'No prawn sandwiches': Incredible pics of Manchester United and Man City fans just before the Premier League was born

It was the last days of football before multi-million pound TV rights deals and prawn sandwiches in the director's boxes changed English football forever.

When the Premier League was born in 1992, money and glamour increasingly became part of modern football, and with it, suggestions that the multi-million pound salaries of its stars widened the gulf between fans and players.

The creation of the Premier League also spawned a decade of football where Manchester United dominated the English game. However, even United's outspoken Captain, Roy Keane, would take aim at his club's home supporters watching from the corporate boxes, more interested in the 'prawn sandwiches' than the game.

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This spawned the derogatory term "prawn sandwich brigade" - a term for those fans who attended matches primarily for the corporate hospitality, and new found kudos of the English game thanks to its fresh gloss, rather than what was happening on the field.

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1991 was the year English clubs returned to European competition following a five-year ban after the Heysel Stadium disaster, and the last domestic season before the Premier League started.

Manchester photographer Richard Davis documented this final season of the English game before it changed forever.

Richard's photos are showcased in the latest Lower Block photo zine, Going to the Match 1991, coinciding with an exhibition at Bury Art Museum, featuring black-and-white photos taken on matchdays in 1991.

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The acclaimed photographer took his unflinching lens to capture the fans at the country's most iconic football stadiums including Old Trafford, Maine Road and Boundary Park.

Richard said: "This was long before digital cameras and smartphones. Taking a camera and shooting photos of fans at the football was pretty unusual and rare, often looked at suspiciously by both supporters and police."

The photos reveal the fans and the culture of the game in its rawest most authentic forms - outside the stadiums and on the terraces, wearing a mix of footy tops and band t-shirts.

The images also capture a time when fans could simply turn up on matchday, pay at the turnstiles, and watch the game with friends.

"There were no prawn sandwiches for sale, just the smell of frying onions and burgers," Richard said. "There was a more openness at the football which rejected outdated attitudes on racism and sexism. Definitely more and more women and kids started going, which was a good thing."

Click below for a gallery showing some of Richard Davis' matchday photos taken in 1991

Incredible photos of United and City fans just before the Premier League was born

View gallery

The exhibition, along with the Going to the Match zine, celebrates the game but also explores how football, music, fashion, and fan communities have shaped the identity of the North West over the years.

You can buy Richard Davis' Going to the Match zine containing his 1991 photography here.

Do these photos awaken any memories for you? Let us know in the comments section below.