Manchester United, Sir Matt Busby, Raphael Varane, and a club facing its 'darkest hour'

A unique football club that for years shared the Manchester United name and had the blessing of Sir Matt Busby for its creation faces the prospect of going out of business in a matter of weeks.

Gibraltarian top-flight side Manchester 62 FC were formed back in 1962 as Manchester United FC by a group of fans from the island, with the club also sharing United’s colours after Busby gave his approval.

The name was changed to Manchester 62 in 2013 after Gibraltar was accepted into UEFA, with the potential for two teams of the same name to meet in European competition requiring action to be taken.

In recent years the club has become front and centre of the movement to address head injuries in football and to tackle the potentially devastating consequences of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition linked to repeated trauma of the brain, where footballers are seen as being at a higher risk due to the repeated heading of footballs throughout their careers.

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The club’s mission to raise awareness of CTE and to tackle the issue of concussion and its impact in football has been driven by the club’s American owner, Michael Monsour, whose career before entering into football had been in senior living and memory care, with his involvement in a similar project at Pittsburgh City United having acted as the precursor to his Manchester 62 plan.

In January of 2023 the club, which is partnered with the Concussion Legacy Foundation, became the first top-flight European team to have all 10 of its outfield players wear protective headgear for games, and Monsour’s efforts to raise awareness of the issue are the subject of a documentary, more than a game.

But after the exit of an investor, the club faces what Monsour describes as its “darkest hour”, with the potential for it to disappear in as little as two weeks if funding is not secured, something that would not only bring an end to a storied Gibraltarian team, but also to Monsour’s vision of football tackling the issues of CTE and the lasting damage that players could face, such as dementia or Alzheimers in later life.

“What we’re trying to do at Manchester 62 is powerful, we’re trying to have a purpose beyond the game itself,” said Monsour, speaking to the MEN.

“We had a lot of success early on, but unfortunately we had some investors back out and it's been a fight of survival to balance it out ever since.

“It's a difficult scenario, I’m not a wealthy benefactor. I wish I could go to a bank like Barcelona or Manchester United and just say, ‘Hey, guys, you know, we need £360,000 to survive’. So I have to fight tooth and nail to keep this alive.

“Being that kind of blue-collar person that I am, and to keep the mission alive,is so important because I kind of roll it back to say if we're successful, we can save so many lives in the future, current and future football players lives. But if we fail, I think it's very unlikely that people will try to do this again, and that's, that's what this club has had to face.

“It's a difficult thing when you're trying to do something different. But there's a connection there and I still believe that there's an opportunity, and we have we have some pretty incredible people that have jumped on board to try to help and save the club.

“But we are where we are in the darkest hour of this, and it's because we've got tried to do something different. I came in and wanted to do the right thing for the game and put safety first. It's really important.”

Players for the club use protective headbands provided by Unequal Technologies, with the aim of reducing the risk of head injury by absorbing and dispersing impacts and reducing acceleration from falls, collisions, and headers.

Monsour’s bold plans for change were met with some resistance from elements of the supporter base as well as the playing squad, but the American owner, as well as having a commitment to trying to make a positive change with regards to the conversation around head injuries and concussion in football, also had the ambition to raise the standing of the club.

Players from the English system such as ex-Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers defender Todd Kane, and former Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Raith Rovers, and York City striker Manny Duku were signed for the Gibraltar Premier Division club, while ex-Woking, Grimsby Town, and The New Saints boss, Anthony Limbrick, who worked in the academies of Southampton and West Ham United, as well as with the England under-17 set-up, was brought in as manager.

“We wanted to make an impact,” said Monsour.

“It's always different with every player. Every player has their own blueprint, their own dynamic.

“It took till January 21 last year for all ten outfield players to wear the protective headgear, and at that point we had limited sponsorship. The funding was not significant

“We only had about two wins to our name and then we didn't lose for about 268 straight days, which was pretty interesting. There was a gap in the off-season but nonetheless, we won seven straight.

“We connected and we saw when it hit social media, it went viral that young people were open to this, the awareness sector of young people to understand that protecting the future, and the present, you know, for players was significant.

“I tell the players every day and staff as well, as we face the challenges of being a club that does something different, if we succeed, we can save so many lives. I've seen it.

“CTE is going to get progressively worse, and there are so many lives lost that aren't being accounted for because not every brain of a player that dies from suicide, which is a huge aspect of CTE, is analysed for that.

“We could help. The cliff is getting closer and closer to a pre-diagnosed CTE science. Very, very close. We can assist in helping that so that hopefully we can create more preventative measures.

“I cannot tell you that the protective headgear is 100% going to stop a concussion or stop the player from getting CTE. It's about reduction of risk and advancement in science.”

The conversation around concussion in football has been raised in recent weeks by Manchester United defender Raphael Varane, who told French newspaper L’Equipe that he felt his body had been damaged by repeated concussions suffered during his career.

The Frenchman said: “I felt eye strain. Looking back, I say to myself: if I had known it was a concussion, would I have said it, even if it meant not playing this match? I don’t even know if there were tests 10 years ago. How can I measure at that moment my ability to play or not?

“My seven-year-old son plays football, and I advise him not to do headers,” he added.

“Even if it does not cause immediate trauma, we know that in the long term, repeated shocks are likely to have harmful effects. Personally, I don’t know if I will live to be 100, but I know that I have damaged my body.”

For Monsour and his Manchester 62 vision, someone like Varane coming out and speaking on the issue is a powerful one, with the conversation around concussion in sport and its effects also being had in rugby and the NFL, with the Will Smith 2015 film ‘Concussion’ focusing on the impact of CTE in the latter competition.

“That was brave,” said Monsour. “I don't want to see Raphael retire, I'm not trying to change the game.

“It's about protecting the tradition of the game. If Manchester 62, our actions, and what we're doing, only create the idea of sustaining the ability for players to still head the ball, we’ve made a difference.

“Look at shin guards. The likes of Under Armor and Adidas people need to start looking at and saying ‘Guys, you've done everything else, why ignore such an important issue?’They have the resources.

“Raphael did an amazing job, and if it all comes down 100 years from now and they say Raphael Varane is the reason why we have protective headgear then that's fine with me.

“It's not about us getting credit for what we know what happens, it's about the impact. It's about their safety.”