The inside story of United's 1980s basketball team

The 19-year-old has been described as basketball's biggest prospect since LeBron James in 2003. He is listed at 7ft 5in in height and reportedly has a wingspan of 8ft. 

Wembanyama also made history as the first Frenchman to become the NBA's no.1 draft pick, with football royalty and compatriot Kylian Mbappe quick to congratulate him.

The trending news from across the pond reminded us of the time Manchester United had its own basketball team, all the way back in the 1980s. 

At that time, we were one of a number of English football clubs seeking trophies on both the pitch and court during what was a golden era for a sport that has since fallen on harder times in the UK. 

Although the experiment was unsuccessful, the four seasons the basketball team spent under the chairmanship of Martin Edwards were far from uneventful.

 

Victor Wembanyama (@vicw_32) is selected 1st overall by the @spurs in the 2023 #NBADraft presented by State Farm! pic.twitter.com/mO9ai0uKu6

— NBA (@NBA) June 23, 2023

UNITED X BASKETBALL

Playing at the Stretford Sports Centre, United attracted some of the country's top basketball talent – many of them naturalised Americans – and took on some of Europe's top sides, including Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid as the Reds looked to copy the model patented by their rivals. 

One of those players involved was Pennsylvania-born Jeff Jones, who arrived in England fresh from playing college basketball in Oklahoma in the late 1970s. “It was a great time to be involved in basketball in this country," he Inside United in 2008. 

“To be associated with Manchester United obviously boosted the popularity of the sport hugely and for the players it was an incredible chance to see at first hand what the club was all about.”

Cheered on by capacity crowds of 1,500 every week, United lifted the league title in 1986 in a triumph that must have brought covetous glances from Bryan Robson and Norman Whiteside. 

“We were paraded on the pitch after we won the title before a league match at Old Trafford and the crowd went crazy,” Jones told us. “The league was very strong, with the likes of Kingston, Livingstone, Portsmouth and Solent Star all competitive but we were winning trophies, getting into Europe and playing prestige matches against the biggest clubs on the Continent. There was even talk of building an arena specifically for the club's basketball side.”

Despite the title and the growth in attention, the basketball experiment attracted criticism. Shareholders began questioning Edwards over whether the United board should focus on football. “We are doing all the things we can to keep it going,” Edwards told The Times on the eve of the shareholders’ annual meeting in January 1988. “Slowly we are bringing the losses down. We wouldn't lightly pull out.”

Eventually, weighed down by the costs of six full-time pros, and the loss of sponsorship from Sharp, the club did just that. “It was great while it lasted,” Jones said. “We came close to moving basketball away from being just a minority sport here.”

THE LOCAL LEGEND

NBA Hall of Famer John Amaechi represented United’s basketball team, before making it big in the US. “I actually grew up in Stockport,” he told us in 2006. 

“All my mates were diehard County fans, but I wasn't bothered. I knew Manchester United were bigger than that, and it was there that I began my basketball career for the other Red Devils, the Manchester United franchise basketball team. I remember at one stage they wanted to build a court at Old Trafford, but it never happened. We were forced to play at Stretford Sports Centre instead and for two years I went past OT almost every day and it stuck with me.

“So much so than when] came back from America I almost bought a flat overlooking the ground. In the end I thought it wouldn't be the most relaxing place to be on a Saturday!”

For John, the allure of being associated with United was too strong to resist. “I actually had no intention of doing any kind of physical activity I suppose – it was knowing the premier basketball club in the city was associated with Manchester United - I used to love Eric Cantona,” explained John. We played in European international competitions because we were Manchester United – it was amazing.” 

Amaechi's form over here saw him cross the Atlantic to play high school basketball – but it wasn't until he was signed (undrafted) by the Cleveland Cavaliers from Penn State that his career really took off. Spells across Europe playing for teams in Italy, Spain and Greece followed before he returned to the NBA via Orlando Magic. Soon he was inducted to the NBA Hall of Fame for scoring the first points of the millennium before he moved on to Utah Jazz and, latterly, the Houston Rockets.

"Retiring was a highlight for me, as was going into the NBA hall of fame," he explains. "But I remember my first game – it almost made my heart stop. It was against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls; there I was trying to be cool but my face was being thrusted onto one of the large Jumbotron screens while my name was being written on the floor in lasers!"

Thankfully Amaechi's jaunt to America didn't prevent him from keeping in touch with United. "When] arrived in America, everyone knew of London. Everyone also knew of Manchester United and in Florida in particular, where I was playing for Orlando and where the ex-pat population was massive – everyone watched the games. For me it was great to watch football with Anglophiles – it was a way of keeping in touch with England and I got to see a lot of games down the years."