In May 1938, the site was earmarked by Manchester United F.C. chairman James W. Gibson as a potential site for practice matches and as a regular venue for the Manchester United Junior Athletic Club A team's matches. By the end of June 1938, a tenancy had been agreed. Manchester United purchased the ground in 1951. Until the late 1950s, Manchester United's first team trained on the pitch at their Old Trafford stadium, but the club's management had decided that using The Cliff training ground was necessary to avoid doing needless damage to the Old Trafford pitch. Floodlights were soon erected at The Cliff – an improvement that Old Trafford did not receive until March 1957 – and a rugby league amateur international match was held there in 1952. That same year, Manchester United entered their youth team in the FA Youth Cupfor the first time. Matches were played at night, meaning that the team had to play under the floodlights at The Cliff. In the second round of the competition, the Manchester United youth team recorded the biggest win in the history of the FA Youth Cup; David Pegg, John Doherty and Duncan Edwards scored five goals each and Eddie Lewis scored four in a 23–0 victory over Nantwich Town's youth team. At the end of the 20th century, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson came to feel that The Cliff had become too open to the press and the public for him to successfully run the training of the club's first team players, with journalists and opposition spies able to get a look at his tactics all too easily and supporters holding the players up for hours after training with requests for autographs. The club, therefore, decided to construct a new training facility in Carrington, away from prying eyes. First team, reserve and academy training is now carried out at the Trafford Training Centre, but The Cliff is still retained for the training of the club's youngest players. The Cliff has even been used by the England national team as a training camp prior to international matches held at Old Trafford. In 2003, plans were put forward by Manchester United for a set of floodlights at The Cliff, but this was met with opposition from local residents. The club had originally planned to install lights, but this was later reduced. The Manchester United women's team have been based at The Cliff since their establishment ahead of the 2018–19 season.
