Four days later, the team travelled west to Kansas City, Missouri, to play the Kansas City Wizards at Arrowhead Stadium. The Wizards opened the scoring in the 11th minute, before Dimitar Berbatov equalised with a 41st-minute penalty; however, two minutes later the Wizards restored their lead with a controversial goal from Kei Kamara. The Sierra Leonean forward headed the ball against the crossbar and it bounced down onto the goal-line; the referee believed the whole of the ball had crossed the line and gave the goal.
The tour of the United States culminated with the 2010 MLS All-Star Game on 28 July at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. United won the match 5–2, with goals from Federico Macheda (2), Darron Gibson, Tom Cleverley and a debut goal from Javier Hernández. Macheda's first goal came after only 21 seconds, when he capitalised on an under-hit back-pass; he got his second in the 13th minute, heading in Nani's corner kick. Brian Ching pulled a goal back for the MLS All-Stars in the 64th minute, before Darron Gibson restored United's two-goal lead with a free-kick from 20 yards in the 70th minute. Three minutes later, Tom Cleverley made it 4–1 with a well-taken goal, controlling Darren Fletcher's flick into the box before flicking it over Wilman Conde's head and side-footing past goalkeeper Nick Rimando. Hernández's goal came in the 84th minute, when he collected a long through-ball from Darren Fletcher before lobbing Rimando to make the score 5–1. Dwayne De Rosario then scored a late consolation goal in the final minute. The squad then headed south to play United's first ever match in Mexico against Chivas two days later. Javier Hernández began the game in a Chivas shirt and opened the scoring for his old club after eight minutes. Chris Smalling's first Manchester United goal levelled the scores two minutes later, but Chivas regained the lead just before half-time through Adolfo Bautista. At the break, Hernández switched sides and came on in place of Dimitar Berbatov. Héctor Reynoso increased the hosts' lead to 3–1 just before the hour-mark, when Hernández finally left the action. Nani pulled a goal back 10 minutes from the end, but the score remained at 3–2 until the end. The result meant that United finished their tour of North America with three wins and two defeats.
Following the team's return to Europe, Manchester United rounded off their pre-season schedule by taking on a League of Ireland XI in the first match to be played at the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 4 August. World Cup stars Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Park Ji-sung and Nemanja Vidić all made their returns to the United side, as did Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia, who were recovering from injury. Park opened the scoring in the 13th minute in bizarre fashion; as he went to block a defender's clearance, the ball ricocheted off him and into the net. Michael Owen doubled United's lead in the 25th minute with a chipped shot over the goalkeeper, before half-time substitute Hernández made it 3–0 two minutes after the break. Three goals in the space of nine minutes from Valencia (60th minute), a second from Park (63rd), and Jonny Evans (69th) increased the lead to 6–0, but Dave Mulcahy scored a consolation goal for the League of Ireland XI in the 78th minute. Nevertheless, there was still time for Nani to get a seventh goal, converting a penalty after Hernández had been fouled in the penalty area.
On 8 April, it was announced that a testimonial had been granted to Gary Neville, who had announced his retirement on 2 February. The match was held to honour and celebrate Neville's 19 years of service to United, and was played at Old Trafford on 24 May, the opponents being Juventus of the Italian Serie A. Neville has confirmed that he will use the proceeds from the testimonial to support sustainable projects within the community, while he also has plans for supporter initiatives at home and abroad.
The match against Juventus featured some of Fergie's Fledglings, the young players from the Class of '92, including the former United players, Nicky Butt, Gary's brother Phil, David Beckham, and current United players.
DateOpponentsH / AResultF–AScorersAttendance16 July 2010CelticN3–1Berbatov 34', Welbeck 79', Cleverley 86'39,13921 July 2010Philadelphia UnionA1–0Obertan 76'44,21325 July 2010Kansas City WizardsN1–2Berbatov 41' (pen.)52,42428 July 2010MLS All-StarsN5–2Macheda (2) 1', 13', Gibson 70', Cleverley 73', Hernández 84'70,72830 July 2010GuadalajaraA2–3Smalling 10', Nani 79'4 August 2010Airtricity League XIN7–1Park (2) 13', 63', Owen 25', Hernández 47', Valencia 60', J. Evans 69', Nani 82' (pen.)49,86124 May 2011JuventusH1–2Rooney 19'
FA Community Shield
As Chelsea won the League and Cup Double in 2009–10, Manchester United kicked their season off with an appearance in the 2010 FA Community Shield at Wembley on 8 August as Premier League runners-up. It was the third time in four years that United had played Chelsea in the Community Shield. United won the match 3–1 with goals from Antonio Valencia, Javier Hernández and Dimitar Berbatov. Valencia opened the scoring in the 41st minute, side-footing home a low, first-time cross from Wayne Rooney. Rooney and Michael Owen were substituted for Hernández and Berbatov at half-time, and Hernández doubled United's lead in the 76th minute; John O'Shea set Valencia away down the right flank, and the Ecuadorian played a low cross back across goal; Hernández got to the ball with his right foot, but it bounced up and hit him in the face before going in. Salomon Kalou got a goal back for Chelsea with seven minutes left in normal time, but Berbatov sealed the win in the 92nd minute with a lobbed shot over Chelsea goalkeeper Henrique Hilário after some neat inter-play from fellow substitutes Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs and Nani on the left wing.
DateOpponentsH / AResultF–AScorersAttendance8 August 2010ChelseaN3–1Valencia 41', Hernández 76', Berbatov 90+2'84,623
Premier League
The fixtures for the 2010–11 Premier League were announced on 17 June, and revealed that United would begin their league campaign by welcoming Newcastle United back to the Premier League at Old Trafford on 16 August 2010, just as they did at the start of the 2008–09 season.
With United's opening match being played on the Monday, their rivals had the chance to get an early head-start in the title race, with Chelsea going to the top with a 6–0 win over West Bromwich Albion on the Saturday. It took United just over half an hour to open the scoring against Newcastle; when Jonás Gutiérrez dwelled on the ball, he allowed Antonio Valencia to steal it off his toes. Paul Scholes then took possession and played a through-ball to Dimitar Berbatov, who shot across Newcastle goalkeeper Steve Harper into the far corner of the goal. For the second goal, Nani played the ball into the penalty area for Patrice Evra, who put a low cross into the six-yard box. The ball ricocheted off Wayne Rooney to Darren Fletcher, who scored with a shot on the turn. After coming on as a substitute in the 71st minute, Ryan Giggs maintained his record of scoring in every season of the Premier League with a goal five minutes from full-time; Paul Scholes floated the ball to Giggs with a diagonal pass, and the Welsh midfielder volleyed it into the far side of the goal. The 3–0 win put United into fourth place in the league table at the end of the first round of league matches.
United's next match came the following Sunday, away to Fulham. Scholes opened the scoring in the 11th minute, firing a 25-yard strike into the bottom corner of the net for his 150th Manchester United goal, after being set up by Berbatov. Simon Davies equalised for Fulham ten minutes into the second half, but Brede Hangeland deflected a corner into his own net to put United ahead again with five minutes left to play. A minute later, Damien Duff was deemed to have handled the ball in the Fulham penalty area, but Nani's kick was saved by goalkeeper David Stockdale. Then, in the 89th minute, Hangeland redeemed himself with a header from a corner to deny United the win.