Manchester United’s faith in utility players is demonstrably embodied in the rather slight and diminutive figure of Northern Irish central defensive midfielder, David McCreery, who was what was euphemistically called ‘the twelfth man’, before more than one substitute was permitted in soccer. During a game of 90 minutes, with 45 each half, there was the possibility of extra time, that is, 30 minutes, in cup competitions, where normal time hadn’t produced a winner. A manager in the early 21st century had a list of seven substitutes available to choose from. The options would have amazed 19th century teams, like the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club (LYR FC), founded by the Carriage and Wagon department in the area of Newton Heath in 1878, known as ‘The Heathens’, with games against other departments and rail companies at their North Road ground, Manchester, before they were ‘The Red Devils’ of Manchester United from 1902.

 Newton Heath won the Manchester and District Challenge Cup in 1886, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1893, and 1902, renamed as the Manchester FA Senior Cup, known as the Manchester Cup, contested annually within the Manchester Football Association of professional clubs, that is, Ardwick, which became Manchester City in 1894, Bolton Wanderers, Bury, Oldham Athletic, and Stockport County. By 1888 the club was a founding member of a regional football league, The Combination, for clubs across Northern England and the Midlands that weren’t accepted into the Football League, with Small Heath Alliance, Walsall Town Swifts, Derby Midland, Notts Rangers, Burslem Port Vale, Leek, Crewe Alexandra, Newton Heath LYR, Witton, Blackburn Olympic, Mitchell St George's, Halliwell, Derby Junction, Northwich Victoria, and Bootle as founder members. Dissolved before season’s end, with teams only completing fixtures they agreed to, Newton Heath LYR, along with Bootle, Crewe, Grimsby, and Small Heath, founded the Football Alliance, original title Northern Counties League, which continued for three seasons, until merger with The Football League for the 1892-93 First and Second Division campaigns. Independent of the rail company, ‘LYR’ was dropped and Newton Heath FC moved to Bank Street, in neighboring Clayton township.

 With an injured participant, or even reduced by numbers on the field of play, if the injured couldn’t continue, in the late 19th century, and before the 1965-66 single substitute rule, the club that moved to the borough of Trafford in 1910, containing the area, Old Trafford, from which the soccer ground takes its name, had to deal with the physically debilitating effects of intimidation, and a win at all costs attitude, as soccer trophies were approached in a fashion similar to that of prizes awarded to bare knuckle fighters.

 In 1902, under the new ownership of John Henry Davies, chairman of Walker and Homfray Brewery, the club name was changed to Manchester United. Their original green and gold harlequinade quartered strips, having undergone change to white shirts in 1896-97, the now legendarily familiar red and white strip was adopted, harmonizing the red and white roses of Lancashire and Yorkshire, symbolizing the resolved conflict between cadet branches of the royal houses of Lancaster and York, which had resulted in the English Civil War (1455-87), fought to determine the house that would have the throne, until both male lines were extinct.

 The terraced fans at the Stretford End of the Old Trafford Stadium, after his arrival from Italy’s Torino, Turin, for the 1962-63 season for £115,000, proclaimed their own king, former Manchester City striker, Denis Law, a Scot, despite the house of Tudor's Elizabeth I having executed Mary, ‘Queen of Scots’, on February 8th, 1587, as her rival. As the Tudors inherited the throne, after ‘The War of the Roses’, Law’s enthronement symbolized unity in difference, as the club rejected neither Lancashire nor Yorkshire, or ‘the flower of Scotland’, which was an epithet of the Scots’ fallen, after the battle of Flodden field, September 9th, 1513, as the English army of Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, defeated the army of James IV of Scotland, Mary’s father, there.

 Before the First World War (1914-18) Manchester United were league title holders by virtue of finishing 1st in the First Division in 1908 and 1911, with the F.A. Cup won in 1909, 1-0, against Bristol City, at Crystal Palace, London, despite left back Vince Hayes being injured and having to leave the field, before returning as a makeshift forward, after manager, Ernest Mangnall, had adjusted the team so that the defence remained strong; Moger, Stacey, Hayes, Duckworth, Roberts, Bell, Meredith, Halse, S. Turnbull, J. Turnbull, Wall. Captain and center half, Charlie Roberts, endorsed the inclusion of inside left, Sandy Turnbull, although he was struggling with a knee injury. As Turnbull was a renowned goal scorer, Roberts argued with Mangnall that the side could afford to ‘carry’ him. Sandy duly rewarded the team by netting the ball on 22 minutes, after inside right Harold Halse’s shot had rebounded to him off Bristol ‘keeper Harry Clay’s crossbar.

 The peculiar ethos of forcing the injured off, or to continue, was a mind set that perhaps contributed to the outbreak of the First World War, and the Second World War (1939-45), as the fields of battle became a surrogate arena for those who could continue amidst the fallen, who were effectively carried off without the possibility of resumption. If soccer was conceived as a battle between two sides, it was hardly surprising if the mind set translated perfectly into injured and slain, that is, the period of play without substitutes was understandable as a psychosis.

 After the First World War, ambitions in terms of success suitably declined, as it was evident that avoiding injury was more important to professionals, who’d witnessed what it was to be maimed. WWI began because Serbia wouldn’t apologize in the right way, after ‘freedom fighter’, Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip, shot dead the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo, capital city of Austrian-occupied Bosnia, on June 28th, 1914. In psychological terms, there wasn’t a substitute for the injured. Austria-Hungary declared war, while Russia was determined to defend Serbia. Britain and France sided with Russia, while Germany, aiming at establishing a greater Empire, sided with Austro-Hungary. The mind set was that there was no substitute for war.

 Before and after WWII emphasis shifted towards fitness and resilience. How to maintain the ability to perform replaced emphasis upon performance, which rapidly deteriorated, if the resources available to the physique were mismanaged in the immediate pursuit of goals, and at levels of sustained endeavor ultimately unattainable in the course of a demanding season. In psychological terms, the lack of trophy success in the period between the wars was a consequence of professional footballers taking care more of themselves, and as a consequence playing ability came more to the fore in the fans’ consideration when making the financially significant decision of supporting the club by going to the ground to watch a game.

 As well as the First Division title, Manchester United won the Manchester Senior Cup in 1908, a feat repeated in 1910, and 1911, when the club again won the league, and once more before WWI in 1913, but after WWI ‘The Reds’ were ‘yo-yo', with periods in the Second Division, subsequent to relegation, which is where the club was for 1931-32, then bought by James W. Gibson, clothier, after the death in 1927 of previous owner, Davies, followed by periods in the First Division, which is where the club were at the commencement of hostilities against German territorial ambitions at the outset of WWII.

 Although the playing staff still won the Senior Cup on several occasions, that is, in 1920, 1924, 1926, 1931, 1934, 1936, 1937, and 1939, the likely issue of unparalleled slaughter of youth in WWI was that young talent was nurtured to see what had been lost, which was a radical shift in emphasis away from competition and towards reverence for outstanding genius, attracting paying spectators through the turnstiles, regardless of the prize.

 After WWII new talent was again seen as integral to mounting a future challenge, with the appointment of former Manchester City wing half, Matt Busby, as manager in October 1945, replacing Walter Crickmer, appointed club Secretary in 1927, and managing the team during the seven year period of the War League. As one of the German bombers over industrial Trafford Park on March 11th, 1941, dropped a bomb that hit the stadium, the team had to use Manchester City’s Maine Road ground until Old Trafford was rebuilt by 1949, which is often cited as the inspiration for their winning the North Regional League Second Championship in 1941-42.

 On April 26th, 1941, Arthur Rowley, age 15, appeared on the wing against Liverpool at Anfield, alongside brother, center forward, Jack, who scored in a defeat, 1-2. Released, after just 7 games in 1944, Arthur became the highest scorer of league goals, 434 in 629 games, including 303 in 251 games for Second Division Leicester City, though Arthur’s goals got them promotion twice, 1953-54, 1956-57, and 152 in 236 games for Fourth Division Shrewsbury Town. Although Arthur seemed the young talent that got away, many of his goals weren’t in the top flight, which suggested that he wasn’t. Crickmer was responsible for instituting the club’s Youth Academy development program, along with owner Gibson, and Busby would become famous for the ‘Busby Babes’,  dominant in the early years of the F.A. Youth Cup, winning the first five (1952-57) and bringing that same quality to consecutive league championship triumphs in 1955-56 and 1956-57.

 While in Italy the introduction of the libero, ‘sweeper’, resulted in more protection for the continent of Europe’s young players, in England the half-back line, that is, left half, center-half, and right-half, would morph into twin center backs and a midfield, with the center back becoming a central midfield playmaker between wing half backs, who’d been inside left and inside right forwards, or two in midfield, with twin strikers and a left and right wing, which is how Manchester United won their next national trophy, the 1948 F.A. Cup Final, 4-2 against Blackpool.

 Allenby Chilton, on 15 minutes, brought down, right leg, hooking around his ankles, Blackpool center forward, Stan Mortensen, with a tackle from behind, ‘which endangers the safety of an opponent’, that would have got him sent off, in the period following its outlawing for the 1998 World Cup in France. Stan, through on goal, inside the 18 yard box, with only the ‘keeper, Jack Crompton, to beat, Blackpool were awarded a penalty, while Chilton wasn’t even booked, although yellow warning cards, red for a second offence, and sending off, weren’t introduced until the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Eddie Shimwell, right back, managed to squeeze the ball under Crompton, diving to his right, 0-1, on 15 minutes. Jack Rowley, nicking the ball away from ‘keeper Joe Robinson’s grasp, right boot, outstretched, past Joe, right, sidefoot, goal, on 20 minutes, 1-1, but Blackpool captain, and right half, Harry Johnston, from a free kick on the right, passes back and left; center field, an attempted shot, half charged down, still finds Mortensen, right edge of the penalty area, level with the right upright, right footed, on 35 minutes, into the left corner of the  net, 1-2. A cross from inside right, Johnny Morris, out on the right, on 70 minutes, level with the right corner of the 18 yard box, Jack leaps, left side of the penalty area, level with the left upright, a header, 2-2, top right corner of the net. Stan Pearson, inside left, right side of the penalty area, right footed, in off the left post, on 80 minutes, 3-2. From well outside the 18 yard box, right side of the ‘D’, John Anderson, right half, top left corner, on 82 minutes, 4-2.

 Width was important, as it represented an opportunity for left and right full backs, and wingers, to get off the field under physically intimidating challenge, while sustaining brutality off the pitch was likely to merit the referee’s booking, and sending off for persistent assault, the perpetrator of an attack, seen as criminally illegal, if continued beyond the touchline. As before WWII is conceivable in terms of a developing youth system, with the focus on entertainment, rather than trophy glory, the period after WWII is conceivable as Manchester United’s developing a strategy of left and right sided play to counter aggression and injury.

 Blackpool were beaten by a United side that had John Aston at left back, often called upon as a somewhat prolific center forward, 15 goals in 1950-51, Eire captain Johnny Carey at right back, an inside left before WWII, Scot, Jimmy Delaney on the right wing, credited with an ‘assist’ for Rowley’s second, and Charlie Mitten on the left wing. Widening the pitch afforded respite from biting tackles, as the players running off the turf beyond the touchline, after making a pass infield, crossing the ball, or putting it out of touch, were less likely to incur injury from vengeful opponents looking to deter the skillful from utilizing their know-how.

 The effects upon the public consciousness of the meaningless loss of life, during the war years, resulted in more concern for the playing staff, than success, in terms of silverware for the boardroom, reflected in the number of times the club finished runner-up in the league title race, before becoming champions in the 1951-52 season. Finishing second in 1947-48, 1948-49, and 1950-51, indicated the value of playing the game, well, for the club’s supporters, more than the rewards from competing, which became traditional with the coaches and the team.

 In the 1957 F.A. Cup Final, Aston Villa left wing, Peter McParland, who went on to score from a header inside the penalty area on 68 minutes, after inside left and captain Johnny Dixon’s center, 0-1, and on 73 minutes from the rebound, when Dixon’s shot hit the bar, 0-2, had collided with United’s England 'keeper, Ray Wood, after 6 minutes, leaving Ray unconscious, with a broken cheekbone, while Irish center half, Jackie Blanchflower, kept goal. Wood returned to play on the wing after half time, demonstrating the appalling need driving soccer in those days, when the eleven on the pitch risked life and limb in the absence of replacements. In the last seven minutes, Wood even returned in goal for the champions of that 1956-57 season, going for the ‘double’ of cup and league, as England center forward, Tommy Taylor, heading over Villa ‘keeper Nigel Sims, and into the net on 83 minutes, from a corner by England left half, though then switched to center half, Duncan Edwards, gave the side a lifeline, 1-2, which was how it stayed.

 WWI’s stately walks towards the German machine guns, which is how the supposedly English officer classes martialed the young boys, volunteering to defend France from the towns and villages of a green and pleasant land they didn’t own, as if they were still the lords of feudal serfdom, taught the professional football players at the club that comradery was of more value than conflict over prizes, masquerading as decency in competition, while the real truth was that the combatants were being prepared for injurious maimings, entertaining to the sadists that bred them, as the beasts of the fields of Flanders, Ypres, and Verdun, to be slaughtered there like pigs for Bacon, as by Elizabeth I plays were legally devoid of references to oik's expensiveness, 'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; or close the wall up with our English dead.’ (Henry V, III, I,  l. 1-2) Between the wars, enjoyment surpassed victory in the companionship of play, as a human response to the baying for more blood that was evidently behind the refusal to allow anything but a stretcher on the field for the wounded.

 With European soccer looming like a specter, after WWII’s Jews from the plates of meat to the ovens of Belsen, Dachau, and Auschwitz, the spirit of battle and camaraderie were ambivalently mingled, as a game against a brutal Albion ranked less favorably to a match with a side of cultivated Hungarians, defeating at Wembley on November 25th, 1953, an English team that had never been beaten before at home, 3-6, by legendarily skillful and prolific, Real Madrid striker, Ferenc Puskás, and the ten other ‘mighty Magyar’ bereft of adequate medical concern.

 Aroused by the desire to compete for human pride and self-worth, with the like-minded, Manchester United, with a new Chairman from 1951, Harold Hardman, outside left for Manchester United, 1908-09, and England, after Gibson’s demise, prepared for Europe, where club competition began with the Challenge Cup (1897-1911), as a respected aspect of culture in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867-1914), won, 2-1, against Wiener Sport-Club, by Hungary’s Ferencváros in 1909, and succeeded by the Mitropa Cup (1927-92), as an international trophy, contested by clubs in the Middle European region, assuming nationhood, following upon the defeat of the German Empire and that of Austria-Hungary in WWI.

 Ferencváros, a Nemzeti Bajnokság I club from the capital, Budapest, beat Italy’s Juventus, 1-0, in the Final of the 1964-65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1955-71), organized with the approval of business interests, centered around Trade Fairs, held in Europe, giving clubs a Europe-wide trophy to compete for, along with UEFA’s European Cup Winners Cup (1960-99), and the European Champions’ Club Cup (1956-) for league title winners. Ferencváros, after defeating United in the 2nd leg of the semi-final away, 0-1, as ‘The Red Devils’, having won, 3-2 at home, before the ruling that away goals should count double, in the event of an aggregate draw, 3-3, forced a third match in which the Manchester outfit lost, 1-2, 4-5 on aggregate.

 English clubs, believing their own national competitions were more important, boycotted the formative years of European competition. Apart from Manchester United, as Hardman, and manager Busby, believed in the growth, and success of Europe, as peace through friendship. A philosophy later applied by the club to South America, where the national clubs competed for the Copa Librtadores (1960-), and the rest of the world, witnessing similar revolutions, although the winners of the Intercontinental Cup (1960-2004), contested between the champions of South America and Europe, before the inaugural World Club Cup (2000-), were tacitly understood to be world champions.

 Devastated by Munich, the players and coaching staff nevertheless persevered with Jimmy Murphy, assistant manager, not on the plane, but in charge of Wales for a World Cup match against Israel at Cardiff’s Ninian Park, 2-0, qualifying for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, which England had expected to win, but didn’t qualify for the knockout stage from Group 4, taking charge of team affairs until Busby had recovered from his own injuries to take the helm again for 1958-59. On a wave of national sympathy, an almost entirely home grown team, made up of Academy players, and reserve team members of the depleted squad, apart from Stan Crowther, reluctantly agreeing to leave Aston Villa for £18,000, as a humanitarian act, and inside right, Ernie Taylor, 32 years old from Aston Villa for £8,000, reached the 1958 F.A. Cup Final, losing, 0-2, to center-forward inspired Bolton Wanderers. Bryan Edwards, left half, a low ball to captain, Nat Lofthouse, inside the penalty area, center, on 3 minutes, left footed, from just outside the 18 yard box, left, struck low into the bottom left corner of the net by Nat, past ‘keeper, Harry Gregg, with his right boot. On 50 minutes, Nat was awarded a second, unceremoniously dumping ‘keeper, Harry Gregg, onto his arse in his own goalmouth, illustrating the English tolerance for bullies, perpetrating attacks upon the unarmed, under the spurious guise of training a civil defence force; Gregg, Foulkes (c), Greaves, Goodwin, Cope, Crowther, Dawson, E. Taylor, Charlton, Viollet, Webster.

 Although the club finished 2nd in the league in 1958-59 on 55 points to Wolverhampton Wanderers 61, when 42 games were played, as there were 22 clubs, 2 points for a win, and 1 for a draw, then only champions entered the European Champions Cup, before the reduction of the English First Division to 19 clubs, renamed the Premier League for 1992-93, and runner-ups permitted to enter. Top scorers were Bobby Charlton, 29, Dennis Viollet, 21, left winger, Albert Scanlon, 16, and Warren Bradley, 12, an England amateur international, signed by Busby, after being loaned from Bishop Auckland in the wake of Munich.

 Transferred from Sheffield Wednesday for £45,000 from 1958-59, 'Golden Boy’, Albert Quixall, was the cornerstone of Busby’s rebuilding, credited by center forward, Charlton, with most of the ‘assists’ for his goals, after Matt converted him to the central striker’s role from the left wing. Scot, David Herd, was signed from Arsenal for £35,000 for 1961-62, as Bobby, dropped deeper into midfield, adjusted his shooting boots, and got used to his deep-lying center forward role.

 The Final of the 1963 F.A. Cup was won in 1963, with a mix of familiar and fresh faces, 3-1, against Leicester City, with Herd, 19 goals, and newly repatriated Scot, Law, 23 goals, after signing from Italy’s Torino, only just keeping the club from being relegated, finishing 19th; Gaskell, Dunne, Cantwell (c), Crerand, Foulkes, Setters, Giles, Quixall, Herd, Law, Charlton.

 United took the lead on 30 minutes, after a Charlton effort, saved comfortably by Gordon Banks, then bowling the ball towards Scots’ inside left, David Gibson. Scots' hard-tackling right half, Pat ‘Paddy’ Crerand, a £56,000 signing from Glasgow Celtic on February 6th, 1963, the 5th Munich anniversary, intercepts, 25 yards distant, lifting the ball past the outstretched leg of an onrushing defender, left of the ‘D’, running with the ball into the 18 yard box, passing to Law, right, outside of the right boot. Deceiving the defenders, Law feints, as if to accept the pass, instead allowing the ball to run on behind him, stops the ball with his left foot, spins right to left, on the penalty spot, striking the ball with his right foot, left corner of the net, 1-0.

 After 57 minutes, a cross field ball from Eire’s  right wing, Johnny Giles, bursting through on the right from inside his own half, and sold for £33,000 to Leeds for 1963-63, inexplicably to many, where he was ‘midfield general' in their European Cup Final defeat, 0-2, to Bayern in 1975, finding an unmarked Charlton, far left of the pitch, hurtling on into the left corner of the 18 yard box, on a ‘run and shoot’. Banks parries into the path of Herd, a tap in, 2-0.

 In the 85th minute, Banks coming for a Giles cross, floated from just outside the right corner of the 18 yard box, the jumping defender, trying to head the ball away, instead impeding Banks, attempting to catch the ball in the air, looking to put it under his arm in one sweeping movement, but fumbles, making it look as if he’s punched the ball down onto the ground, where Herd, one bounce, turns and strikes, right footed, low, 3-1, past defenders on the goal line.

 Victory qualified the side to contest the European Cup Winners Cup, reaching the quarter finals, beating Sporting CP of Portugal, Lisbon, 4-1, at Old Trafford, before losing astonishingly, 0-5, in the away leg, aggregate, 4-6. Northern Irish, George Best, irrepressibly dribbling everywhere, made his debut on September 14th, 1963, at home to West Bromwich Albion, 1-0, making 17 appearances for 4 goals that season, while Law, 30, and Herd, 20, scored enough to place the club 2nd to Liverpool at the finish, 57 to 53 points.

 Louis Edwards, a lifetime supporter, inheriting the family’s meat packaging and processing business, upon the passing of his father, Louis Snr, on February 13th, 1943, while he was a desert rat in Egypt, during WWII, joined the board after Munich, after becoming vice-Chairman in December, 1964, and Chairman, upon the passing of Harold Hardman, on June 9th, 1965, began to oversee the club’s re-emergence.

 Champions in 1964-65, the single substitute rule, from 1965-66, seemed to buoy United up. After finishing runner-up in the league that season, while reaching the semi-final of the European Cup, losing on aggregate, 1-2 to Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade, 0-2 away, and 1-0 at home, the squad won the title again in 1966-67, and finishing runner-up to Manchester City in the 1967-68 league championship, finally secured the European Cup in 1968, against Portugal’s Benfica, 1-1, a. e. t., 4-1, at London’s national Wembley Stadium.

 At half-time, 0-0, on 53 minutes of the second half, Academy graduate David Sadler, in the injured Law’s position, though he also played at center back, found Crerand, with a throw-in from the left touchline. Receiving the ball back from Crerand, right footed, passing the ball, forward, along the left wing, Sadler moving inside, left corner of the 18 yard box, right footed cross to Charlton, glancing header, directing the speed of the ball’s power, settling into the inside side netting near post, 1-0. José Augusto, winger, wide on the right, high ball, center forward José Torres’ header, over the heads of Academy alumni, Nobby Stiles and Sadler, center of the 18 yard box, right midfielder Jaime Graça, running in, powerful shot, right boot, right corner of the penalty area, left corner of the goal, 1-1.

 In extra time, 15 minutes each half, right footed punt by ‘keeper, Alex Stepney, signed from Chelsea for £55,000 for 1966-67, back header by Sadler inside Benfica’s half, halfway between center circle and ‘D’, Jacinto Santos, center back, aims to swing a kick at ball or George Best, second striker, on the outside of his right heel, flips the ball over Santos’ leg, races on into the 18 yard box, the ball on his right foot, cuts inside, around ‘keeper, José Henrique, who’s come out beyond the penalty spot, left footed, on 92 minutes, side footed, on the edge of the penalty area, level with the left upright, goal, center, 2-1.

 From a corner on the left, high, Sadler, right of the penalty spot, heads the ball towards the left corner of the net. Brian Kidd, without the ball bouncing, anticipating it doesn’t have enough pace, heads it towards goal, center. Henrique, as if he’s protecting his face, blocks with his hands, no bounce, on 94 minutes, Kidd moves right, leaps, heads in over Henrique, top right corner, 3-1.

 Kidd, center forward, most recent graduate of the Academy, right of the center circle, inside Benfica’s half, back to goal, finds Charlton, moving up, right of the center circle in the United half, crossing the halfway line, plays the ball back to Kidd, moving out to the right, takes the ball, along the right wing, pushes the ball forward, right footed, skips over the outstretched leg of left back, Fernando Cruz, cuts inside, right and center outside the 18 yard box, low, ball, driven along the ground, left footed. Charlton, on 99 minutes, right corner of the penalty area, gives lift to the ball, right footed, 4-1, top left corner of the net; Stepney, Brennan, Dunne, Crerand, Foulkes, Stiles, Best, Kidd, Charlton, Sadler, Aston.

  The substitute wasn’t then seen as strategic or tactical, but necessary in case of injury. United made only 4 substitutions in the 1965-66 league campaign, and 7 in 1966-67, most notably left wing John Aston Jnr (4), his father being at left back in the club’s 1948 F.A. Cup Final win. There were 10 in 1967-68, with tigrish defender and utility midfielder, John Fitzpatrick (3), figuring as a fresh pair of legs in an ageing squad, and 14 in the 1968-69 season, losing the Intercontinental Cup Final, held annually between the winners of the European Cup and South America’s Copa Libertadores, ‘the cup of the liberators’, to Estudiantes de La Plata of Argentina, 1-2 on aggregate, 0-1 away at Estadio Boca Juniors, Buenos Aires, as Estadio Uno, in the provincial capital, La Plata, was deemed unsuitable, and 1-1 at home, with winger, Juan Ramón Verón, La Bruja, ‘The Witch’, father of right midfielder, Juan Sebastián Verón, La Brujita, ‘The Little Witch’, winner of the 2002-03 title with United, heading a goal from a free kick by defender, Raúl Horacio Madero, past England ‘keeper, Stepney, on 6 minutes, 0-1, while the side also lost to Italy’s Serie A club, AC Milan, in the semi-final of the European Champions Cup, 1-2 on aggregate, 0-2 away at the San Siro Stadium, and 1-0 at home. With the club finishing 11th in the title race, Scot, Sir Matt Busby, knighted after the '68 triumph, decided to retire as manager, leaving the coaching staff of the future to select the twelve.

 Former F.A. Youth Cup winner, 1953-54, ’54-55, and ‘55-56, captain of the U-18s, and later reserve team coach, Wilf McGuinness, was appointed manager to succeed Busby for 1969-70. Wilf, a left wing-half, had been amongst those players who’d filled the gaps after the February 6th, 1958, Munich air crash, when reserve full back, Geoff Bent, England captain, and left back, Roger Byrne, right wing-half, midfielder Eddie Colman, left half, Duncan Edwards, who died 15 days later, center half, Mark Jones, left winger, David Pegg, center forward, Tommy Taylor, and Irish inside forward, Liam Whelan, all lost their lives, returning from what was then Yugoslavia, after a 3-3 draw, with Serbia's Red Star Belgrade, which meant the club reached the semi-final of the European Cup that term, while right winger, Johnny Berry, and Northern Irish inside forward, Jackie Blanchflower, never played again, because of their injuries.

 Wilf, thought to have the ‘right stuff’, acted quickly to strengthen an ageing defence, bringing center half, Ian Ure, from Arsenal for £80,000, although keeping legendary Scots' goal scorer, Denis Law, on the bench, for successive draws, on March 14th, 1970, 0-0, at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground, and March 23rd, 1970, 0-0, a.e.t., at Villa Park, with Leeds United, before losing the second F.A. Cup semi-final replay, 0-1, on March 26th, 1970, at Bolton Wanderers’ Burnden Park, in season 1969-70, together with League Cup semi-final defeats on aggregate, 3-4, to Manchester City, 1-2 away at Maine Road, on December 3rd, 1969, and 2-2 at home, on December 17th, 1969, and against Aston Villa in 1970-71, 1-1 at home, on December 16th, 1970, and 1-2 away, on December 23rd, 1970, at Villa Park.

 Wilf did use Eire's Don Givens as a striking substitute, and Don would later top score with 13 for Queens Park Rangers, runner-up in the 1975-76 league title race. In 1969-70, Givens made 4 starts for McGuinness and 4 appearances for 1 goal, out of a total of 17 substitutions made that term, while striker, Alan Gowling, who'd later top score for First Division Newcastle with 30 goals in 1975-76, made 17 starts for Wilf and 3 further appearances from the subs’ bench for 8 goals out of a total of 16 substitutions overall during 1970-71’s league campaign.

 Although Sir Matt agreed to resume as manager from December 29th, 1970, until season’s end, Givens being allowed by Wilf to leave for the 1970-71 term at Luton Town, where he forged a successful strike partnership with Malcolm Macdonald, 11 goals to ‘Super Mac’s’ 24, before top scoring in QPR’s 1975-76 runner-up season in the First Division, 13 goals, playing alongside Stan Bowles, both 19 goals in 1976-77, left fans with almost permanently raised eyebrows.

 Gowling’s own successful combining with Malcolm Macdonald at Newcastle United, after going there from Huddersfield Town for £70,000, where he’d signed from Old Trafford for 1972-73 for £65,000, 17 goals, though relegated from Division Two, resulted in his top scoring at St James’ Park, with 32 goals in 1974-75. If the club let Givens and Gowling go, fans might be excused for observing, they didn’t bring players like Bowles and Macdonald in, which didn’t sit well with paying spectators, who then, still, had to stand.

 Impressions can be false, and Denis Law’s replacement in the McGuinness side, midfielder Carlo Sartori, born Caderzone municipality, Trentino province, Italy, whose post-war émigré family, moving in 1948 to the Italian ghetto in the Ancoats area, before opening a knife-sharpening business in the Colleyhurst area, didn’t last, and neither did Wilf. With 13 starts, and 4 appearances for 2 goals in 1969-70, and 2 starts, and 5 appearances, for 2 goals in 1970-71, while Denis made 10 starts, and 1 appearance, for 1 goal in 1969-70, largely due to a knee injury, and 28 starts for 15 goals in 1970-71, 8 of those after ‘the night of the long knives’ and Busby’s return, including a hat-trick (3) at Crystal Palace, 5-3, on April 17th, 1971, selecting inside forward Sartori ahead of a fit Law, who was outrageously transfer listed without offers in April 1970 at £60,000, was a mistake.

 Irish Leicester City manager, Frank O’ Farrell, took over for 1971-72, finally buying left wing, Ian Storey-Moore from Nottingham Forest in March 1972 for £200,000, 11 starts for 5 goals, to bolster a coaching and playing staff that was essentially failing to support home grown talent. Despite some astute usage of substitutes. Out of Frank’s 24 substitutions, 17 years Northern Irish striker, Sammy McIlroy, ‘the last of the Busby Babes’, as he was Matt’s last signing, would play for ten years at ‘the theater of Dreams’, making 8 starts, and 8 substitute appearances, for 4 goals in 1971-72. Including the first on 39 minutes, on his November 6th, 1971, full debut at Manchester City, 3-3, after Best, with his back to goal, in the 18 yard box, trapping the loose ball, from a cross on the right, leaving it for McIlroy, running on, to strike it, left footed, inside the right upright, 1-0. Injections of youth from the bench, however, masked the fact that the squad was old and stale.

 Top of the table at Christmas 1971, injury to 21 years center back, Steve James, was followed by seven consecutive defeats. The club finished 8th, despite the mercurial maverick brilliance of Northern Irish striker Best’s 18 goals, Law’s 13, and Kidd’s 10. United barely escaped relegation in 1972-73, finishing 18th, and O’ Farrell, dismissed on December 19th, 1972, after a defeat, 0-5, away at Crystal Palace, leaving the club 21st out of 22, was replaced from December 22nd, 1972, by Scotland team manager, Scot, Tommy Docherty.

 In search of a good permutation, the substitute option was used 27 times, with McIlroy (6) most called upon. Nevertheless, deep-lying center forward, Bobby Charlton, 1966 World Cup Winner with England against Germany, 4-2, at Wembley, and in his retirement season, was top scorer in the league, with only 6, and the following 1973-74 campaign saw United relegated to Division Two, after finishing 21st of the 22 First Division clubs, with McIlroy top scoring, with 6, and United’s ability to appropriately deploy resources, called seriously into question. Again Mcilroy (5) was the most used substitute, although he also made 24 starts, and the concept of the ‘supersub’, as the striker called upon to get the needed goals in the last 20 minutes, clearly hadn’t penetrated the consciousness, inside the thick skulls of the coaching staff; reserve striker Paul Fletcher, transferred to Hull City, in part exchange to the club at Boothferry Park for center forward, Stuart Pearson, for the 1974-75 term, called on only 3 times.

 Pearson got 17 league goals, as United returned to the First Division for the 1975-76 campaign, Second Division champions, and the fact that former Welsh Southampton striker, Ron Davies, 37 goals in 1966-67, and used 8 times, out of 33 substitutions made by Docherty, suggested that the idea of a goal getter as sub was beginning to register on atrophied soccer imaginations as usable. However, received wisdom was the utility player, and defensive midfielder, David McCreery, making 12 starts, out of the 27 substitutions made that term, was utilized 16 times, and the following season, McCreery again, 9 starts and 16 appearances, out of 31 substitutions made, was preferred to a recognizable goal poacher.

 David, a Northern Ireland international, came on as substitute for Gordon Hill, in both the losing F.A. Cup Final of 1976, which United lost to Southampton, 0-1, and the winning F.A. Cup Final of 1977, 2-1, against Liverpool. Gordon was a left winger, 7 league goals in 1975-76, who top scored for the team in successive seasons, 1976-77 (15), tying with Pearson, and 1977-78 (17), after Queens Park Rangers’ manager, Dave Sexton, replaced Tommy, who despite guiding the club out of the Second Division, overseeing relegation, and coaching the side to successive F.A. Cup Finals, was unable to bring the then coveted First Division title to Old Trafford, which led to the appointment of Dave.

 Northern Irish, Chris McGrath, right winger, bought from Tottenham Hotspur by Docherty for £30,000 in October 1976, 9 starts, and 9 substitute appearances in 1977-78, was the most used sub in the season’s total of 21, illustrating Sexton’s supposedly more forward thinking, while McCreery, 13 starts and 4 appearances, remained a valuable squad member, because he could fill in at full back, as well as in midfield.

 Sexton sold Gordon to Derby County for the 1978-79 season for £250,000, preferring to buy the industrious talents of left sided Welsh midfielder, Mickey Thomas, from Wrexham for £300,000. For Northern Ireland, David was regularly detailed to man mark whoever represented the main danger to the nation's progress in European and World competition. Most notably, before the Group 4, World Cup qualifier at Windsor Park, Belfast, on October 12th, 1977, when 'Dee' was instructed by manager, Danny Blanchflower, brother of United’s Jackie, to stay close to the Netherlands' center forward, Johann Cruyff, although the Northern Irish team lost, 0-1.

 Cruyff won three European Cups at center forward with Eredivisie Ajax of Amsterdam in 1971, 2-0 against Greece's Alpha Ethniki club Panathinaikos, at Wembley, London; 1972, 2-0 against Italian Serie A club Internazionale of Milan, with Johann scoring twice, on 47 minutes, side foot, after a cross from right back, Wim Suurbier, on the right wing, over colliding Nerazzurri 'keeper, Ivano Bordon, and sweeper, Tarcisio Burgnich, fell to him, and on 78 minutes, a header past Bordon, stranded on his goal line, from left wing Piet Keizer's free kick, despite Tarcisio and left back, Giacinto Facchetti, tight marking, at De Kuip, Rotterdam, Holland; and 1973, 1-0 against Juventus, at Red Star Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia. Captaining the Dutch side that narrowly lost to Germany, 1-2, in the Final of the 1974 World Cup, held in Germany, Johann Cruyff was widely regarded as the best creative striker-playmaker in the world at that time.

 Substitutions were permitted for injured players only from 1965-66, but when it became apparent that players were feigning injury for the manager to make tactical changes, from 1967-68 a single substitute was possible, at any stage of the game, and for any reason, which was where United found themselves with Hill and McCreery, who invariably came on, after Hill had scored the goals that made the team successful, to shore up the defence, against opposing sides, looking to reduce the deficit.

 Relegation in 1973-74 was a sign that the coaching staff at the club hadn't got to grips with the possibilities afforded the team from tactical substitutions. After the 1968 European Cup Final triumph, against Portugal's Benfica, the club's ineptitude, when it came to the use of a ‘game-changer’, was palpable, and painful to watch. Law, 'The King', was a goal scoring machine to the terraced ranks of the Stretford End, who'd watched in bleak horror as McGuinness kept Law on the substitutes' bench for the 1970 F.A. Cup semi-final, until the team finally lost that second replay, 0-1, after successive 0-0 draws.

 The number of substitutes allowed increased to two in 1994-95, apart from a goalkeeper, who was also permitted, and from 1995-96 three from seven substitutes on the bench were permissible, which afforded Scot, Alex Ferguson, appointed manager of United in November 1986, replacing two times F.A. Cup winner, but titleless Ron Atkinson, 1983 and 1985, an opportunity his tactical genius seized upon as a gift of God. Atkinson had replaced Sexton, who lacking a second striker of Hill’s caliber, failed to win the league, or the F.A. Cup Final of 1978-79, 2-3, against Arsenal, while Eire's Ashley Grimes, left sided midfield utility player, 5 starts and 11 appearances out of the 24 substitutions made, took on the mantle of 'regular sub' at United, vacated by McCreery, transferred by Sexton to QPR for 1979-80 for £200,000.

 It was probably Sexton’s preferring to spend £350,000 on Leeds United’s ‘target man', Joe Jordan, who’d head the ball down, or hold the ball up, for striker, Jimmy Greenhoff, bought by Docherty in November 1976 from Stoke City for £120,000, that was his downfall. Joe got 13 for Sexton in 1979-80, his second highest, and 15, his highest ever, in 1980-81, but it was so labored a strike rate Atkinson sold him to AC Milan for £300,000 for 1981-82, while Grimes, 20 starts and 6 appearances, out of the 19 substitutions made in 1979-80, suggested United’s focus was awry.

 Andy Ritchie, second top scorer, with 10, in 1978-79, from 16 starts and 1 appearance, made 3 starts and 5 appearances for 3 goals in 1979-80, while Sexton, who'd preferred Grimes' utility play to Andy’s goal potential, made right back, Mike Duxbury, his most used substitute, 6 and 27 starts, with Ritchie, making 3 starts and 1 appearance for 0 goals out of 19 substitutions made in 1980-81, indicative of the need for a forward on the bench who could be deployed to effect a surgical strike if necessary.

 Upon the passing of his father Louis, on February 25th, 1980, Martin Edwards became Chairman, and CEO on January 5th, 1982. Although United finished runner-up in the league to Liverpool in 1979-80, 58 points to 60, the writing was on the wall for Sexton, long before the defeat to Leeds, 0-2 at Elland Road on May 3rd, 1980, last game of the season, as the side lost 0-6 away at Ipswich Town on March 1st. While Dave bought from Nottingham for £1m, Gary Birtles, 14 league goals at the City ground in season 1978-79, center forward in Forest’s defeat of Swedish club, Malmo, 1-0, in the 1979 European Cup Final, Olympiastadion, Munich, Germany, and 12 league goals in season 1979-80, with German club Hamburg SV beaten in the 1980 Final, 1-0, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, Spain, 25 starts for United without a goal in 1980-81 only added emphasis to the issue. Joe Jordan’s exit to Milan heralded the arrival from Arsenal of center forward, Frank Stapleton, good in the air, and balletic on his turf, who netted 13 goals in 1981-82, while Birtles got 11.

 Sexton, replaced by Chairman Edwards for 1981-82 with flamboyant West Bromwich Albion manager, Ron Atkinson, lampooned as a ‘Big Time Charlie’, he lasted only so long as he recognized the preciousness of his young striker, Wales’ Mark Hughes, top scorer, age 20 in 1984-85, 16 goals, and 1985-86, 17 goals, but sold insanely to Spain’s FC Barcelona for £2m, before replacement for ‘Big Ron’, Ferguson, bought him back for 1987-88.

 Ron bought Stapleton for £950,000, while 10 starts for 2 goals and the most used substitute, with 6 appearances from a total of 19 substitutions made that term, suggested Ron’s use of 19 years Scots’ center forward, Scott McGarvey, meant he was becoming tactically awakened. An unused # 12 for Atkinson in the F.A. Cup Final of 1983 against Brighton, 2-2, a.e.t., and the replay, 4-0, Ashley Grimes was sold to Coventry City for the 1983-84 season for £200,000, but his role indicated the continued importance of the utility player, as either a bolster for the defence, or as an impetus to the attack. It was Grimes, after coming on for Luton Town, who crossed left footed from the far right near the goal line for right wing, Danny Wilson, to slide the ball in ahead of a challenge from Arsenal right back, Nigel Winterburn, 3-2, in the dying seconds of the 1988 League Cup Final.

 Before the advent of destroyer-creator Bryan Robson, it was West Brom's central defensive midfielder, Remi Moses, who first went to Old Trafford for £500,000, and rapidly became the club’s indispensable utility player, wearing the number eleven shirt in the enforced absence of Laurie Cunningham, arriving crocked, on loan from Real Madrid as a left winger in 1982-83, although Remi's injuries, which meant his missing the 1983 F.A. Cup Final, and suspensions, causing his absence from the 1985 F.A. Cup Final, though contributing to Whiteside’s successful conversion to midfield from his striker’s role, after Ray Wilkins’ departure to Milan, Remi’d had his chance.

 Steve Coppell, right wing since Docherty bought him from Third Division Tranmere Rovers, relegated that season, for £60,000 in February 1974-75, to replace captain Willie Morgan, right wing since his departing Burnley for £117,000 for the 1968-69 term, after 1968’s European Cup Final winger John Aston’s Jnr’s leg was broken, was crocked by a brutal challenge from Hungary’s left back, József Tóth, at Wembley on November 18th, 1981, in a Group 4, 1982 World Cup qualifier. Injury plagued before the 1983 F.A. Cup Final, Coppell was replaced by Welsh winger, Alan Davies, for the sake of the balance of the team.

 In central midfield Remi also filled the gaps left on the wings, as Grimes and McCreery had before him, until the arrival of Denmark’s Jesper Olsen, Ajax left wing, for £350,000, after persevering with Scot, Arthur Graham, the previous 1983-84 season, £45,000 from relegated to Division Two, Leeds United, and right wing, Scot, Gordon Strachan, £500,000 for 1984-85 from Scotland’s Aberdeen, where Alex Ferguson was still boss.

 As a twelfth man Grimes provided cover for half the team. A left sided midfielder, who could also fill in as a left winger or left back, or an inverted right winger, that is, as a left footed inside right, which became de rigeur in the early 21st century, largely due to Dutch national team manager, following the Netherlands’ third position overall in the 2014 World Cup, Louis van Gaal, replacement for David Moyes, sacked on April 22nd, 2014. David’d arrived from Everton to take over for 2013-14 upon Ferguson’s retirement at the end of 2012-13, another championship winning season, duly making Guillermo Varela, Uruguayan right back, £1m from Peñarol, his first signing, as Alex had been finalizing the deal, but defeat to Sunderland in the two leg home and away format of the League Cup semi-final, 1-2 on penalties, in front of an incredulous Stretford End, after the game ended, 2-1 to ‘The Reds’, but 3-3 on aggregate, as the side had lost, 1-2, to ‘The Black Cats' at the Stadium of Light, meant that the brown-nosing days of Moyes, whose qualifications for the job seemed to have been keeping Everton out of the relegation zone, were numbered.

 Moyes was dismissed after the side lost, 1-3 away to German Bundesliga club, Bayern Munich, on April 9th, 2014, having drawn, 1-1, on April 1st at Old Trafford, 2-4 on aggregate, in the quarter final of the European Champions League, and with the club in 7th position in the league, after defeat, 0-2, to ‘The Toffees’ of Everton at Goodison Park on April 20th, 2014. Appointed for 2014-15, with player coach, Ryan Giggs, caretaker manager for four games at 2013-14 season’s end, van Gaal, manager of the Dutch team to third place at the 2014 World Cup, experimented at United with a three man half-back line, after the fashion of the pre-WWI side with Charlie Roberts at left half, Dick Duckworth at center half, and Scot, Alex Bell at right half, and wing backs in support of the strikers, that is, stronger, with five at the back, and narrower, with three, including a single central striker, alongside left and right inverted wingers, as inside forwards, at the front.

 It was Ron Atkinson’s wheeling and dealing in the transfer market that contributed to his downfall. Inheriting Ray Wilkins, the Chelsea playmaker from Sexton, who’d brought him for £825,000 for 1979-80, having repaid some of the faith in his vision, and ball distributing skills, right, and well outside the 18 yard box, turning inside to curl a shot left footed into the top right corner of the net to put the side ahead in the first 1983 F.A. Cup Final, 2-1, Atkinson with a haste indecent, the club being then the proud owner of England’s midfield, as they had Robson too, sold Ray to AC Milan for £1.5m for the 1984-85 season, after the team, losing narrowly to Italian Serie A club Juventus of Turin in the semi-final of the 1983-84 European Cup Winners Cup, 2-3, attracted the Milan giants to Ray’s ability.

 In the quarter final the side had lost, 0-2 to Barca at the Nou Camp, but went through, on aggregate, 3-2, after winning the return leg at Old Trafford, 3-0. Ron thought he couldn’t refuse to sell Ray, while Juvé, after Robson’s two goals against Barca, the first a diving header at the far post on 21 minutes, after a corner on the left into the penalty area, center, back-headed by Scots’ center back, Graeme Hogg, and the second squeezed in by the right post after ‘keeper, Javier ‘Urruti’ Urruticoechea, spilled a low driven shot from Ray, right, outside the penalty area, made a similar offer for Bryan, but Atkinson, correctly feeling that the fans wouldn’t lightly tolerate the complete loss of England’s footballing heart, decided he could refuse that.

 Doubtless the utility player also had a positive influence on team organization too. United were able to recover from the loss of center back, Kevin Moran, sent off on 78 minutes, bringing down England midfielder, Peter Reid, when he was clear through with a chance to strike for goal, to win the 1985 F.A. Cup Final against Everton, 1-0, a.e.t., through converted striker in center midfield, Norman Whiteside, cutting in from the right on 110 minutes to curl a ball in left footed from the right corner of the 18 yard box, around Welsh left back, Pat van den Hauwe, and inside Welsh ‘keeper Neville Southall’s far left post.

 Atkinson’s self-blighted reign was terminated on November 6th, 1986, with the appointment of Ferguson, winner of the European Cup Winners Cup with Aberdeen in 1983, 2-1 against Real Madrid, a.e.t., 1-1, and the only Scots’ manager to seriously threaten the hegemony of ‘the Old Firm', Rangers and Celtic, winning the Scots’ Premier League in 1979-80, 1883-84 and 1984-85. Atkinson’s squad had still led the league table on January 18th, 1986, after opening the 1985-86 campaign with 10 straight wins, but they lost at home to Nottingham Forest, 2-3, and slipped to fourth place by season’s end, 12 points behind champions, Liverpool.

 Together with Ron’s decision to offload Hughes to Barcelona for £2m the auguries didn’t favor his continuing. The club lost the first three games of the season to London clubs, failing to score in the away fixture at Arsenal, Highbury, 0-1, before losing, 2-3, at home to West Ham, and failing to score again at home to Charlton Athletic, 0-1. The writing was on the wall, mene tekel upharsin, with the club in 21st position in the league on November 15th, in real danger of relegation, although finishing 11th by season’s end. Peter Davenport, signed as Hughes’ replacement in March 1986 for £750,000 from Nottingham Forest, netted 4, and a penalty, before Ferguson’s advent, reaching 14, 5 penalties, overall, which didn’t leave spectators sanguine about the team’s future success on their way out.

 Needing a goal scorer, Ferguson turned to Celtic’s Brian McClair, arriving for £850,000, and netting 24 before the close of the 1987-88 term. Strengthening the defence cost £900,000, paid for the services of Norwich City center back, Steve Bruce, while the club finished runner-up to Liverpool, although they led the table only on August 31st, 1987, after defeating Chelsea, 3-1, at home. In the close season Alex secured the return of Hughes from Barcelona for £1.8m and the fans hearts. Defeated in the Final of the F.A. Centenary Trophy on October 9th, 1988, 1-2 to Arsenal, the team lost 13 of their 38 league games in 1988-89, finishing 11th, which effectively put Ferguson’s job on the line for 1989-90.

 Dismal in the league, the club were 16th placed on May 2nd, 1990, after the season’s penultimate game, 0-4 at the City ground, Nottingham, although Alex’s canny use of striker, Robins, as a substitute, 10 starts and 7 appearances for 7 goals in the league, steered the side to the F.A. Cup Final. After a draw, 3-3, in the semi-final against Oldham, it was Robins, 100th minute ‘supersub’ for left back, Lee Martin, that got the semi-final replay winner in the 114th minute of extra time, after a long ball forward from Hughes, deep in his own right half, for right midfielder, Mike Phelan, £750,000 from Norwich at the beginning of 1989-90, to chase, outpacing left winger, Rick Holden, with center half, Earl Barrett, coming across to close him down. A few yards in front of the 18 yard box, right, Phelan passes the ball, low, along the grass, right footed to Robins, ahead of the right side of the ‘D’, inside the box, Barrett chasing, ball swept inside the left post, low, past ‘keeper, Jon Hallworth, as Irwin comes across too late to block it, 2-1. However, for many neutral observers it was Robins 56th minute goal as a starter on January 7th, 1990, against Forest in the 3rd Round, 1-0, with the club 15th in the table, that saved Alex from being sacked. Hughes, accepting a pass infield, well outside the 18 yard box, left, from left back, Martin, who’d dispossessed Icelandic midfielder, Þorvaldur ‘Toddy' Örlygsson, at the left touchline, curled an outswinging ball, with the outside of his right boot, finding Robins, running in to head the ball, on the bounce, down and inside the left post, past ‘keeper Steve Sutton.

 Ferguson demonstrated his tactical savvy in winning the 1990 F.A Cup, 1-0, in the Final against Crystal Palace, with a goal on 59 minutes from left back, Martin, accepting to his feet a long ball, left of the penalty area, from Neil Webb, center midfield, Lee struck right footed, high into the net, past ‘keeper Nigel Martyn, in a replay after a draw, 3-3, with reserve 'keeper, Les Sealey, on loan from Luton Town, replacing Scot, Jim Leighton, brought from Ferguson’s former club, Aberdeen, for £750,000, having a nightmare encounter.

 In two minds, as to whether to go and deal with a high ball, or remain on his goal line, from a direct inswinging free kick on the right from Palace right midfielder, Phil Barber, a header on 18 minutes from center back, Gary O’ Reilly, looped the ball over Jim’s head, and into the net, 0-1. England’s ‘Captain Marvel’, brought from WBA by Atkinson for £1.5m for the 1981-82 season, looking for his third F.A. Cup winners’ medal, headed goalwards a floated cross to the back post, after McClair’s run down the right wing, deflecting into the net on 35 minutes, off right back John Pemberton’s shin, low, and inside the post, 1-1, before Hughes’ clever angling of a ball, bouncing to him, outside and left of the penalty area, after Webb got his right boot onto an attempted clearance by center back, Andy Thorn, on 62 minutes, angling the ball into Robson’s path, who volleyed, left footed, into the top right corner of the net, 2-1. However, Palace center forward, Ian Wright, on as a 69th minute substitute for Barber, controlling the ball with his left foot, turned inside United’s right midfielder, Neil Webb, inside the 18 yard box, left, on 72 minutes, drilling a low, right footed shot, Leighton somehow allowed under him, and inside the post, far right, 2-2.

 In the 92nd minute of extra time, seemingly watching, instead of catching, a right footed cross from John Salako, turning inside right back, Phelan, out on the left wing, the ball went over Jim's head to Wright, who ran in to strike the ball with the inside of his right boot, leg outstretched, high into the roof of the net, at the far post, 2-3. Ferguson used both his substitutes late on, Welsh left back/winger, Clayton Blackmore, coming on for left back, Martin, on 88 minutes, before Wright’s second goal in extra time, and Robins, coming on in the Final replay for center back, Gary Pallister, on 93 minutes, designed to increase the pressure on Palace's defence. Left winger, Danny Wallace, center midfield, duly obliged, setting Hughes to chase a through ball he latched onto in the 113th minute, at the right of the ‘D’, on the edge of the 18 yard box, Mark calmly angling the ball low, past outrushing ‘keeper Martyn, into the bottom left corner of the net, 3-3.

 Victory in the F.A. Cup of 1990 was followed by victory in the 1991 European Cup Winners Cup Final, 2-1, against Spanish giants FC Barcelona, with a goal from Hughes, after a free kick, left footed from Robson, center of the Barca half, found Bruce’s head, outside the penalty area, right, whose header down, towards the left upright, was struck home on 67 minutes, left footed, inside the post by Mark, 1-0. His second came on 74 minutes after, rounding ‘keeper, Carles Busquets, right, at the edge of the 18 yard box, Mark drove the ball into the left corner of the net from an acute angle, 2-0, with Dutch defensive midfielder, Ronald Koeman, driving a long-range, low free kick, around the United wall, right, that Sealey could only push onto the left post and in, as a late consolation for Barca, at Stadion Feijenoord, Rotterdam, Holland.

 Of the 60 substitutions in the league that 1990-91 season, 12 were Mark Robins, who also made 7 starts for 4 goals, as supersub made good, while left wing Wallace, 13 starts and 6 appearances for 3 goals, was the other much-used striking substitute, although Ferguson’s use of left backs, Martin, 7 starts and 7 appearances, and from Luton Town for £650,000 for 1988-89, Mal Donaghy, 17 starts and 8 appearances, was an indication that the psychology of competing for places in the team was a well-honed aspect of the manager’s thinking, as Clayton Blackmore, left back in the 1991 European Cup Winners Cup Final, started 35 games for 4 goals, either at full back, or as a midfielder, while Lee Sharpe, 20 starts and 3 appearances for 2 goals, left winger in the 1991 League Cup Final, lost 0-1 to Sheffield Wednesday, was on his way to Alex's converting him to left back, before his transfer to Leeds United for £4.5m for the 1996-97 campaign.

 The club, floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1991, permitted the possibility of private investors wresting control from ‘the butchers of Manchester’, as Edwards’ family were contumaciously known by fans. Unhappy with the limited funds available to lure the signatures of fresh talent away from other clubs. Investors in new 'plates of meat' wouldn't have been added to the board, if the white of the snow hadn't been tinged with the red of the life's blood of the team at Munich. Contributing to a picture of the dynasty as profiting from a giant amputee in need of transfusions, withheld deliberately in the name of a youth policy with a vampire's thirst for the blood of fresh virgins ameliorated by rumors only of an expensive influx of replacement parts.

 The 1991-92 season began with triumph at Old Trafford in the Final of the European Super Cup, 1-0, played as a single game, because of the division through internecine war of the Yugoslavia ‘superstate’ into ethnically homogeneous cuts, with Martin at left back and Blackmore on the left wing against Red Star Belgrade, and a goal on 67 minutes from McClair, after Webb hit the right post from inside the ‘D’ center, and the ball rebounded left to where Brian struck the ball, right footed, inside ‘keeper Zvonko Milojević’s  left upright. The match was noteworthy for the appearance of Ryan Giggs, substituting for Martin on 71 minutes, as the first senior winners medal for the legendary Welsh left wing, age 17, while Blackmore, switching to left back, would discover his chances of selection lessened with the signing of right back, Paul Parker, for 1991-92 for £2m from QPR, as Denis Irwin would then make the transition from right to left back

The team led the way, until three consecutive defeats, on April 22nd, 1-2 at home to Forest, on April 26th, 0-1 at West Ham, and on April 29th, 1992, 0-2 to Liverpool in the penultimate game at Anfield, handed the title to Leeds, although the club won their first League Cup ever in the 1992 Final, 1-0, against Forest, after a long ball from center back, Gary Pallister, £2.3m from Middlesboro for 1989-90, found McClair with his back to goal, who passed to his right. Giggs, inside left position, taking the ball forward, returning the pass inside to Brian, center, on 14 minutes, left footed, between two Forest defenders closing in, shooting low, past outrushing Welsh ‘keeper, Andy Marriott, into the bottom right corner of the net.

 Andrei Kanchelskis, Ukrainian right winger, transferred from Borussia Dortmund in March 1991 for £650,000, was the fast, tricky winger the right side had needed, making 28 starts and 6 appearances for 5 goals, and midfielder Blackmore, chances of selection already slim, found a new niche only briefly as right back in place of injured Parker, although of 57 substitutions, Clayton’s being the highest number at 14, together with 19 starts for 3 goals, confirmed him as the squad’s exceptional utility player.

 After losing the last fought for First Division title to Leeds in 1991-92, the club won the inaugural Premier League, as compensation for the fans, with French striker, le god, Eric Cantona, 9 goals, and 21 starts, after his introduction as a substitute on December 6th, 1992, in a home defeat of Manchester City, 2-1, brought from Leeds for £1m on November 26th, 1992, adding style and finesse to the championship run in. The club's first title success, since the First Division of 1966-67, revamped as the Premier League for 1992-93, after a gap of twenty-six years, witnessing what Alex did with 13 players to choose from, and permutate on match days, was going to be mouth watering.

 With two substitutes, as well as a 'keeper, available from 1993-94, whereas one substitute and a ‘keeper had been the less effective rule since 1987-88, a soccer manager could dispense with utility players, and become more specialized in terms of substitute selection. Only Mark Hughes made it into double figures in 1992-93, with a goal tally of 15, which was the sign of a very mean defence, conceding just 31 goals, leaving the side with a goal difference of +36, with McClair and Giggs also contributing 9 each, clear of Aston Villa by 10 points at season’s end.

 Out of 41 substitutions made, 13 from Kanchelskis was easily the highest, and his 14 starts for 3 goals indicative of his role as a shock tactic to be inserted in the face of full back complacency, as focus shifted more towards tactics and strategic alterations in the mode of play to accommodate what the coaches could see happening on the field during the match. Forethought was required in order to plan for eventuality, though it was logical to keep in reserve a strong defensive component, as well as a powerful attacking option, while bearing in mind that opposing team's alterations on the field had to be met with what was available on the bench, if the starting eleven lacked sufficient effectiveness.

 The team secured the club’s first league and F.A. Cup double in 1993-94, and it would have been the domestic treble, if the side hadn’t lost the League Cup Final, 1-3 to Villa. Relentlessly energetic, and enthusiastic midfield ball winner, and finisher, Roy Keane, was transferred from Forest for £3.75m to replace the ageing ‘Captain Marvel’, Robson, alongside the volatile explosiveness of Paul Ince, bought for the 1990-91 campaign for £1m from West Ham, and Cantona top scored with 18 goals, while Giggs, weighing in with 13, and Hughes 12, were enough. Out of 46 substitutions made, McClair’s tally of 14 was the highest, together with 12 starts, suggesting Ferguson had chosen him as the utility player for the midfield to striker’s role ahead of Blackmore, released to join player-manager at Ayresome Park, Middlesboro, Bryan Robson, gaining promotion as Second Division champions from Teesside in 1994-95, while Sharpe, in the advent of wonder-kid, Welsh wizard Giggs, would provide sufficient cover for the left flank.

 Chelsea, beaten in the 1994 F.A. Cup Final, 4-0, were 0-2 after two penalties, both side footed, right footed, driven low, right of Russian ‘keeper, Dmitri Kharine, going the wrong way, with first Irwin brought down, left of the 18 yard box, upended recklessly on 64 minutes by defensive midfielder, Eddie Newton, then Kanchelskis, through on goal, right of the 18 yard box, level with the right edge of the penalty area, knocked down, unceremoniously on 67 minutes by left back, Frank Sinclair, and the contest was virtually over two minutes later, Sinclair attempting to collect an innocuous ball, with Hughes in attendance, succeeding only in playing the ball into the path of the striker, coolly running on to place a low shot, right footed, into the left corner of the net, 3-0. It was academic when, after Cantona, wide on the right, right footed, passed infield to where Hughes' right boot sent a ball, right, upfield for Ince to chase. Rounding the onrushing ‘keeper, left, at the edge of the 18 yard box, with only Scots’ right back, Steve Clarke, then standing in his way, Ince selflessly passed the ball inside, right, to McClair, substitute on 90+3 minutes for Kanchelskis, for an easier strike, left footed, center, open goal, 4-0.

 Great things were expected in 1994-95 but Hughes was allowed to leave, after netting only 8 league goals, as the team finished runner-up by a single point to Blackburn Rovers, 89, after a draw, 1-1, in the last match at Old Trafford, when a win would have given them three points, replacing the less exciting two points for a win system that persisted until 1980-81. Financed by steel magnate, Jack Walker, from 1991-92, Rovers were promoted from the Second Division for 1992-93, and ironically Ferguson bought center back, David May, as a long-term replacement for Bruce, from Blackburn manager, and former Celtic and Liverpool striking legend, Scotland's Kenny Dalglish, for £1.2m for the 1994-95 term, as well as center forward, Andy Cole, from Newcastle for £6m + winger, Keith Gillespie. Southampton had been persuaded to allow center forward, Alan Shearer, to leave The Dell for £3.6m, despite Ferguson’s attempts to sign him for the glamor of United, and Alan scored 34 league goals in the Ewood Park club’s championship winning season.

  United lost the 1995 F.A. Cup Final, 0-1 to Everton, although signs of future glory were the appearances of the teenagers and early tweens, known as ‘Fergie’s Fledglings’. Gary Neville at right back, hard-tackling ball distributor, Nicky Butt, in center midfield, and playmaker/second striker, Paul Scholes, on as a 72nd minute substitute for Sharpe, while most neutral observers thought Giggs, on as a 45th minute substitute for Bruce, after center forward Paul Rideout’s 30th minute headed opener, from central midfielder Graham Stuart’s shot that rebounded off the bar, ought to have started, though left footed Sharpe had proven versatility, keeping right wing, Kanchelskis, out of the side as Ferguson’s preferred, though inverted, right winger.

 The absence of Cantona, suspended for launching a Kung Fu style kick at a fan in the crowd, near the touchline, on January 25th, 1995, during a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Road ground, with Andrei injured, and Cole, unable to play because, ‘cuptied’, he’d played for Newcastle in a previous round, Alex’s preferring an extra midfielder, Butt, to Giggs, seemed over-cautious. Of 58 substitutions made, Butt tied with Scholes, 11, as the highest tally, making 11 starts to Scholes 6, while Paul’s 5 goals to Nicky’s 1 might realistically have encouraged him to expect to start against Everton also.

 Youth had won out by the end of the 1995-96 campaign with right wing, David Beckham, and Gary’s brother Phil Neville, also a full back, who’d become the squad’s indispensable utility player, joining Butt and Scholes as the new young gods of Stretford End adulation. Cantona returned on October 1st, 1995, scoring from the penalty spot against Liverpool in a home draw, 2-2, and finished top scorer with 19 goals, as the club again won the double, with Eric getting the winner in the 1996 F.A. Cup Final, after a corner on the right from Scholes, on as a substitute for Cole on 64 minutes, the ball punched away as far as Wales’ center forward, Ian Rush, on as a substitute for Stan Colleymore on 74 minutes, who chested it further on, but only as far as Cantona inside the ‘D’, volleying right footed through a crowd of players in the 86th minute. Of the 64 substitutions made in the league that term, forwards were predominant, with Scholes, 16 starts and 10 appearances for 10 goals, Beckham, 26 starts and 7 appearances for 7 goals, Sharpe, 21 starts and 10 appearances for 4 goals, and McClair, 12 starts and 10 appearances for 3 goals, indicating the shift in coaching emphasis after the implementation of the two substitutes per game allowance.

 Aged 30, Cantona retired at the end of 1996-97, with the club champions again, Eric finishing second, on 11 in the scoring, to Norway’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 25 starts, and 8 appearances for 18 goals, brought from Molde for £1.5m, although German Bundesliga club, Borussia Dortmund, proved too strong in the European Champions League, United losing, 0-1, first away, and again in the home leg. Of the 75 substitutions made, strikers were again to the fore, with Andy Cole, easing his way through a spell of injury, 10 starts, and 10 appearances for 6 goals, indicating the use of defenders only in emergencies to avoid upsetting the stability of the team at the back, while changes upfront in search of a goal were usual and mandated.

  McClair had the highest tally of substitutions, 15, and 4 starts, but 0 goals as the old warhorse came towards career’s end in midfield, while Czech right winger, Karel Poborský, signed from SK Slavia Prague for €4m as cover for Beckham, with 15 starts and 7 appearances for 3 goals, Scholes, 16 starts and 8 appearances for 3 goals, and Jordi, Johann Cruyff’s son, brought from Barca for £1.4m, 11 starts and 5 appearances for 3 goals, were the other main contributors from the bench.

Arsenal won the title in 1997-98 with 78 points to United’s 77, with Cole netting 15. With Solskjaer 15 starts and 7 appearances for 6 goals, and Teddy Sheringham, brought from Tottenham Hotspur for £3.5m, 28 starts and 3 appearances, yet to find his scoring boots, 9 goals, the same total as Beckham, and with Giggs and Scholes on 8, United’s losing at home to Arsenal, 0-1, on March 14th, 1998, shouldn’t have been the difference, but it was. Despite the transfer of Norwegian central defender, Henning Berg, from Blackburn for £5m. Of the 76 substitutions made, McClair was easily the most, with 11, but only 2 starts for 0 goals, still qualifying for a runner-up medal, with 10 appearances in the 38 possible league fixtures being the target for competitive playing staff.

 That Ferguson mastered the substitution option is evident from the thirteen league titles won before his retirement at the end of the 2012-13 season, replaced by Everton's David Moyes, who was dismissed after losing the League Cup semi-final, 1-2 on penalties, with van Gaal appointed for 2014-15, after then 40 years old player coach Ryan Giggs' caretaker spell at 2014-15 season's end. Most notably in the European Cup Final of 1999 at Barcelona's Nou Camp stadium, against Germany's Bayern Munich, substitutes Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were the strikers that came off the bench to score both goals in the last three minutes of the game to win the trophy, 2-1.

 Moreover, able to act as a sweeper in defence, as well as a center forward in attack in extremis, goalkeeping 'Great Dane', Denmark's Peter Schmeichel, illustrated the influence that the importance of utility players had at Old Trafford. Peter, who’d actually scored with a header in the 89th minute to give the team a 2-2 draw against Russia’s Rotor Volgograd in the 1st Round second leg of the 1995-96 UEFA Cup at Old Trafford, with the team, 0-1, to Bayern, was inside the German penalty area, as an auxiliary forward, when Sheringham steered Welsh left wing Ryan Giggs' shot inside the left post, 1-1, on 90+1 minutes, again demonstrating the successful aligning of the utility player strategy with the tactic of keeping fresh strikers back to insert them with dramatic effect.

 The 1998-99 season ended with the club winning the treble of league, F.A. Cup, and European Cup, after Solskjaer’s gleeful sticking out of his outstretched right leg, the ball headed on towards the far post by Sheringham, following a Beckham corner, booting it into the Bayern net at the far post on 90+3 minutes. Trinidad and Tobago's Dwight Yorke, bought from Villa for the campaign for £12.6 m, top scored with 18 goals, alongside Cole, 17, with Solskjaer finishing on 12, in just 9 starts and 10 appearances. Jaap Stam, Dutch central defender, came from PSV Eindhoven for £10.6m, 30 starts and 1 goal, sidefooting into an empty goalmouth a cross from Beckham, on 90 minutes, the last in a 6-2 victory at Leicester City’s Filbert Street on January 16th, 1999.

 Of the 92 substitutions made, Solskjaer and Sheringham, 7 starts and 10 appearances for 2 goals, tallied highest, with utility player, Phil Neville, 19 starts and 9 appearances, and Butt, 22 starts and 9 appearances for 2 goals, indicating the value of the defender/midfield strong man in holding a lead, or defending a needed result, as is the case in European competition, where the objective need not necessarily be a win, as away goals count double, and a draw at the group stage is better, given the position of the team’s rivals, in the home and away league table.

 Stam was justifiably renowned for being at the heart of United’s defence for three consecutive championship seasons. 1999-2000 began with defeat, 0-1, to Italy’s Serie A club, Lazio, in the Super Cup Final at Stade Louis II, Monaco, although Stam impressed, as he was transferred to Lazio for 2001-02 for £15.3m, with Ferguson bringing a center half he’d much admired to the club, despite raised eyebrows at Laurent Blanc’s age, 35, France’s ‘Le Président’, signed for £2.5m from Italy’s Serie A club Inter Milan. The club competed successfully in the 1999 Intercontinental Cup Final at Japan’s National Stadium, Tokyo, against Brazil’s Palmeiras of São Paolo, with Roy Keane running in to stretch out his right boot at the far post and divert a cross from Giggs out on the left wing, near the corner flag, into the net, on 35 minutes, 1-0.

 Third in their Group B matches at Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the World Club Cup, held January 5th-14th, 2000, and the club declining to compete in the F.A. Cup that term to avoid fixture congestion, the team didn’t place, behind Brazil’s Vasco da Gama, qualifying for the Final, losing to Corinthians of Brazil, 0-0, a.e.t., 4-3 on penalties, and Mexico’s Necaxa, who beat Real Madrid, 1-1, a.e.t., 4-3 on penalties, for third place overall. United, drawing 1-1 with Necaxa, losing 1-3 to Vasco da Gama, beat Australia’s South Melbourne, 2-0.

 With their own Australian, 'keeper, Mark Bosnich, signed on a free from Villa as successor to Schmeichel, retired after the treble season, South Melbourne fell to left winger, Quinton Fortune, signed from Spain’s Atlético Madrid for £1.5m, after a long ball, left footed, down the right flank, headed on for Solskjaer to run into the 18 yard box, passing to Andy Cole on the penalty spot, back heeling the ball, left, the South African ran up on 8 minutes to strike the ball, left footed, up into the top left corner, 1-0. On 20 minutes Cole, central midfield position, right instep directing the ball forward into the path of Fortune, left, and halfway into the 18 yard box, chipping left footed over outrushing ‘keeper Chris Jones, into the net, 2-0, for a points total of 4, but with Necaxa finishing second in the group, having a goal difference of +1.

 When the squad left Manchester, the club were second in the league table, after a draw, 2-2 at Sunderland on December 28th, 1999, and another draw followed, 1-1, at home to Arsenal upon resumption on January 24th, 2000, with ‘black pearls’, Cole and Yorke, on 13 and 11 goals respectively. Cole would finish on 20, from 23 starts and 5 appearances, and Yorke 19, from 29 starts and 3 appearances, with Solskjaer on 12, Scholes on 9, and Giggs and Beckham on 6 goals, as the club took the title, 18 points clear of Arsenal with 81. Of the 90 substitutions made, Solskjaer and Sheringham, 15 starts each, and 13 and 12 appearances, for 12 and 5 goals respectively, tallied highest, with Jordi Cruyff, 1 start and 7 appearances for 3 goals, again illustrating the shift to ever more penetrating substitutes in pursuit of attacking open play and a win.

 The 2000-01 title was won with 80 points, 10 clear of Arsenal, with Teddy Sheringham, 23 starts and 6 appearances, top scoring with 15, Solskjaer, 19 starts and 12 appearances for 10, Cole 15 starts and 4 appearances for 9, Yorke, 15 starts and 7 appearances for 9, and Beckham, 29 starts and 2 appearances for 9, the main contributors. Of the 92 substitutions made, after Solskjaer the highest tally was right midfielder, 20 years Luke Chadwick, 6 starts and 10 substitute appearances for 2 goals, including the first on 64 minutes in a 1-1 draw at Leeds on March 3rd, 2001. Scholes, playing a one-two at his right, moving forward from the halfway line, right footed, center midfield, passing forward, right, to Solskjaer, shooting right edge of the 18 yard box, spilling out of ‘keeper Nigel Martyn’s grasp, left, presenting substitute Luke, running in, with a simple tap in for his right boot, sidefoot, 1-0.

 Stam’s departure, the arrival of Blanc, and flamboyant, but volatilely unpredictable, France ‘keeper, Fabien Barthez, replacing Bosnich for 2000-01, for £7.8m from AS Monaco, resulted in a defensive hiatus that left the side titleless in 2001-02, after a run of five defeats in seven games from October 20th to December 8th, dropping from third to ninth in the table, and finally finishing third, 10 points behind Arsenal, after that run of one win in seven, dropping 16 points. The bright patch in a cloudy sky was the arrival of classic run and shoot center forward, Ruud van Nistelrooy, from Dutch Eredevisie club, PSV Eindhoven, for £19m, 29 starts and 3 appearances, top scoring with 23 goals, although similarly anticipated right midfielder, Argentina’s Juan Sebastián Verón, £28.1m from Lazio, 24 starts and 2 appearances for 5 goals, scored with knowledgeable supporters, but not with the critics. Ole, 23 starts and 7 appearances for 17 goals, and ‘Becks’, 23 starts and 5 appearances for 11 goals, were Nistelrooy’s main support in attack, although Scholes, 30 starts and 5 appearances for 8 goals, and Giggs, after ten years awarded a testimonial against Celtic, which took place on August 1st, 2001, with Ruud and Séba making their debuts, weighed in with 7 goals from 18 starts and 7 appearances.

 In the European Champions League, the club went out, 3-3 on aggregate to German Bundesliga club, Bayer Leverkusen, in the semi-final, after a draw, 2-2, at Old Trafford, followed by a draw, 1-1, away, as away goals counted double. It was the final season at Old Trafford for full back, Irwin, and Norway’s Ronny Johnsen, defensive midfielder, or center back, as he was in the European triumph over Bayern, brought from Turkish club, Beşiktaş, for £1.2m for 1996-97. Swedish left winger, Jesper Blomqvist, bought from Italy’s Serie A club, Parma, for £4.4m for 1998-99, as cover for Giggs, was in for Scholes that night, booked in the Juvé semi-final and suspended, and he received a free to go to Everton. Cole signed for Blackburn on December 29th, 2001, 7 starts and 4 appearances for 4 goals, and Yorke, 4 starts and 6 appearances for 1 goal, would join him there for 2002-03 and £2.6m.

 Out with the old, in with the new. Leeds central defender, Rio Ferdinand, arrived for 2002-03 for £29.1m, with several options as to who would share central defensive duties. Mikaël Silvestre, French left back, and sometime central defender, bought from Inter Milan for £4m for 1999-2000, Wes Brown, academy graduate and mainstay of the treble, Blanc, or Eire’s John O’Shea, midfield utility player, who could play center of defence, and either full back position, 5 starts and 4 appearances the previous campaign. Ferguson’s solution, as had become his wont, was permutation, having the effect of maintaining competition for places on match days.

 Malcolm Glazer, owner of American Football franchise, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa, Florida state, Super Bowl XXXVII and LV champions, and a TV mogul, was becoming owner of Manchester United through private share purchase, while Martin Edwards would receive the title, ‘Honorary President for Life’. Resembling the implementation of a coaching program, approximating to Dutch ‘total football’, as advocated by three-times consecutive winners of the European Cup, Ajax of Amsterdam, the flexibility of Alex’s team was evidently going to be an important aspect of their longevity. Nistelrooy, 33 starts and 1 appearance for 25 goals, received the mainstay of striking support from Scholes, enjoying a new lease of life as a second striker, 31 starts and 2 appearances for 14 goals, although Ferguson used Uruguayan striker, Diego Forlán, signed from Argentina's Independiente, on January 22nd, 2002, for £6.9m, making 6 starts and 7 appearances in 2001-02, like a bullet, making 7 starts and 18 substitute appearances for 6 goals in 2002-03, as the club took the title, with 83 points, from Arsenal on 78. A very strong team lost the League Cup Final, 0-2 to Liverpool; Barthez, G. Neville, Brown (Solskjaer 74’), Ferdinand, Silvestre, Beckham, Keane (c), Verón, Giggs, Scholes, Nistelrooy. Of the 85 substitutions made, apart from Forlán, Solskjaer’s 8 substitute appearances, and 29 starts for 9 goals, were the most significant statistically, indicating the importance of loading the gun to hit the target, while Beckham weighed in with 27 starts    and 4 appearances for 6 goals.

 Before 2003-04, David left for Real Madrid for £17.25m, Verón for Chelsea at £15m, Blanc retired age 37, and May, released, signed for second tier club, Burnley. Of the transfers in, the most significant were right winger, Cristiano Ronaldo, signing from CP Sporting of Lisbon for £12.24m, France’s center forward, Louis Saha, on January 23rd, 2004, from Fulham for 12.82m, and ‘keeper Tim Howard from MetroStars, New York metropolitan area, competing in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States of America, for £3.5m, as Barthez’s eccentric showmanship came to seem unreliability.

 Nistelrooy, 31 starts and 1 appearance for 20 goals, was again supported in his second striker’s role by Scholes, 24 starts and 4 appearances for 9 goals, although Saha, cuptied for the F.A. Cup, but 9 starts and 3 appearances for 7 league goals, weighed in welcomely. Of 91 substitutions made, apart from Cristiano, Diego tallied highest, 10 starts and 14 appearances for 4 goals, with France’s center forward, David Bellion, £2m from Sunderland, 4 starts and 10 appearances for 2 goals, illustrative of the highly prized bullets from the bench.

 The club finished third in the league, 15 points behind Arsenal’s championship winning 90, probably because of an eight month ban for Ferdinand for missing a mandatory drug test at the Carrington training ground on September 23rd, 2003, for illegal performance enhancing substances, although Solskjaer’s absence with a knee injury, from September through to February, 2004, didn’t help, 7 starts and 6 appearances, 0 goals. The squad bore Rio's absence to win the 2004 F.A. Cup Final, 3-0, against Millwall; Howard (Roy Carroll 84’), G. Neville, Brown, Silvestre, O'Shea, Ronaldo (Solskjaer 84’), Fletcher (Butt 84’), Keane, Giggs, Scholes, Nistelrooy. Tipped to take over from Beckham, Darren Fletcher, 17 starts and 5 appearances, began to emerge as a central midfielder, rather than a right winger, although Ronaldo, 15 starts and 14 appearances for 4 goals, wasn’t yet seen as the irreplaceable and magisterial, goal-getting powerhouse, he’d be famed as.

 Cristiano headed in at the far post on 44 minutes, after a floated cross, from halfway along the right edge of the 18 yard box by Gary Neville, 1-0, and a penalty kick, right footed, high into the top left corner, from Nistelrooy on 65 minutes, 2-0, was Giggs’ reward, after he cut inside from the right wing into the penalty area, right, through the 18 yard box, brought down from behind by central midfielder, David Livermore. Scholes, left midfield position, right foot, lobbed low, forward to Giggs, trapping the ball, stranding right back, Marvin Elliott, edge of the 18 yard box, unable to follow the bounce, Giggs runs on, a cross-shot, left foot, viciously into the penalty area, and Nistelrooy gratefully turns the ball in, with the side of his right boot, almost on ‘keeper Andy Marshall's goal line, for his second on 81 minutes, 3-0.

 Alan Smith, center forward, signed from Leeds for £7m on May 26th, 2004, for the 2004-05 term, and Argentine left back, or center back, Gabriel Heinze, from French Ligue 1 club, Paris Saint-Germain, for £6.9m, signed on June 11th, 2004, positively indicated the coaching staff’s intention in cultivating the left side with ‘lefties’, unplayable to those unable to afford them, as well as an arsenal of shooting stars, deployable from the bench, or off it. Wayne Rooney, 18 years, transferred from Everton for £27m, making his league debut at center forward against Middlesboro on October 3rd, 2004, though Alan Smith came off the bench on 69 minutes for O'Shea to head in a Ronaldo cross from the right, near the goal line, in front of the corner flag, down into the left corner, past the grasp of Aussie ‘keeper, Mark Schwarzer, at full stretch, for an equalizer on 81 minutes, 1-1. 

 Rooney ended the season top scorer on 11 goals, after 24 starts and 5 appearances, and Scholes contributed 9 as second striker, 29 appearances and 4 starts, but Nistelrooy returned just 6 goals, 3 of them penalties, which wasn’t enough to get the club a higher final league position than third, 19 points behind Chelsea’s title-winning 95. Smith, 22 starts and 9 appearances for 6 goals, was disappointing, as Nistelrooy’s tally, from 16 starts, and a single appearance as sub, was due to injury curtailing his opportunities, which suggested Smith’s chance in the side was forced and prolonged disadvantageously. Saha, nursing a knee injury, was out for September, and from November to January, 2004, and from February to April, 2005, 7 starts and 7 appearances for 1 goal. Although Bellion got the idea, 1 start and 9 appearances for 2 goals, as a bullet from the bench, he wasn’t successful enough, and if he didn’t start more games, it was for the same reason.

 Ronaldo, who’d score 48 goals for Real Madrid in 2014-15, after his transfer there for 2009-10 and £80m, made 25 starts and 8 appearances for 5 goals, as a future master learning his trade. As a provider of striking opportunities on the left, more accuracy had been demanded of winger, Giggs, 26 starts and 6 appearances for 6 goals, and Cristiano's involvement in the making and taking of chances would improve, although Giggs’ role was as a danger, rather than a striker. Of the 89 substitutions made, 7 were Phil Neville, who made 12 starts in his tenth season of playing in enough games to qualify for a title medal, 1995-96, 1996-67, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, and 2002-03, indicating how consistently great the achievement of the powerful contributor is.

 Also winner of the double in '96 and the treble in '99, as well as the F.A. Cup in 2004, at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, while Wembley was undergoing renovation, P. Neville’s final chance at glory, before transferred to Everton for £3m for 2005-06, was the F.A. Cup Final of 2005, against Arsenal, 0-0, a.e.t., and defeat, 4-5 on penalties; Carroll, Brown, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O’Shea (Fortune 77’), Fletcher (Giggs 91’), Keane, Scholes, Ronaldo, Nistelrooy, Rooney. Phil wasn’t selected and Gary was on the bench.

 Scholes missed the team’s second, German ‘keeper, Jens Lehmann, saving to his right a waist high shot that ought to have been lower, and closer to the left upright, which would have kept up the pressure on Arsenal, 2-1, rather than 1-1, with Arsenal given an opportunity to take the lead, with a goal in hand, as it were, which is what happened, as Swedish midfielder, Freddie Ljungberg, on as a 65th minute substitute for Dutch striker, Dennis Bergkamp, stepped up to make it, 2-1, at the expense of Northern Irish ‘keeper, Roy Carroll, signed for £2.5m from fourth tier club, League Two's Wigan Athletic, for 2001-02, initially competing with Barthez for a place between the sticks. Roy, missing his guess, going the wrong way, Ljungberg struck low into the left corner of the net.

 The Glazer family, with Joel and Avram, Malcolm’s sons, appointed to the board, became the new owners. The 2005-06 term was better in that the team won the 2006 League Cup Final against Premier League Wigan, 4-0, with goals from Rooney (2), Saha, and Ronaldo. Nistelrooy top scored, 28 starts and 7 appearances for 21 goals, with Rooney on 16 goals, 34 starts and 2 appearances, and Ronaldo the only other forward to approach double figures, 24 starts and 9 appearances for 9 goals, while Saha’s stats, 12 starts and 7 appearances for 7 goals, though ruled out of the first three months of the season by a hamstring injury, were the reason Nistelrooy, benched for the League Cup Final, would be transferred to Real Madrid for 2006-07. That, and the €14m fee. Of the 94 substitutions made, the most significant statistic was left winger, Kieran Richardson’s, whose 12 starts, and 10 substitute appearances for 1 goal, indicated the use of the provider as well as the scorer, although the most welcome statistic was Solskjaer’s appearance from the subs’ bench for Ronaldo on December 28th, 2005, in the 83rd minute of a draw, 2-2, at Birmingham City, St Andrew’s, 0 starts but 3 appearances, as the Norwegian was nursed back through injury by the physiotherapy and coaching staff.

 A long punt, right foot, straight upfield from the center, edge of his 18 yard box, from Dutch ‘keeper, Edwin van der Sar, £2m from Fulham, back headed by Saha, collected by Rooney on his right foot, saw Wigan captain and Dutch center back, Arjan de Zeeuw, nutmegged by Rooney, left footed, collide with French right back, Pascal Chimbonda, as Wayne burst through to shoot, right footed, center, edge of the ‘D’, into the right corner of the net, past Australia’s John Filan, substitute ‘keeper, on for Mike Pollitt in the 14th minute, 1-0, in the 2006 League Cup Final on 33 minutes. Gary Neville’s cross from the right edge of the 18 yard box, on 55 minutes, found Saha, his strike at the far post, rebounding off the ‘keeper, he then appeared to chest the ball over the line, 2-0. Swiss center back, Stéphane Henchoz, edge of the 18 yard box, center, attempting a low clearance, instead found Saha, right footed pass, low, along the ground to Ronaldo, inside the 18 yard box, right, striking the ball, low, right footed, left corner of the net, 3-0, on 61 minutes. Giggs’ left footed free kick on the right, the ball won in the air by Saha’s header, center of the 18 yard box, dropping for Ferdinand, edge of the penalty area, right, heading the ball towards the left post, Rooney turned quickly, anti-clockwise, directing the ball into the net, 4-0, on 61 minutes.

 The arrival of Serbian center back, Nemanja Vidić, from Spartak Moscow on January 5th, 2006, for £7m, and French left back, Patrice Evra, on January 10th from AS Monaco for £5.5m, during the winter transfer window, kept the club in the running for the league title, eventually runner-up, 8 points behind Chelsea on 91, but never below second place, after the arrival of Evra and Vidić. Keane, 4 starts and 1 further appearance, was released on November 18th, 2005, to join Scotland’s Celtic, where he won the double of league and League Cup, 3-0, against Dunfermline Athletic, with center forward, Dion Dublin, coming on for Roy in the 61st minute, directing a cross from right back, Paul Telfer, right footed, center, edge of the penalty area, behind him, into the bottom left corner, for Celtic’s third in the 90th minute.

 Signed from Cambridge United of the Second Division, which in 2004-05 was relabeled the Championship, England’s second tier competitive league, for £1m, Dion was United’s emergency center forward at the beginning of the 1992-93 season, 3 starts and 4 appearances for 1 goal away at Southampton in the 88th minute, right footed, right side of the penalty area, after a free kick on the right. McClair rose to head the ball down towards the goal, left, where the S’ton center back could only watch in horror, as the ball hit him, before rolling over to where Dublin could pounce. With the side having lost their opening two games, on August 15th, 1-2, 1992, at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane, and on August 19th, 0-3, 1992, to Everton at Old Trafford, before drawing the third, at home to Ipswich, 1-1, they beat ‘The Saints’ at The Dell, 1-0, to record their first win of the campaign. Though the squad went on to win the title, and Hughes scored in the 88th minute for a win, 1-0, Welsh defender, Eric Young, broke Dublin’s leg in a tackle away at Crystal Palace on September 2nd, 1992, and the arrival of Cantona so limited his chances of starting he accepted a transfer to Coventry City for 1994-95 at £2m.

 The club finished 2006-07 as champions, 6 points clear of Chelsea with 89. Ronaldo top scored with 17 goals, 31 starts and 3 appearances, with Rooney on 14, 33 starts and 2 appearances, but hamstring and groin injury largely sidelined Saha after Christmas, 2006, 18 starts and 6 appearances for 8 goals. Ferguson’s response was to court Swedish striker, Henrik Larsson, age 35, at the end of his Barca contract, returning to Sweden’s Allsvenskan, where he began, and a former club, Helsingborg, loaned Henrik to Ferguson from January 1st to March 12th, 2007, 5 starts and 2 appearances for 1 goal.

 In the Final of the 2006 UEFA Champions League, which Barca won, 2-1 against Arsenal, Larsson came on for Dutch central midfielder, Mark von Bommel, on 61 minutes, providing assists for Cameroon center forward, Samuel Eto’o, and Brazilian, Juliano Belletti, on for Spanish right back, Oleguer, on 71 minutes. Andrés Iniesta, on for Brazilian defensive midfielder, Edmilson, on 46 minutes, in the inside left channel found Larsson, on 76 minutes, left corner of the 18 yard box, whose one-touch, right-footed lay-off released Eto’o, running on, with the ball, right footed strike, right corner of the net, 1-1, Barca having conceded a goal to center half, Sol Cambell, on 37 minutes, near the penalty spot, heading French center forward, Thierry Henry’s free kick, from the right, outside the 18 yard box, into the top left corner of Spanish ‘keeper Víctor Valdés’ net. Larsson, right, outside the 18 yard box, close to the goal line, left footed, along the turf to Belletti, on 80 minutes, right corner of the penalty area, angle narrowing as the ball runs on, Juliano, right footed, Spanish ‘keeper Manuel Almunia, on for Jens Lehmann on 18 minutes, sent off for bringing down Eto’o outside his area, his legs, shot through, near post, 2-1.

 Alan Smith, being tried as Keane’s replacement, during a defeat to Liverpool, 0-1, in the F.A. Cup 5th Round, on February 18th, 2006, attempting to block a free kick by Norwegian left back, John Arne Riise, broke his leg, 6 starts and 3 appearances, 0 goals in 2006-07, before being transferred to Newcastle for £7m for 2007-08. Of the 94 substitutions made, the most significant were Solskjaer’s 10, 9 starts for 7 goals, after a knee injury caused him to miss 2005-06, while further surgery in late February caused him to miss a month, until the defeat of Blackburn on March 31st , 2007, 4-1, with Ole, on for Cristiano in the 84th minute, getting the fourth goal in the 89th.

 Park Ji Sung, a Republic of Korea right winger, signed from PSV Eindhoven for £4m for 2005-06, making 23 starts and 11 appearances for 1 goal, nicknamed ‘Park bench’ initially, as fans expected another expensive bench warmer, incurring an ankle injury in a defeat of Spurs, 1-0, at Old Trafford on September 9th, 2006, after coming on for Richardson on 70 minutes, that kept him out for six months, completed knee surgery by Dr Richard Steadman at the Steadman Clinic, Vail, Colorado, United States, on April 28th, 2007, after incurring an injury at home to Blackburn, 4-1, on March 31st, 2007, during which he scored the team’s third goal in the 83rd minute, sliding it in, right footed, after US' ‘keeper,  Brad Friedel, couldn’t hold on to Ronaldo’s powerfully struck, right footed, direct free-kick, making Park, 8 starts and 6 appearances for 5 goals, unavailable for selection until 2007-08, but known in his native Korea as ‘Three-Lungs Park’ for his seemingly inexhaustible desire and capacity to assist, did return.

 A narrow defeat of Italy’s Serie A team, AC Milan, 3-2, in the European Champions League semi-final first leg at home, was overturned at the San Siro, 0-3, 3-5 on aggregate, with Rooney’s second goal in the 90+1 minute at Old Trafford, after Giggs outside the ‘D’, in the inside right position, passed left footed, right, to Wayne, edge of the ‘D’, who struck the ball, low, beyond diving Brazilian ‘keeper, Dida, inside the right upright, 2-3, indicative of the difficulty posed by I Rossoneri.

Disappointment was doubled, as the team lost to Chelsea in the 2007 F.A. Cup Final, 0-0, with 30 minutes of extra time to come; van der Sar, Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand, Heinze, Carrick (O’ Shea 112’), Scholes, Fletcher (Smith 92’), Giggs (Solskjaer 112’), Ronaldo, Rooney. Ivory Coast center forward, Didier Drogba, in the 116th minute, edge of the 18 yard box, center, back to goal, inside of his raised right boot to a ball, right foot, from Nigeria’s Mikel John Obi, center midfield, found Lampard, to his left. Drogba, turning, running towards the penalty spot, Frank, first touch, right footed, dinking the ball over to him there, Didier strikes the ball into the left corner of the net, beyond ‘keeper, van der Sar, 0-1, in the first F.A. Cup Final to be played at the new Wembley Stadium.

  In 2007-08 the club won the double of European Champions and Premier League, 87 points from Chelsea’s 85, although it was nearly Chelsea, as the team beat them in the UCL Final, 1-1, a.e.t., 6-5 on penalties, after defeating Barca, on aggregate, 1-0, following a Scholes strike, right footed, from left of the ‘D’, after an attempted clearance by Barca’s Italian right midfielder, Gianluca Zambrotta, left corner of the 18 yard box, resembling an inch perfect pass, lashed from the bridge of Paul’s right boot, into the top right corner of ‘keeper Valdés’ net, on 14 minutes, in the second leg at Old Trafford. ‘CR7’, as he came to be famed for his # 7 shirt, Cristiano Ronaldo, top scored with 31 goals, from 31 starts and 3 appearances, with Argentine, Carlos Tevez, on loan from Media Sports Investments (MSI), on 14 goals, from 31 starts and 3 appearances, while Rooney weighed in with 12, 25 starts and 2 appearances.

 Of 104 substitutions, the most significant were Saha’s 11, 6 starts for 5 goals, injured for a month in early January, and out for almost the rest of the season, following a hamstring injury against Bolton, 2-0, at Old Trafford on March 19th, 2008, before being transferred to Everton for 2008-09, and Owen Hargreaves', right midfielder, transferred from Bayern for £17m for 2007-08, 16 starts and 7 appearances for 2 goals, before patellar tendonitis ruined his career, while Portuguese right winger, Nani, 16 starts and 10 appearances for 3 goals, transferred from Sporting CP Lisbon for €25.5m, represented the coaching ideal of a game killer, who could come off the bench.

 Wes Brown, right back, on the right wing, a  throw-in from Brown to Scholes, shadowed by French left wing, Florent Malouda, one-two, Scholes, outside of his right boot, back to Brown, tight on the touchline, unable to move past Frank Lampard, one-two, outside of his right boot, back to Paul, around Frank, Brown gets the ball back, ‘magic triangle', outside of Paul's right boot, carrying the ball to the right corner of the 18 yard box, left footed cross, finds the head of Ronaldo, leaping, center, outside the penalty area, bottom left corner of the net, 1-0, cancelled out by central midfielder, Lampard, following a long-range shot by Ghanaian right back, Michael Essien, deflecting first off Vidić, and then Ferdinand by the penalty spot, causing van der Sar to lose track of the ball, Frank running in, left of the penalty spot, left boot, goal, center, 1-1, on 45 minutes.

 Extra time producing no result, Ronaldo's was the first missed penalty, with Lampard making it, 2-3, but Chelsea center back and captain, John Terry, slipped and fell on his arse in the Moscow rain at the Luzhniki Stadium, and the ball hit the right post. All square and ‘sudden death'. French center forward, Nicholas Anelka, on for right midfielder, Joe Cole, on 99 minutes, was next to miss, which meant  Giggs’ previous successful kick from the spot was the winning goal; van der Sar, Brown (Anderson 120+5)', Ferdinand, Vidić, Evra, Hargreaves, Scholes (Giggs 87’), Carrick, Ronaldo, Rooney (Nani 101’), Tevez.

 The team lost the Final of the 2008 Super Cup on August 29th to Russia's Zenit Saint Petersburg, 1-2, at Stade Louis II, Monaco, with Vidić replying on 73 minutes, ball struck hard with the bridge of the left boot, into the net, after Tevez, corner of the penalty area, left, by the goal line, right footed, passed to him, unobstructed, inside the area, level with the left post; van der Sar, G. Neville (c) (Brown 76’), Ferdinand, Vidić, Evra, Fletcher (Park Ji Sung 60’), Scholes, Anderson (O’Shea 60’), Nani, Rooney, Tevez.

 When center back Vidić was sent off on 49 minutes, elbowing Argentine striker, Claudio Beiler, during the 2008 World Club Cup Final on December 21st, 2008, at International Stadium, Yokohama, Japan, against Ecuador's LDU Quito, the side was again successful after reorganization, owing much to the spectrum of substitutes to choose from, with Northern Ireland's center back, Jonny Evans, on 51 minutes, coming on for Argentine center forward, Tevez. Rooney, collecting a pass on the left edge of the 18 yard box from right wing, Cristiano, before striking on 73 minutes past 'keeper, Jose Francisco Cevallos, 1-0.

 The title was won with 90 points, 4 ahead of Liverpool. Bulgarian striker, Dimitar Berbatov, signed for £30.75m from Spurs, 29 starts and 2 appearances for 9 goals, would improve. Cristiano top scored, 31 starts, 2 appearances, 18 goals, while Wayne weighed in with 12, 25 starts and 5 appearances, and Carlos, 18 starts, 11 appearances, 5 goals, looked less than it was, as he scored 6 goals on the way to the club’s winning the 2009 League Cup, and 4 on the F.A. Cup run that saw the side lose to Everton in the semi-final, 0-0, a.e.t., 2-4 on penalties.

 Of the 98 substitutions made, Italian Frederico Macheda, 2 starts and 2 appearances for 2 goals, stands out. United won the title by 4 points and 17 years Frederico won 4 points. On for Nani on 61 minutes, netting the 90+3 minute winner, 3-2, against Villa at Old Trafford on April 5th, 2009. Giggs, in the inside left position, midfield, left footed, along the ground, Macheda, inside the 18 yard box, back heels, loses right back, Luke Young, turns and strikes, right footed, past ‘keeper Friedel, the ball curling deliciously into the right side netting, and again, 2-1, on for Berbatov on 75 minutes in the following league game at S'land's Stadium of Light on April 11th, inside the 18 yard box left of the ‘D’,  Carrick’s shot, outside of the ‘D’, center midfield, Frederico left footed, 75th minute, flicking it past Scots’ ‘keeper, Craig Gordon, low, right corner of the net.

 The League Cup Final of 2009, as had become traditional, saw the younger Academy players, and squad members, defeat Spurs, 0-0, a.e.t., 4-1 on penalties, with Giggs, Tevez, Ronaldo, and Brazilian midfielder, Anderson, transferred from Portugal’s Porto for 2007-08 and €30m, converting the spot kicks; Foster, O'Shea (Vidić 76’), Ferdinand (c), Evans, Evra, Ronaldo, Gibson (Giggs 91’), Scholes, Nani, Welbeck (Anderson 56’), Tevez. Industrious Eire midfielder, Darren Gibson, made 1 start and 2 appearances in the league, while future England ‘keeper, Ben Foster, made 2 starts, and Danny Welbeck, who’d play center forward for England, made 1 start and 2 appearances for 1 goal.

 The club again reached the UCL Final, losing, 0-2, to Barca at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy, with eyebrows raised at the benching of Scholes; van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidić, Evra, Anderson (Tevez 46’), Carrick, Giggs (c) (Scholes 75’), Park Ji-sung (Berbatov 66’), Rooney, Ronaldo. Eto’o, on 10 minutes, central midfielder, Andrés Iniesta, a one-two with midfield partner, Xavi, bursting through from inside his own half, between Anderson, right, and Carrick, left, finding Samuel, right side of the 18 yard box, cutting inside, on his right foot, leaving Vidić stranded, right footing the ball to van der Sar’s left, 1-0, and Argentina’s attacker-playmaker, Lionel Messi, on 70 minutes, regarded as the world’s best, a flying header, left corner of the penalty area, ball crossed by Xavi, well outside the 18 yard box, right corner, over van der Sar, and to his left, dropping luxuriously into the bottom right corner of the net, 2-0.

 Ronaldo duly left for Real Madrid, while Antonio Valencia, Ecuador right wing, was signed from Wigan for £16m, 29 starts, 5 appearances for 5 goals, that 2009-10 season. Rooney was top scorer with 26 goals from 32 starts, with Berbatov on 12 from 24 starts and 9 appearances. The title was lost by 1 point to Chelsea on 86. Of the 102 substitutions made, former Liverpool striker, Michael Owen’s, freed by Newcastle, were most illuminating, 5 starts, and 4 appearances for 3 goals, had the look of the bench assassin.

  The team made it through to the 2010 League Cup Final, defeating Villa, 2-1, after falling behind to a penalty, taken by central midfielder, James Milner, side footed finish to the bottom right corner, on 5 minutes, United’s # 2 ‘keeper, Pole, Tomasz Kuszczak, £2.125m from WBA for 2007-08, going the wrong way, after Vidić dragged center forward, Gabriel Agbonlahor, down by his shirt, left of the eighteen yard box, level with the left corner of the penalty area, 0-1. Berbatov, dispossessing Eire center back, Richard Dunne, by the right touchline, just inside the Villa half, roared down the wing, cutting inside, brought down at the right corner of the 18 yard box, the ball spilling left, into the path of Owen, running in, striking right footed, low, left corner of the net, 1-1, on 14 minutes. Park Ji Sung, right corner of the 18 yard box, cross right footed, Rooney header, at about the penalty spot, over ‘keeper, Friedel, dropping implacably, bottom right corner of the net, 2-1, on 74 minutes; Kuszczak, Rafael (G. Neville 66’), Vidić, Evans, Evra (c), Valencia, Carrick, Fletcher, Park Ji-sung (Gibson 85’), Berbatov, Owen (Rooney 42’).

 The 2010-11 Premier League was won with 80 points, 9 more than Chelsea. Gary Neville retired, and no-nonsense center back, Chris Smallng, was signed from Fulham, 11 starts and 5 appearances. The club never lost 1st position in the table after November 27th, 2010, when Blackburn were beaten at Old Trafford, 7-1, with Berbatov’s 5 an indication of the success of three points for a win, and the shift away from utility players towards strikers, as the three substitute allowance afforded the selection of more specialized skills. Berbatov top scored with 20, 24 starts and 8 appearances, while Rooney weighed in with 11 goals, from 25 starts and 3 appearances.

  Strikers, like Mexico's Javier Chicharito ‘little pea’ Hernández, as his green-eyed father, Javier Hernández Gutiérrez, was Chicharo, ‘pea’, a player with ‘Tecos’, Guadalajara, winner of the 1993-94 Primera División, remain at a premium. Chicharito, signed by Ferguson from Chivas Guadalajara for €7.5m, 15 starts, 12 appearances for 13 goals, was hungry for success. The Maracanã, largest stadium in Brazil has a smaller stadium close by, Maracanãzinho, ‘little’ Maracanã, while the big stadium looks like an eye from the air; the monster, jealousy, where the green-eyed god is worshipped. Javier’s grandfather, Tomás Balcázar González, a forward with the Guadalajara campeonísimo, 8 titles in 10 years, scored Mexico’s second on 85 minutes in the 1954 World Cup against France, 2-3, Charmilles Stadium, Geneva, Switzerland, although Mexico finished last in Group 1.

 Of the 99 substitutions made, apart from Chicharito, Owen's, 1 start and off the bench on 10 occasions for 2 goals, exemplified expectations. Expected to be able to play full back and center back also, an echo of the total football advocated by the Dutch, in the halcyon days of Cruyff at Ajax, the epitome of the new breed were players like Ronny Johnsen, who could play center back, midfield, on the wing, or at center forward, and Valencia, right wing, right midfield, or right full back, while two-footed Nani could play in any of the five positions across the front line; outside right, inside right, center forward, outside left and inside left, as well as left midfield or right, inverted or otherwise, and either full back role, although his value elsewhere to the side made that option an unforeseen rarity, occurring in the case of injury, or a sending off.

 Although the UCL Final was reached, the side lost 1-3 at Wembley to Barca, despite Rooney’s goal from the inside right position, cutting in from the right wing, looking to Nani, inside the 18 yard box, corner, right, flicked with the outside of his right boot, hitting Nani’s right hip, the ball dropping to the Portuguese winger’s right foot, one-two, Rooney receiving the ball back, on the run, right footed, center of the 18 yard box, 1-1, on 34 minutes, ball curling right to left, into the top corner of ‘keeper Valdés‘ net; van der Sar, Fábio (Nani 69’), Ferdinand, Vidić (c), Evra, Valencia, Carrick (Scholes 77’), Giggs, Park Ji-sung, Rooney, Hernández.

 Ferguson had signed Brazil’s da Silva twins, as (right) full backs, cover for Gary Neville, though Rafael began as a striker, and Fábio, a defensive midfielder, from Brazil’s Fluminense, age 17, in January 2007, although the twins, and such are often thought telepathic, wouldn’t be eligible to play until 2007-08, when 18 years. While Rafael, 15 starts and 1 appearance in 2010-11, was an unused attacking right back amongst the substitutes for the 2009 UCL Final, lost 0-2 to Barca, Fábio, 5 starts and 6 appearances for 1 goal, made the 2011 UCL Final, lost 1-3 to Barca, as a right back, for his defensive expertise, demonstrating the highly specialized nature of substitutions.

  The title in 2011-12 was won by Manchester City, on a goal difference of +64 to Manchester United’s  +54, with the same number of points, 89, for a number of interesting reasons. Ferguson brought Spain’s  ‘keeper, David de Gea, from Atlético Madrid for £18.9m, Phil Jones, center back, from Blackburn for £16.5m, who took some time to reach a defensive understanding and partnership, left winger Ashley Young from Villa for £17m, and dynamic Japanese midfielder, Shinji Kagawa, 17 starts, 3 appearances, for 6 goals, including a hat-trick on March 2nd, 2013, against Norwich, 4-0, at Old Trafford, transferred for £12m from German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. Berbatov, 5 starts and 7 appearances for 7 goals, had an excellent strike rate, which suggested he’d score more if picked, but Ferguson persisted with Welbeck, 23 starts and 7 appearances for 9 goals. Rooney top scored, 32 starts, 2 appearances, 27 goals, while Hernández exemplified the role of the striker as substitute, 18 starts and 10 appearances for 10 goals.

 Having retired at the end of 2010-11, being given a testimonial against New York Cosmos, latter day champions of the North American Soccer League, with Brazil’s glittering center forward, Pelé, and cool German sweeper, Franz Beckenbauer, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, Scholes agreed to return as player coach, 14 starts, 3 appearances, 4 goals, after consecutive defeats, with the club placed 2nd, 2-3 against Blackburn, on 31st December, 2011, at Old Trafford, though Berbatov headed in, after a shot from Rafael, 1-2, before Valencia, on the right, played him in to sweep in a shot from 10 yards out, 2-2, and 0-3 to Newcastle on January 4th, 2012, at St James’s, but the terrace chant, ‘Paul Scholes, he scores goals’, wasn’t enough to get them.

 Of the 100 substitutions made, most significant were French left central midfielder Paul Pogba’s 3, an Academy graduate, whose limited opportunities persuaded him to leave from 2012-13 for Serie A giants Juventus, costing van Gaal’s Portuguese successor, José Mourinho, £89.3m to secure his return for 2016-17. Making 5 starts and 5 appearances, Tom Cleverley, highly regarded by Ferguson, would play a significant role as a midfield ball-player, potent in attack, the following season, 2012-13, 18 starts and 4 appearances for 2 goals, when Alex brought Robin van Persie from Arsenal for £24m to supply the goals the side lacked, 35 starts, 3 appearances, and 26 goals, before Alex retired.

 The club finished 11 points ahead of Manchester City on 89. Rooney, 22 starts and 5 appearances for 12 goals, and Hernández’ 9 starts, 13 appearances, and 10 goals, neatly exemplified the paradox of the ageing reliable striker, and ‘The Baby Faced Assassin’, as Solskjaer was called, coming onto the field off the bench when a goal was of paramount necessity. Welbeck had gotten the idea, 15 starts and 10 appearances for 9 goals.

 Although Moyes’ short-lived sojourn in the manager’s seat for 2013-14 was characterized by players, who’d been used to contributing, left to wither away, added to the squad were, Spain’s Juan Mata from Chelsea for £37.1m, a left-footed replacement for Giggs, 6 starts and 6 appearances in his retirement season, age 40. Mata, who’d also serve as an inverted right wing, or inside right, 14 starts, 1 appearance and 6 goals. Belgium's tireless midfielder, up-and-down the pitch ceaselessly, using his aerial advantage, 6’ 4” (1.94m) in support of the attack, Marouane Fellaini, £27.5m from Moyes’ former club, Everton, 12 starts and 4 appearances, and Belgian Adnan Januzaj, an Academy graduate, left footed, playmaker, who just didn’t have the bigness of body to go with his skill, 15 starts, 12 appearances, for 4 goals. Of the 106 substitutions made, the most significant stats were Hernández, 6 starts and 18 appearances for 4 goals, indicating Moyes didn’t believe he should start, and that he didn’t get enough goals as the super sub he’d demoted him to be. Rooney top scored with 17 from 27 starts and 2 appearances, while van Persie weighed in with 12 from 18 starts and 3 appearances, but the club finished 7th and Moyes was replaced by van Gaal for 2014-15.

 Upon Malcolm’s passing, on May 8th, 2014, Joel and Avram Glazer remained co-chairmen. Though largely despised, as a meaningless series of ‘friendlies’, the pre-season International Champions Cup, organized in the United States for clubs with a global standing, had some significance. United’s Group A contained Inter, Roma, and Real, while Group B contained Liverpool, Olympiacos of Greece, Manchester City and Milan. After a round robin, United and Liverpool topped their groups, and the Manchester club won the final at Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida, 3-1, with goals from Mata, Rooney, and Jesse Lingard, an inverted left winger, or inside forward, who also played on the right, as he was right footed, on as a substitute; de Gea; Jones, Smalling, Evans (Blackett 46’); Valencia (Shaw 8’), Fletcher (Cleverley 46’), Herrera (Lingard 78’), Young; Mata (Kagawa 69’); Rooney (c), Hernández (Nani 69’).

 Hernández’ deep cross from out by the right corner of the 18 yard box found Rooney, running in, left corner of the penalty area, left foot, instep, on 55 minutes, directing the ball back across the mouth of the goal, inside the side netting by the far post, right, 1-1, Luke Shaw, brought from S’ton for £30m, left back, his position, on for injured right back, Valencia, crossing, outside the corner of the 18 yard box, finding Mata, left edge of the ‘D’, turning to strike, left footed, goal, center, on 57 minutes, 2-1. Cross from the right, Nani, outside the 18 yard box, midway along it, back towards Kagawa, traps the ball, right of the ‘D’, inside, sets up the ball for Lingard, strikes, on 88 minutes, right footed, low, inside the right upright, 3-1.

 Rooney, 33 starts for 12 goals, and van Persie, 25 starts and 2 appearances for 10, found support in Mata, 27 starts and 6 appearances for 9 goals. Argentina’s center back/left back, Marcos Rojo, £16m from Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon, right winger, Ángel Di María, £59.7m from Real Madrid, were added by van Gaal. Spain’s playmaker, Ander Herrera, from Athletic Bilbao for €36m, and Daley Blind from Ajax for £13.8m, a utility player capable of defensive midfield duties, left back, or center back roles, and who was probably the most useful buy of all. Blind started 25 games for 2 goals, and because of his solidity, van Gaal was able to look at his options in several positions.

 Of the 108 substitutions made, Radamel Falcao’s, a Columbian striker, El Tigre, ‘The Tiger’, on loan from AS Monaco, 14 starts and 12 appearances for 4 goals, indicated the direction of coaches’ thinking. The hungry for goals striker, on the bench like a caged tiger, waiting to spring. The club finished 4th in the table, qualifying for the UCL, while the list of those shown the door was extensive. Ferdinand was released, Vidić left on a free to Inter, Evra was transferred to Juvé for £1.2m, Kagawa returned to Dortmund for £6.3m, Welbeck was transferred to Arsenal for £16m, Fletcher left on a free to West Ham, and Anderson left on a free to Brazil’s Internacionale, while Nani, loaned to Sporting CP, Hernández, loaned to Real Madrid, and Cleverley, loaned to Aston Villa, wouldn’t return to ‘the theater of Dreams’, as van Gaal shaped his own squad.

 Anthony Martial, French center forward, brought from AS Monaco for £36m, 18 years, top scored with 11 goals, from 29 starts and 2 appearances, which didn’t look good, as Rooney was second with 8, from 27 starts and 1 appearance. A low goals total meant the club finished 5th in the 2015-16 term, qualifying for Europe’s second tier Europa League, successor to the Fairs Cup, integrated within the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in 1971, as the UEFA Cup, and retaining the same trophy, the ‘U Cup’ of the Europa League from 1999.

 Memphis Depay, an inverted left winger, right footed, from PSV for £25m, and right winger, Bastian Schweinsteiger, from Bayern Munich for £6.5m, were van Gaal’s flexi-wings. France’s Morgan Schneiderlin, defensive midfielder, signed from S’ton for £25m, and Italian Matteo Darmian, full back or center back, for £12.7m from Milan, represented van Gaal’s defensive thinking, with an eye on three at the back with wing halves, corresponding to Valencia and Young, but also the sweeper system, catenaccio in Italy1 requiring the astuteness of full back, Matteo, terzino volante, free to bolt, while the other defenders man-mark.

 Van Persie was transferred for £4.5m to Turkey’s Süper Lig club, Fenerbahçe, joining Nani, transferred there for £4.25m, Rafael to French Ligue 1 club, Lyon, for £2.5m, Di María to PSG for £44m, Hernández to German Bundesliga club, Bayer Leverkusen, for £8.75m, and Evans to WBA for £6m. As ‘a new broom sweeps clean’, van Gaal bolted the door behind his swept. The team for the 2016 F.A. Cup Final was sophisticated, as analysis of the list of substitutes reveals; de Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Blind, Rojo (Darmian 66’), Carrick, Rooney (c), Mata (Lingard 90’), Fellaini, Martial, Rashford (Young 72’).

 The unused substitutes were, apart from Argentine ‘keeper, Sergio Romero, Jones, Herrera, and Schneiderlin. As Young could play left back, Darmian could be free, if it became necessary to defend a lead. Unfortunately, center back, Smalling, was sent off in the 105th minute of extra time, the game having ended, 0-0, after 90 minutes, for holding onto the leg of Crystal Palace's Democratic Republic of the Congo left winger, Yannick Bolasie, although van Gaal’s plan remained sufficiently organizational. With Smalling, sent off, and all of the three substitutes permissible used, Jones, the center back on the bench, couldn’t fill in.

 Young was switched to left back, although the side could have played three at the back, as they’d been coached to do. With Carrick dropping back from midfield, alongside Blind, and ‘door bolt’ Darmian, Valencia, a former right winger, converted to right back, and Young, similarly, could have deployed as wing backs, without losing any defensive capability, or midfield creativity, as Carrick would be the door to Darmian’s bolt.

 Van Gaal opted to leave the midfield unchanged, with Lingard as a striker, on as a 90th minute substitute for Spain's left footed inverted right winger, Mata, alongside rising star, Marcus Rashford, 18 years, 11 starts for 5 goals, since his Premier League debut on February 28th, 2016, in the home win against Arsenal, 3-2, striking right footed a crossed ball from right back, Varela, wide on the right, on 29 minutes, outside the penalty area, level with the left upright, top right corner of the net, 1-0, and on 32 minutes, just outside the penalty area, center, heading down a Lingard lobbed ball, right footed from inside the right corner of the 18 yard box, one bounce, inside the left post, 2-0, although Jesse would drop back into midfield when Palace had possession. On 110 minutes, Jesse volleyed right footed from the right of the 'D', edge of the 18 yard box, scoring top left corner of the goal, past 'keeper, Wales' Wayne Hennessy, 2-1.

 Palace, a throw-in, left, parallel with the 18 yard box, Senegal’s left back, Pape Souaré, to take, the ball with Bolasie, left winger, just inside the box, Darmian, tapping his ankle as he turns, left, looking to deliver a cross-shot, surprised by the quick, sharp pain, Bolasie gasps, stumbles, loses control. The defenders converge on the loosed, rolling, ball.

 What the English call ‘the flaw in the Italian character’ is the defence of a place in the team, rather than be blamed, which is the downside of catenaccio, as the onus is on self-protection, rather than the team. Although the use of three substitutes diluted this selfishness, as squad rotation came to the fore, a sending off, equivalent to incapacitating injury, before a sub was allowed in 1965, naturally stimulates the desire to avoid more blame, which is why Matteo’s defending was dangerously Latin.

 Blind, 21 starts and 3 appearances for 1 goal, was just as useful to new boss, José Mourinho, UCL 2003-04 winner with Porto, UCL 2099-10 winner with Milan, and soon to be Europa Cup winner with Manchester United. The best was yet to come from Rashford, 16 starts and 16 appearances for 5 goals, but José brought on a free from PSG an old striking head, 35 years, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Sweden’s center forward, 27 starts and 1 appearance for 17 goals, to ease the pressure on Marcus’ development, as well as Pogba, Armenia’s captain and right wing, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, from Borussia Dortmund, for £30m, 14 starts and 9 appearances for 4 goals, and Ivory Coast center back, Eric Bailly, £30m from Spain’s Villarreal, 24 starts and 1 appearance. Of the substitutions made, apart from Rashford’s 16, indicating he wasn’t a super sub, with only 5 goals and 16 starts, Rooney’s 10 and 5 goals from 15 starts was a sign of an old warrior needing to be rested, though better stats than Martial, 18 starts, 7 appearances, 4 goals, junior to Wayne by a decade.

 The club finished 6th but won the 2016-2017 season’s League Cup Final, 3-2, against Southampton, with Ibrahimović’s 25 yard direct free kick, in the 19th minute, left side of the ‘D’, bent, curling around and over the S’ton wall, to ‘keeper Fraser Foster’s right, bottom left corner of the goal, 1-0. On 38 minutes, left back, Rojo, outside the 18 yard box, left corner, left footed pass to Lingard, right of the ‘D’, struck low, right footed, right corner of the net, 2-0. Although Italian center forward, Manolo Gabbiadini, levelled, on 45+1 and 48 minutes, each side of half-time, after a low cross from right wing, James Ward-Prowse, outside the 18 yard box by the goal line, striking inside the penalty area, right near post, right footed, in front of ‘keeper de Gea, 2-1, and again, just outside the area, center goal, the ball bouncing on the penalty spot, after a header, coming down, high, from right edge of the ‘D’, Gabbiadini spinning, right to left, right boot, waist high, lashing shot, to de Gea‘s right, 2-2. Herrera, central right midfielder, inside left corner of the 18 yard box, cross to Ibrahimović, just outside the penalty area, level with the left upright, powerful header, on 87 minutes, goal, center, 3-2, bulging net; de Gea, Valencia, Bailly, Smalling (c), Rojo, Herrera, Pogba, Mata (Carrick 46’), Lingard (Rashford 77’), Martial (Fellaini 90’), Ibrahimović.

 The Europa Cup Final against Ajax, at Friends Arena, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden, won, 2-0, a low shot from Pogba, inside the ‘D’, right, deflected over surprised Cameroon ‘keeper André Onana’s head by Columbian central defender, Davinson Sánchez, center of the 18 yard box, on 18 minutes. A corner on the right, Smalling, center of the goal, just outside the penalty area, heading the ball, onto the white line, marking its boundary, bounces, high, and an overhead kick from Mkhitaryan (Lingard 74’), inside the area, looking over his head, right boot high, outstretched, contact, 2-0, on 48 minutes; Romero, Valencia (c), Smalling, Blind, Darmian, Herrera, Mata (Rooney 90’), Fellaini, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Rashford (Martial 84’).

 The team lost the Final of the European Super Cup, 1-2, to Real Madrid, at the Philip II Arena in Skopje, Macedonia, although Belgian center forward, Romelu Lukaku, bought for £75m from Everton, after Costa Rican ‘keeper, Keylor Navas, spilled a shot, left footed, outside the ‘D’, left, from Nemanja Matić, Serbian defensive midfielder, bought from Chelsea for £40m for 2017-18, outside the penalty area, right, right footed strike, low, left corner of the net, 1-2, on 84 minutes, began to justify the money spent, with 33 starts, 1 appearance and 16 goals. No other United player came close to double figures in 2017-18; de Gea; Valencia, Lindelof, Smalling, Darmian, Matić, Herrera (Fellaini 56’), Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Lingard (Rashford 46’), Lukaku.

 Daley Blind was amongst the unused substitutes, 4 starts and 3 appearances, before returning to Ajax for €16m for 2018-19. With the money available to the big clubs, the utility player had become a luxury that the desire for instantaneous recognition couldn’t afford. Fans, coaching staff, and the club board, want recognizable excellence, resulting in the productivity of the best mechanisms for each specialized task, as a business, making redundant the ‘jack-of-all trades and master of none’, ignoring the fact that utility is masterful. As complexity demands slavery, making the brain too tired to recognize that the right back can switch to left midfield, the utility player appears as viral to the damage, although it’d be more sensitive to observe that the human replacement for the machine part is replaceable until the replacer is able to perceive it’s a perfectly functioning hole.

A product of Southampton's youth policy, age 16, left back Luke Shaw made his first team debut on January 28th, 2012, against Millwall, 1-1, in the F.A. Cup 3rd Round, substituting for left winger, Jason Puncheon, in the 77th minute, before signing as a professional, after 'The Saints' beat Coventry City, 4-0, on April 28th, to finish second on 88 points below Reading's 89, but above West Ham United's 86, and gain promotion from English soccer’s 2nd tier Championship to 1st tier Premier League for the 2012-13 campaign. Manchester United's Dutch manager, Louis van Gaal, had him transferred for the 2014-15 season for £30m.
In an injury ravaged start to his career, Luke also had the talents of Argentine defender, Marcos Rojo, bought by van Gaal from Portugal’s Sporting CP, Lisbon, for £16m, former Aston Villa left wing, England’s Ashley Young, bought for £17m for 2011-12, and converted by then manager, Alex Ferguson, to left back, and left footed Dutch center back, Daley Blind, after a hamstring injury to Shaw kept him out of the team for the first month of the season, also bought by Gaal for 2014-15 from Eredivisie Ajax for £13.8m, to compete for a place in the team.
Rojo, a center half, also played at left back, as he did in the 2016 F.A. Cup Final for Gaal, though Rojo himself was replaced on 66 minutes by Italian full back, Matteo Darmian, transferred from Italy's AC Milan for 2015-16, after being on loan at Torino, Turin, Italy, for £12.7m, specifically as cover for Shaw, while Young came on as substitute for England center forward, Marcus Rashford, on 72 minutes, with French left wing Anthony Martial, switching to center forward, as Young took the left wing position. United drew, 1-1, but won, 2-1, a.e.t., through a volley on the right edge of the 18 yard box, right footed, top left corner of the net, from England's Jessie Lingard, on for Spain's left footed inverted right wing, Juan Mata, on 110 minutes.
Before the appointment of Portuguese manager, José Mourinho, as Gaal's successor for 2016-17, as the club wanted the league title as well as the F.A. Cup, Young, along with right wing, Ecuador's Antonio Valencia, similarly at right back in the 2016 F.A. Cup Final, Ashley having been converted to left full back by Ferguson, to win the last of his 13 league titles in 2012-13, before he retired to be replaced for 2013-14 by Everton's David Moyes.
Gaal had replaced Moyes, after David lost to Sunderland, 1-2 away, and 2-1 at home, with the aggregate score, 3-3, a.e.t., in the second leg, 1-2, on penalties at Old Trafford of the 2013-14 League Cup semi-final. A catalyst for dismissal. However, the non-availability of Shaw for the 2016 F.A. Cup Final was indicative of the problems that injury and competition for the left back role represented for him. In the 2014-15 season, ruled out by a hamstring complaint for the first part, Luke made 15 starts and 1 appearance from the substitutes' bench, as the specialist left back, while Rojo and Young had more opportunities to compete for that spot in 2015-16, after Shaw suffered a double leg fracture, subsequent to a 15th minute sliding tackle by Dutch club PSV Eindhoven's Mexican center back, Héctor Moreno, in a defeat, 1-2, on September 15th, 2015, at Philips Stadion, during a Group B Champions League qualifier for the knock-out Round of 16 stage. However, finishing 3rd the club were relegated to competing in European soccer's 2nd tier competition, where in the Europa League’s Round of 16 they lost to Liverpool, 1-3, on aggregate, 0-2, at Anfield, and 1-1 at home.
Shaw made only 5 starts in 2015-16, and 9 starts and 2 appearances in 2016-17, followed by 8 and 3 in 2017-18, which indicated not only the extent of his injury concerns with regard to recovery and fitness, but also the ability of the competition, for example, Darmian, who made 15 starts and 3 appearances for Mourinho in 2016-17, with Rojo at left back for the League Cup Final defeat of Southampton, 3-2, was at left back in the Europa Cup Final defeat of Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam, 2-0, at Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden, while Young was at left back for the defeat to Chelsea, 0-1, in the 2018 F.A. Cup Final.
Luke's England career was similarly disrupted, with only 8 appearances, subsequent to his 4 in 2014, after his debut as half-time substitute for Chelsea's Ashley Cole, while still at Southampton, in a friendly at London's Wembley Stadium against Denmark, 1-0, on March 5th, and second choice to Everton's Leighton Baines in the 2014 World Cup Finals, selected only for the Group D, Game 3, World Cup qualifier, at Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on June 24th, against Central America's Costa Rica, 0-0, eventual group winners, with former World Cup winners England and Italy eliminated, while another, Uruguay, progressed.
In the 2016 European Championship, with the Finals due to be held in France, without injured Shaw, who'd been fit for the Group E European Championship qualifiers against a European microstate within Italy's borders, San Marino, beaten 6-0, at Stadio Olimpico, Sarravalle, on September 5th, 2015, and against Switzerland, defeated 2-0, at Wembley, on September 8th, 2015, before England lost to Iceland, 1-2, at Grande Stade de Nice, Italy, in the Round of 16, with Tottenham Hotspur's Danny Rose at left back, while at the 2018 World Cup Finals in Russia, Ashley Young was at left full back for the semi final, 1-2, against Croatia, at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
Shaw was available for the inaugural 2018-19 UEFA Nations League, Portugal, Group A 4 defeat to Spain, 1-2, at Wembley on September 8th, 2018, while England, losing to the Netherlands in the semi final, 1-1, and 1-3, a.e.t., at Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, Guimarães, Portugal, June 6th, 2019, with Leicester City's Ben Chilwell at left back, on June 9th, again in the city of Guimarães, beat Switzerland, 0-0, a.e.t., 6-5 on penalties, in the game to decide 3rd and 4th place overall, but this time with Rose at left back.
For 2020's European Championship Finals, held multi-nationally in 11 countries, Shaw was selected for Group D, Game 3, to face the Czech Republic, won 1-0, on June 22nd at Wembley, and against Germany, won 2-0, on June 29th, in the Round of 16, at Wembley, before the defeat of Ukraine, in the quarter final, on July 3rd, 2021, 4-0, at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy, and then Denmark were beaten, 2-1, in the semi final, on July 7th, at Wembley, but the side lost at London’s national Stadium on July 11th, 2-3, to Italy on penalties, a.e.t., 1-1, with Shaw getting England's goal from open play on 2 minutes, striking low, left of 'keeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma, from a cross by Atlético Madrid's right back, Kieran Trippier, at the right corner of the 18 yard box to Luke at the far post.
Losing the final of the European Championships was a close affair, and Manchester United wouldn't win another trophy until 2022-23, when manager from the Netherlands' Ajax, Amsterdam, Erik ten Hag,  steered the side to victory in the 2023 League Cup Final, 2-0, against Newcastle United, having replaced Norwegian Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, former ‘red devils’ striker, and Mourinho's successor, after the 2018 F.A. Cup Final defeat to a penalty on 22 minutes by Eden Hazard, when the Belgian striker was recklessly challenged in the penalty area by England center back, Phil Jones, 0-1.
Shaw had made the left full back position his though, with 29 starts in 2018-19, and Daley Blind returned to Ajax for €16m, although Solskjaer assessed Brandon Williams, 19 years, 11 starts and 6 appearances in 2019-20, while Luke was making 20 starts and 4 appearances. For 2020-21 Ole had Brazil left back, Alex Telles, 8 starts and 1 appearance, transferred from Portugal's FC Porto for £15.4m to sustain the pressure on Shaw, 30 starts and 2 appearances, to perform. The competition was productive, as Ole's team made four semi-finals in two seasons; the League Cup, F.A. Cup and Europa Cup in 2019-2020, and the League Cup semi final in 2020-21.
The club also reached the 2021 Europa Cup Final at Gdańsk Stadion, Poland, beating Roma in the first leg of the quarter final at home, 6-2, but losing, 2-3 in Rome, winning 8-5 on aggregate, only to lose to Spain’s Villarreal in the Final, 10-11 on penalties, a.e.t., 1-1, with South America's Uruguayan center forward, Edinson Cavani, arriving on a free transfer, age 34 from French club, Paris Saint-Germain, striking twice in the semi final first leg against Roma, with United behind, 1-2, right footed volleying a pass infield from Portugal’s playmaker, Bruno Fernandes, to his right on 49 minutes into the top right corner, and a tap in on 64 minutes after Spanish ‘keeper, Pau López, was unable to hold onto Croydon born right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross shot from wide on the right.
Edinson, in the second away leg, put through by Fred, right footed, bursting through from inside his own half into Roma’s, receiving the pass infield, ran on to rifle a shot, on 39 minutes, into the net, a yard or so from the edge of the 18 yard box, 1-0,  then later, Fernandes, left outside the 18 yard box, chipping the ball towards Cavani, running in at goal from the right corner of the 18 yard box, center, a yard or so outside the penalty area, on 68 minutes, a header down, and inside the right post, 2-2.
On 55 minutes Cavani equalized in the Final against Villarreal, with a close-in strike from 5 yards, 1-1. Left back, Alfonso Pedraza, midway inside the 18 yard box, could only block, with the outside of his right boot, Rashford’s low effort, center field, from 20 yards, as far as Scots’ midfielder, Scott McTominay, who set himself to run at the ball to strike at goal. Although center back, Pau Torres, dove in with a sliding tackle to clear, Cavani, coming in from the left ahead of him, swept the ball with the inside of his right boot, past Argentine ‘keeper, Gerónimo Rulli, into the net.
The team lost comprehensively to Manchester City in the 2019-20 two leg League Cup semi final, 1-3, at home, with Williams at left back, but with Shaw, 1-0 away, 2-3 on aggregate, while in the F.A. Cup semi final the side again lost comprehensively to Chelsea, with Williams at left back, 1-3, and in the Europa cup semi final a loss, 0-2, to Spain’s Sevilla, at the RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany, with Williams again at left back. Luke was at left back against Manchester City in the 2020-21 League Cup semi final defeat, 0-2, and in the 10-11 Europa Cup Final loss to Villarreal, which led to Solskjaer's replacing in 2021-22, with former RB Leipzig manager, German Ralf Rangnick, an interim appointment on December 3rd, 2021, until season's end.
For Ole 2021-22 began optimistically, with Portugal’s legendary right wing, Cristiano Ronaldo, agreeing to leave Italy's Juventus for £12.85m. He'd won back-to-back titles there in 2018-19 and 2019-20, after leaving Real Madrid for £88m, where he'd won the European Champions League in 2014, against Spain’s Atlético Madrid, 1-1, and 4-1, a.e.t., on May 24th at the Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal; 2016, against Atlético Madrid, 1-1, a.e.t., 5-3 on penalties, on May 28th at the San Siro, Milan; 2017, against Italy's Juventus, 4-1, on June 3rd at the Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany, and 2018, against Liverpool, 3-1, on May 26th at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine, as well as the World Club Cup in 2014, against Argentina's San Lorenzo, 2-0, on December 20th at the Stade de Marrakech, Marrakesh, Morocco; 2016, against Japan's Kashima Antlers, 2-2, a.e.t., 4-2, on December 18th at the International Stadium, Yokohama, and 2017, against Brazil's Grémio, 1-0, on December 16th at the Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi, after leaving Old Trafford for £80m, where he'd won the 2008 Champions League Final at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, against Chelsea, 1-1, and ahead on 26 minutes from his own headed goal, through a cross on the right from the full back there, Wes Brown, 6-5, a.e.t., on penalties, with legendary Welsh left wing, Ryan Giggs, converting # 6.
Despite the legend’s desire to unfold further, scoring 6 of his 18 goals that term for Solskjaer, the club, 7th in the league on November 20th, was taken out of Ole’s control and given over to first team coach Michael Carrick who, caretaker manager until Ralf, saw his charges draw, 1-1 on November 21st against Chelsea at home.
Right footed inverted left wing, Jadon Sancho, brought from German Bundesliga club, Borussia Dortmund, for 2021-22 for £73m, and returning on loan there from January 11th, 2024, for a fee of £4m, ‘underperforming’, according to ten Hag, dispossessed Brazilian born Italian international defensive midfielder, Jorginho, who tried to control on his chest, just outside the center circle, inside the Chelsea half, a volleyed left footed lob from Fernandes, left of United’s 18 yard box. Sancho ran the ball into The Blues’ penalty area, rounding Senegalese ‘keeper, Édouard Mendy, and drove the ball right footed into the net on 50 minutes, 1-0.
On November 28th Carrick effectively relinquished his caretaker role, after a win away to Spain’s Villarreal in Group F of the Champions League, after securing for the club a place in the Round of 16, with Ronaldo, on 78 minutes, lobbing the ball over ‘keeper Rulli, after his too-short kick out to French defensive midfielder, Étienne Capoue, challenged by United’s Brazilian left midfielder, Fred, bounced favorably for Cristiano to side footed, lob, with the inside of his right boot, 1-0.
Fernandes, right of center, completing a sweeping cross field move from the left touchline, flicked a pass infield from Rashford, on as a 66th minute substitute for Martial, and in his preferred role of right footed inverted left winger, out to Sancho, at the right of the 18 yard box, almost level with the corner of the 6 yard box, and the England striker, right footed, struck high, on 90 minutes, into the top right corner of the net, 2-0.
With United on 10 points in Group F, at worst the club would complete their fixture list to finish second to Villarreal on goal difference. Completing their fixtures, home and away, against United, Italy’s Atalanta, and Switzerland’s Young Boys of Berne, Villarreal finished on 10 points, with a goal difference of +3. With a game against Young Boys at Old Trafford remaining, under Rangnick’s guidance, the team drew, 1-1, after a cross from Shaw out on the left wing near the goal line, was struck, left footed, falling backwards, low inside the left post, 1-0, by then 20 years England center forward, Mason Greenwood, later sent off on loan to get offers at Spain’s La Liga club, Getafe, after January, 2022, social media video recordings alleging rape, but 18 in 2019-20, when he reached double figures in goals, 10, for the first and only time in his then United career. With the same goal difference as Villarreal, +3, United finished top of Group F on 11 points.
Shaw made 19 starts and 1 appearance in 2021-22 before ten Hag's arrival. Curiously the Dutchman managed to leave the team without recognizable left back cover for Luke, 30 starts and 1 appearance in 2022-23, by the close of 2023-24, which significantly impinged on the club's progress, as they had to negotiate the later rounds of the F.A. Cup without Shaw. Telles, allowed to go on loan for 2022-23 to Spain's Sevilla, where he won the Europa Cup, 4-1 on penalties, a.e.t., with the match against Italy's Roma ending, at the Puskás Arena, Budapest, Hungary, after normal time, 1-1, was transferred for $7.8m to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr for 2023-24, where he was in the team that won the Arab Club Champions Cup Final at King Fahd Stadium, Taif, Saudi Arabia, on August 12th, 2023, against Al Hilal, also of Saudi Arabia, 2-1, alongside Ronaldo, given a free transfer by ten Hag, who got both goals.
Ten Hag's solution to his left full back issue was to bring from Everton Spain's Sergio Reguilón on loan, 5 starts and 4 appearances, but he was allowed to return to Everton on January 4th, shortly before Shaw's injury on 45 + 2 minutes, during the February 18th, 2-1, win at Luton Town, which in the absence of left footed Argentine center back, and sometime left back, Lisandro Martínez, foot and knee injury, brought from ten Hag's former club, Ajax, for 2022-23 for £47m, and Tyrell Malacia, knee, left back transferred from Holland's Feyenoord, also for 2022-23, for £13m, both out for most of the season, meant the side hadn't a left full back for the remaining F.A. Cup games.
A loan spell for Brandon Williams at then Premier League club, Norwich City, 2021-22, 23 starts and 3 appearances, didn't augur well. Though a rugged, long-legged tackler, with the capacity to cross strongly from the left, Williams didn't figure in ten Hag's 2022-23 league campaign, and loaned to England's 2nd tier Championship club, Ipswich Town, for 2023-24, he wasn't recalled after Shaw's setback. Spanish left back, Álvaro Carreras, 27 starts and 12 appearances, on loan to England's Championship club Preston North End in 2022-23, was again loaned, first on September 1st, 2023, to Granada in Spain's La Liga, then on January 17th, 2024, before Shaw's injury in February, who then had only 12 starts to his name, Carreras again went on loan to Portugal's Primeira Liga club Benfica, with the condition of his signing for €6m being that he should play half (8) of the Lisbon club's remaining games in their league season, which for ten Hag seemed to preclude Carreras being recalled, while emphasizing how it was Shaw hadn't any rivals.
At 3rd in Group 2, with Trippier at left back, England didn't qualify for the biennial 2020-21 UEFA Nations League Finals, Italy, but England's Luke, selected for the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Group I against Hungary, 4-0, on September 2nd, 2021, at the Puskás Arena, Budapest, and against Poland, 1-1, on September 8th, at Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw, before the return against Hungary, on October 12th, 1-1, at Wembley, was at left back for the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League, Holland, Group A3, Game 5, against Italy, on September 23rd, 2022, at Stadio San Siro, Milan, 0-1, and against Germany, Game 6, on September 26th, in which he scored England's first at Wembley on 77 minutes in a draw, 3-3, although England, bottom of Group A3, were relegated to Group B.
Shaw, selected for the 2022 World Cup Finals against Iran, on November 21st, in the Group B Game 1, experienced victory, 6-2, at the Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar, while drawing in Game 2 against the United States, 0-0, on November 25th at Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor, before winning in Game 3 against Wales, 3-0, on November 29th, at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, and beating Senegal in Game 4, 3-0, on December 4th, at Al Bayt, but losing the quarter final against France, 1-2, on December 10th, at Al Bayt.
Luke went on to play for England in the qualifiers for the 2024 European Championship, Germany, against Italy, Group C, winning 2-1, on March 23rd, 2023, at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples, and in the defeat of Malta, 4-0, on June 16th, at the Ta'Qali National Stadium, Valetta, as well as against North Macedonia, beaten 7-0, on June 19th, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and England's last opponent ahead of Shaw's February 2024 injury.
Ten years at 'the theater of Dreams', and some dreaming with ten Hag, deserves a testimonial, according to received soccer wisdom. Shaw was the latest in a considerable line of left back heroes for the faithful amongst the terraced ranks at the Stretford End to applaud. Eire's Johnny Carey, captain of the 1948 F.A. Cup Final winning side that beat Blackpool, 4-2. Roger Byrne, captain, and another left winger, 7 goals in 1951-52’s league title team, switched to left full back. Eire's Tony Dunne, left back in the 1968 European Cup Final defeat of Portugal's Benfica, 4-1, a.e.t., 1-1, at Wembley. Scot, Arthur Albiston, winner of the F.A. Cup Finals of 1977, against Liverpool, 2-1, 1983, against Brighton and Hove Albion, 4-0, after a replay, 2-2, and 1985, against Everton, 1-0. England left back, Lee Martin, lashing home the winner on 59 minutes in the 1990 F.A. Cup Final Replay, 1-0, after the first game ended, 3-3. Northern Ireland’s Denis Irwin's marathon stint as a right footed left back, after his transfer from Oldham Athletic for season 1990-91 for £650,000, during 7 of the team's championship winning seasons, as well as the 1999 European Cup Final in Spain at Barcelona's Camp Nou Stadium, 2-1, against German Bundesliga club, FC Bayern Munich. Fans have had some cheer from the left back position.
Although Shaw reportedly idolized Chelsea's Ashley Cole, prior to van Gaal’s injection of Luke's panache in 2014-15, his immediate predecessors in the left back role at United were equally as deserving. France's Mikaël Silvestre, five league titles before 2007-08, and his second European Champions League title in 2007-08, although France’s left back, Patrice Evra, edged him out of the starting line up, and Alex Ferguson’s converted left wing, Ashley Young, at left full back, assuring him and his players of their 13th league title in 2012-13.

Scots' midfielder, Scott McTominay, increased his stature during Louis van Gaal's tenure; Dutch manager of Manchester United appointed for the 2014-15 season's campaigning after the qualified success of his stewardship of the Netherlands' national side at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, organized by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA). Holland finished in third place, subsequent to their losing at the semi-final stage to Argentina, 4-2, on penalties, a.e.t., 0-0, at Arena Corinthians, São Paolo, July 9th, but beat Brazil, who'd lost to eventual winners, Germany, 7-1, in their Belo Horizonte, Estádio Mineirão semi-final on July 8th.
Although Germany had beaten Argentina, 1-0, in the Final, a.e.t., on July 13th, Rio de Janeiro, Estádio do Maracanã, Holland had beaten Brazil, 3-0, on July 12th in Brasilia’s Estádio Nacional third and fourth place play off, which was enough for the 'red devils' to appoint van Gaal as successor to former Everton boss, David Moyes, who’d always appeared a curious replacement for Alex Ferguson, 13 league titles, as Moyes' only claim to fame was to keep 'The Toffees' from relegation. When David's team lost the 2013-14 League Cup semi-final at home to Sunderland, 1-2, on penalties, van Gaal's appointment seemed fated.
Moyes took the reins on July 1st, 2013, and McTominay signed his first professional contract with the club in that same month. Making his debut under José Mourinho, appointed manager after van Gaal's United won the 2015-16 F.A. Cup Final, 2-1, against Crystal Palace, a.e.t., 1-1, ostensibly to improve the club's league position and potential for qualifying for the  Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) competitions, Scott spent his time under Moyes struggling due to his small size. However, gaining 14 inches during van Gaal's reign, McTominay made 22 starts, scoring 3 goals, for the U-21s in 2016-17, which brought him to the notice of Mourinho, who after putting him on the subs' bench, gave him his first appearance in a blue shirt on May 7th at Arsenal's North London Emirates Stadium, Islington, coming on for Spain’s left footed inside forward, Juan Mata, on 84 minutes, but losing, 0-2, after ex-red center forward Danny Welbeck's second for 'The Gunners' on 57 minutes to end a 25 game unbeaten run.
Scott got his first start on the last day of the 2016-17 league campaign, with the squad already EFL Cup winners against Sunderland, 3-2, and after the English Premier League season was over would go on to beat Ajax of Amsterdam, 2-0, on May 24th in the Europa League Final at Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden. With a view to minimizing the possibility of injuries, Mourinho gave opportunities to several more young players in the victory, 2-0, against Crystal Palace on May 21st at Old Trafford; midfielder Josh Harrop, who scored after 15 minutes, twisting and turning on the left of the 20 yard box, cutting inside onto his right foot to unleash an unstopped screamer; Swiss born 'keeper and Portuguese international, Joel Pereira, left back Demetri Mitchell, and Angel Gomes, then the club's youngest Premier League player, 16 and 263 days, on for captain and center forward, Wayne Rooney, on 88 minutes.
McTominay made 7 starts in 2017-18, and 6 appearances as substitute, during the club's league campaign, in which they finished runners up on 68 points, a long way 2nd behind Manchester City on 106, and Scott was on the substitutes' bench for the F.A. Cup Final defeat to Chelsea, 0-1, when a perfectly good goal from Chilean center forward Alexis Sánchez was disallowed after the ball, pushed out by the 'keeper, was stabbed home with grateful aplomb at close range.
A 21st century South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) innovation, Apertura and Clausera, divided the year into two league championship competitions, either between or within calendar years, and Alexis was in Chile’s Primera División Colo-Colo side that won back-to-back Clausura and Apertura from 2006-07, on loan from Italy’s Serie A club Udinese, transferred there on April 21st, 2006, for £1.7m from Chile’s Cobreola, and thereafter the 2008 Argentine Primera División Clausera with River Plate.
Returning to Udinese, Alexis was transferred to Spain’s Barcelona from 2011-12 for €26m; 2012-13 La Liga champions, before going to Premier League Arsenal from 2014-15 for £31.7m; F.A. Cup winners in 2015 and 2017. Brought  to United, on January 22nd, 2018, in a swap deal for Armenian captain and right wing, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, scorer of the second goal against Ajax with an overhead kick on 48 minutes in the 2017 Europa Cup Final, after France's Paul Pogba had opened the scoring with a long range deflected strike on 18 minutes, on 2 league goals for the term from 12 starts, Alexis would be given a free transfer by Solskjaer to Italy's Inter Milan, following a period on loan in 2019-20, after scoring once in 9 starts and 11 appearances for United in 2018-19.
Mourinho’s departure and Alexis’ were linked inextricably. Leaving on December 18th, 2018, with just 7 wins in 17 games, to be replaced by former striker, manager of Norway's Molde, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, that 2018 F.A. Cup Final goal, ruled out for offside, with the linesman's flag being raised after the ball was in the net, could have made all the difference to Alexis’ confidence as a striker and the club’s future with Mourinho.
Alexis played alongside sometime left winger, bought by Alex Ferguson for 2011-12 from Aston Villa for £17m, Ashley Young, at left back, with Belgian center forward and top scorer with 16, Romelu Lukaku, bought by Mourinho for £75m from Everton for 2017-18, on the substitutes' bench, because of doubts about his fitness, and all three would play for Inter in the 2019 Europa Cup Final defeat to Spain's Sevilla, 2-3, at the Olympic Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 29th, while United were left to rue what might have been, when 0-1 down in the 2018 F.A. Cup Final on 22 minutes to an Eden Hazard penalty, after a rash challenge on Chelsea's Belgian center forward by England center back, Phil Jones, who almost made amends on 63 minutes, heading a free kick, taken by England center forward, Marcus Rashford, wide on the right, after he himself was brought down, which goal-bound effort was pushed away from his right corner by the post, left handed by Belgian 'keeper Thibaut Courtois, onto the onrushing Sanchez's grateful knees.
While Romelu Lukaku's transfer to Inter for €80m was permanent immediately on August 8th, 2019, Sánchez’s wasn’t. 4 league goals that term, and substituting in the August 21st, 2020, Europa Cup Final, at the RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany, for central midfielder, Roberto Gagliardini, on 78 minutes, after going behind to Spanish side Sevilla, 2-3, due to a Lukaku own goal on 74 minutes, with Ashley Young on the left of midfield, after being transferred in January 2020 for €1.5m, Alexis’ transfer wouldn't become permanent until given a free by Solskjaer on August 6th, 2020, after which Inter would win Italy's 2020-21 Serie A, with former United left full back, Italian Matteo Darmian, joining them in October 2020 from Serie A club Parma, where he’d been transferred by Solskjaer for €1.5m on September 2nd, 2019, while Sánchez would score 7 times in 12 starts and 18 appearances.
The Solskjaer upheaval doubtless assisted McTominay, 9 starts and 7 appearances for 2 goals in 2018-19, and Fred, 13 starts and 4 appearances for 1 goal. Of the established midfield players only Pogba, winner of the World Cup in Russia with France in 2018, 4-2 against Croatia, at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, and top scorer in 2018-19 with 13 goals, seemed unchallengeable. While Moroccan Marouane Fellaini, brought with him from Everton by Moyes for his height and vision in support of the attack for £27.5m, and Serbia's defensive midfielder, Nemanja Matić, bought by Mourinho from Chelsea for £40m for 2017-18, were over 30 years, at 29 Spain's playmaker Ander Herrera, 'man of the match' in the 2017 Europa Cup Final defeat of Ajax, bought by van Gaal for his first 2014-15 season for €36m, was approaching 30, which suggested right footed McTominay, then 22 years, who could double as a center forward if necessary, had a future alongside left footed Brazilian, Fred, age 25, bought by Mourinho from the Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk on July 1st, 2018 for £47m.
'McFred', as the pair in midfield were called by fans, flourished, while Fellaini, appearing only twice as a substitute for Solskjaer, before being transferred to China's Shandong Luneng Taishan in January 2019, captained the team to the Chinese Super League in 2021, and the Chinese F.A. Cup in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Herrera, given a free to Paris Saint-German, won the French double of league and cup twice in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Matić, though his tenaciousness on the pitch survived Solskjaer's purge, his age couldn't. Freed by Solskjaer's Dutch successor for 2022-23, Ajax of Amsterdam's boss Erik ten Hag, Nemanja joined Roma for 2022-23 at 34, where opposite another casualty of ten Hag's purge, loaned to Spain's Sevilla for that season, Brazilian left back, Alex Telles, bought by Ole for £14.5m from Portugal's Porto, runner-up in the 2023 Europa Cup Final against Sevilla, 1-1, a.e.t., on May 31st at the Puskás Arena, Budapest, Hungary, 1-4 on penalties, he also made way for McFred.
Solskjaer's failure in four semi-finals and the 2021 Europa Cup Final on May 26th at Gdańsk Stadion, Poland, against Spain's Villarreal, 1-1, a.e.t., and 10-11 on penalties, with only Spanish 'keeper, David de Gea, missing his spot kick opportunity, was the cause of his dismissal, although clipping the wings to make inverted inside forwards to compensate for Fernandes' centrocampista role with a lone striker ahead of him, was a contributory factor. The McFred partnership lasted until ten Hag's taking over from former German boss at RB Leipzig, Ralf Rangnick, interim manager, appointed in December 2021, with Brazil’s hard-bitten attack-minded creative midfield destroyer, Casemiro, being brought from Real Madrid for £60m, while the emergence of calmly composed controller, new precocious midfield talent, left footed teenager, Kobbie Mainoo, was enough to convince ten Hag to transfer Frederico Rodrigues de Paula Santos, otherwise known as ‘Fred’, on August 13th, 2023, for €9.74m to Turkish Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe, Istanbul, for their 2023-24 season, which effectively dismantled McFred's engine room.
With Mourinho having guided the side to a runners up spot in European Champions League Group H, behind Juventus, Solskjaer’s selection beat Paris Saint-Germain, 3-1 away in the 2018-19 season's Round of 16, with Lukaku opening the scoring on 2 minutes, seizing on German right half back Thilo Kehrer's back pass to round PSG's ‘keeper and strike left footed from a tight angle, then left footed again on 30 minutes, making it 2-1, after Italian ‘keeper Gianluigi Buffon was unable to hold onto a distance effort from Rashford, while Marcus converted a 94th minute penalty, 3-1, after French left half back Presnel Kimpembe was adjudged to have handled a shot at goal by Portuguese right back, Diogo Dalot, on as a 35th minute substitute for Ivory Coast's injured Eric Bailly, to ensure United’s progress on the ‘away goals counting double’ rule, after losing, 0-2, at home. However, the team lost to Barcelona, 0-4 on aggregate in the quarter final; 0-1 at Old Trafford, and in Spain 0-3 at Camp Nou.
In Solskjaer's first full 2019-20 season, McTominay started 20 games, 7 as substitute, scoring 4 goals, while Fred had 23 starts, 6 as substitute, with the team, finishing 3rd in the league, making the semi-finals of the F.A. Cup, the League Cup, and the Europa Cup, the major innovation was the introduction in January 2020 for £47m of Bruno Fernandes from Portugal's CP Sporting, Lisbon, who'd complete a diamond behind a lone striker in front of him, while a left footed inverted winger on the right, and a right footed inverted winger on the left, essentially functioning as inside forwards, constituted the cutting edges.
With McTominay being earmarked for the role that England star, Paul Scholes, had formerly in midfield, as the player freed by the holding midfielder to go forward in support of the attack and score, Fernandes' 8 goals in 14 starts, with Marcus Rashford, 17 goals, and left footed inverted right winger, Anthony Martial, 17 goals, ahead of him, indicated a change in the way McTominay's midfield role could develop.
Failure to progress beyond the semi-final stages, against Manchester City in the League Cup, losing the first home leg, 1-3, with the side 0-3 at half time, before Rashford produced some hope in the second half with a clinical finish on 70 minutes, right of the penalty area, right footed, left corner, low, following a run from the halfway line by Mason Greenwood, and a defense-splitting pass from the 21 years center forward, but winning the second away leg, 1-0, with Matić, right of the penalty area, squeezing his shot inside the post, low into the right corner, left footed, on 35 minutes, after a City defender failed to head clear a Fred free kick, but Matić later sent off on 76 minutes, indicated that problems with the twin McFred engine in midfield, aligned as it was with Fernandes’ playmaker, behind a lone striker, and clipped wings, indicated the need for a tune up; if the ball was to be driven home by the forwards.
In the F.A. Cup semi-final the team lost, 1-3, to Chelsea, with Fernandes’ consolation penalty on 8 minutes, after winger, Callum Hudson-Odoi, appeared to kick at Martial, while they were defeated, 1-2, by Spain's Sevilla in the Europa Cup semi-final, despite taking the lead through a Fernandes' penalty on 9 minutes. The absence of McTominay from the semi-final starting line-ups in favor of Fernandes' diamond signified Solskjaer's preference for the then apparently unchallengeable left foot of Pogba alongside Fred for the latter stages of the cup competitions.
In his first full season, 2020-21, Bruno Fernandes top scored with 18 league goals, as the club finished 2nd in the Premier League on 73 points, albeit 10 behind Manchester City on 83, while failing to progress beyond the League Cup semi-final stage again, losing 0-2 to City, although McTominay, 25 and 7 appearances for 4 goals, did start with Fred, 27 starts and 3 appearances for 1 goal, as well as alongside Pogba, although it was Fred who made way for Scott in the team that lost, 10-11 on penalties to Spain's Villarreal, after 34 years Uruguayan center forward, Edinson Cavani, brought by Solskjaer on a free from Paris Saint-Germain, struck home an equalizer on 55 minutes, which wasn't enough to save either Solskjaer, or Pogba in the aftermath of the appointment of ten Hag.
What looked like desperation brought Cristiano Ronaldo for 2021-22 from Italian side Juventus for £12.85m. Called CR7 for his preferred shirt number, opening the scoring with a header on 26 minutes from a cross on the right by right full back, Wes Brown, Ronaldo had won the European Champions Cup with United against Chelsea, a.e.t., 1-1, and on penalties 6-5, on May 21st at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia, but failure to beat Barcelona at the Stadio Olympica, Rome, on May 27th in the 2008-09 Final, 0-2, led the Portuguese right winger, bought from CP Sporting Lisbon for £12.24m by Scot Alex Ferguson for 2003-04, to seek a transfer to Spanish giants Real Madrid for £80m, where he won the European Champions Cup in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018, as well as the World Club Cup in 2014, 2016, and 2017, before being transferred to Juvé for £88m, where he won Serie A titles in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
Ronaldo struck 18 times that 2021-22 season, 12 of those, including hat tricks against Spurs at Old Trafford, 3-2, on March 12th, 2022, and Norwich City at home, 3-2, on April 16th, coming after Rangnick became interim manager in December 2021, while McTominay’s 28 starts and 2 appearances for 1 goal, compared to Fred’s 24 starts and 4 appearances for 4 goals, was a sign of the adroitness with which McFred negotiated the Solskjaer-Rangnick interregnum.
Solskjaer, and after him coach Michael Carrick, had steered the side to win Group F in the Champions League, leaving Rangnick to negotiate the Round of 16, but a late 80th minute equalizing goal, taken with aplomb and apparent maturity by teenage Swedish striker, Anthony Elanga, 1-1, away at Spain's Atlético Madrid, persuaded Rangnick to persevere with him, and with England center forward Rashford on the bench, lost 0-1 in the second home leg, 1-2 on aggregate. Rangnick's chance was gone and ten Hag was appointed for 2022-23.
The club won the League cup, 2-0, against Newcastle United, with a headed goal from Casemiro on 33 minutes, following a free kick by left back, Luke Shaw, and a 39th minute strike from Rashford, deflected over German 'keeper, Loris Karius, but lost the F.A. Cup Final, 1-2, to Manchester City, after being a goal down from German captain İlkay Gündoğan's volley on 13 seconds, and despite an equalizing 33rd minute penalty from Fernandes, after right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka's progress on the right of the city 20 yard box was adjudged to have been illegally impeded by England winger Jack Grealish's handling of the ball. McTominay, 1 goal in 10 starts and 14 appearances in 2022-23, coming on in the League Cup Final as 69th minute substitute for Fred, 12 starts and 23 appearances for 4 goals, and for Swedish center back, Victor Lindelöf, on 83 minutes in the F.A. Cup Final, again indicated trouble with the engine.
Ten Hag had brought Danish ball player age 30, Christian Eriksen, 25 starts and 3 appearances, from Brentford on a free, and until the emergence of Mainoo in 2023-24 the pairing with Casemiro seemed most likely, with Pogba age 32 released to return to Juvé on June 30th, 2022, while Matić signed on a free for Roma.
Ronaldo, age 37, was also released to Saudi club Al Nassr in November 2022. On August 12th, 2023, he won the Arab Club Champions Cup. Organized by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by teams from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Cristiano scored both goals, 2-1, in the win over Saudi's Al Hilal at the King Fahd Stadium, Taif, Saudi Arabia.
The arrival of Moroccan international, defensive midfielder, Sofyan Amrabat, born in Huizen, Amsterdam metropolitan area, Holland, and on loan for £8.5m from Italy's Serie A club Fiorentina, together with England's attacking midfielder, Mason Mount, from Chelsea for £55m, put further pressure on McTominay, survivor of seven managerial purges, if the interim roles of legendary United and Welsh left winger, scorer of the 6th penalty that gave United victory over Chelsea in the 2008 European Champions Cup Final, Ryan Giggs, coach after Moyes' dismissal, before 2013-14 season's end, April 22nd - May 11th, 2014, and United and England midfield stalwart, Michael Carrick, November 21st - December 2nd, 2022, who coached the team to qualify for the European Champions League Round of 16, beating Villarreal away, 2-0, after Solskjaer, are to be considered managerial.
Ten Hag’s solution to his engine trouble was to bring Danish striker, Rasmus Højlund, from Italian Serie A club Atalanta for £64m to profit from Fernandes’ promptings, while Rashford would move to the left as an inverted right footed inside forward, with left footed Argentine winger, Alejandro Garnacho, on the right flank, although Casemiro’s 32 years suggested that, if McTominay, 27 years, needed to improve, and couldn’t, teenager Kobbie Mainoo would need a partner who wasn’t waiting to be retired, and although Mason Mount, 25 years, England’s attacking midfielder, bought from Chelsea for £55m for 2023-24, fits the description, 4 starts and 4 appearances, before retiring to the physiotherapist’s treatment room, indicate either that the emperor doesn’t want to wear any clothes, or at least one of the twin engine turbo needs replacing, rather than maintenance and a routine repair.
Luke Shaw, due a testimonial at the end of season 2023-24, as were Martial and Rashford for playing at 'the theater of Dreams' for a decade at the close of 2024-25, is a true measure of success. While 2023-24 is only McTominay's 8th year hoping to wear away a red strip, Lindelöf has another three seasons to serve, before a game played in his honour, against such luminaries as FIFA’s Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football's (CONCACAF's) New York Cosmos, for whom Germany’s ‘Kaiser’, sweeper Franz Beckenbauer, and Brazil’s magical Pelé played together, appearing for Paul Scholes’ on August 5th, 2011,  recognizing loyalty as a portion of the take.