United’s first USA international

United’s first USA international

The first USA international to play for Manchester United was James ‘Jim’ Brown, who was the subject of a remarkable transfer tussle in 1932.

The forward (on the left of our main photo) had played, and scored, at the 1930 World Cup after moving across the Atlantic from Scotland. The Kilmarnock-born player came from a strong footballing family but his father had moved to New Jersey after serving in World War One. The eldest son, he sought some form of reconciliation and followed, giving up his job in the shipyard back home.

He gained US citizenship just in time to play at the first tournament of its kind, in Uruguay, and grabbed a consolation goal in the semi-final defeat to Argentina.

After that moment, his continued goalscoring exploits in the States attracted attention from a host of clubs as he announced an intention to head home to Scotland.

It proved to be a dramatic chase for his prized signature, with United manager Scott Duncan going above and beyond in order to fend off the rival competition and get the deal done.

Duncan travelled to the coastal town of Moville in Northern Ireland to board the ocean liner RMS Caledonia, intercepting its route to Scotland, in order to meet his target face to face. Reputedly using a tugboat to gain access, it was a particularly cunning move by the manager/secretary.

As the boat made its way over to Glasgow, the pair were able to thrash out a deal that was initially reported as a month’s trial, in order to frustrate the other interested parties, including top sides from north of the border. Partick Thistle had expected to be leading the chase as their former captain Alex Lambie was Brown’s uncle and their boss, Donald Turner had apparently used a similar tactic in order to land his man.

Brown would go on to score 17 goals in 41 games for United, before leaving for Brentford in 1934.

“We consider it a very, very important capture,” United chairman James Gibson told the Manchester Evening News at the time. “If all the reports which we have received from America are true, then it is a very big thing.

“We had received letters from America informing us that Brown was returning to Britain and opened negotiations by wireless.

“There was very keen competition for his services. I know the representatives of more than three other clubs were trying to catch him. Mr Scott Duncan is going to bring him back to Manchester today.”

Sir Alex Ferguson famously meeting Dimitar Berbatov at the airport to convince him to finalise a move to United rather than consider switching to Manchester City pales into insignificance compared to this transfer groundwork!

Another Scot who was a nationalised American, Edward McIlvenney played a couple of times for the Reds in the 1950s, before Tim Howard signed from New York/New Jersey MetroStars in 2003 and became first-choice goalkeeper under Ferguson.

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