Clubbing On

It wasn’t until February 6^th, 1958, that the Youth Academy at Manchester United came under genuine scrutiny. British European Airways Flight 609, crashing on takeoff at 15.03 pm from Munich-Riem airport, Germany, killed 8 of a squad that had been built on belief in youth; left full back and captain, Roger Byrne, 26 starts that 1957-58 season; left full back, Geoff Bent, 0; center half, Mark Jones, 10; right half, Eddie Colman, 24; Eire inside right, Liam ‘Billy’ Whelan, 20 (12 goals); center forward, Tommy Taylor, 25 (16); and left winger, David Pegg, 21 (4), while left half, Duncan Edwards, 26 (6), passed away at Rechts der Isar hospital 15 days later, and injury ended the careers of inside forward, Northern Irish, Jackie Blanchflower, 18, and right winger, Johnny Berry, 20 (4).

 The squad were returning from an encounter, on February 5^th, at Stadion JNA, against Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade, in the quarter-final of the European Cup, with Dennis Viollett, 22 (16), on 2 minutes, 1-0, with left back, Milan Zekovic, unable to take him down from behind, at the edge of the ‘D’, center. Dennis, inside the 18 yard box, struck the ball into the right corner of the net, as Croatian ‘keeper, Vladimir Beara, came out. Bobby Charlton, 21 (8), on 30 minutes, after crossing the center circle, with the ball, right to left, from inside his own half, hammered a shot, left-footed, past Beara, from just outside the 18 yard box, center; inside the right post, low, 2-0. Beara, in the 32^nd minute, opting to kick away a right-footed cross-shot, right of the 18 yard box, close to the byline. The ball, instead finding Charlton; almost on the penalty spot, goal, center, 3-0.

 A lead, whittled away by left winger, Bora Kostić, on 46 minutes, 1-3, and center forward, Lazar Tasić, a penalty, on 50 minutes, awarded, according to center half, Bill Foulkes, after Lazar pulled Bill down on top of him, 2-3. United ‘keeper, Harry Gregg, saved at Kostić’s feet, but handled outside the area. The resultant free kick, on 58 minutes, according to Viollett, gained such a curve, ricocheting off his head, Harry could only palm it into his net, 3-3.

 Rather than Berry, £25,000 from Birmingham City, debuting on September 1^st, 1951, at Bolton Wanderers, 0-1, then 31 years, Wales’ Kenny Morgans, 11 starts that 1957-58 term, was the right winger, 18 years, and the youngest member of the squad, found by two German photographers, in the wreckage of the fuselage, hours after an official abandonment of the search for survivors, at 9.30 pm, ‘The first team wasn’t clicking, so Matt Busby had made changes.’1 Albert Scanlon, the other major pre-Munich team change, alongside Morgans, on December 21^st, 1957, against Leicester, 4-0, with Scanlon, 9 (3), opening the scoring, on 13 minutes, and the team on an unbeaten run in the league since, had been preferred to Pegg, then 22 years, as the left winger.

 Having won, 2-1, in the first leg, on January 14^th, despite Tasić’s opener on 35 minutes, with Charlton, in the 64^th, and Colman, in the 82^nd minute, the team qualified on aggregate, 5-4, to contest a semi-final with Italy’s Serie A club, AC Milan. The first team decimated, a makeshift side made up of reserves, survivors, and youth team players, won, 2-1.

 Morgans, ‘man of the match’, as he recalled, ‘played his heart out’, while England forward, Charlton, glaringly absented for a Friendly at London’s national Wembley Stadium, on May 7^th against Portugal, 2-1, was scoring goals there. After receiving a through ball from inside left, Fulham’s Johnny Haynes, in the 25^th; from 20 yards, and despite being off-balance, due to a strong challenge from Académica OAF left half, Márlo Torres, inside ‘keeper Carlos Gomes’ post, 1-0. Into center field, from Blackburn Rovers’ Bryan Douglas, finding Bobby; left-footed thunderbolt, past the CP Sporting ‘keeper, 2-1, in the 62^nd minute. Kenny, his heart no longer in it, making only 2 league appearances in 1958-59, 0 in 1959-60, and just 2 in 1960-61, was transferred to Swansea Town, in March 1961, for £3,000.

 Behind, on May 8^th, at Old Trafford, in the 24^th minute, after a strike from Milan ‘playmaker’, Uruguayan attacking midfielder (AM), Juan Schiaffino, 0-1, the side, recovering, though deserted, desolate, and abused by the loss of Charlton on international duty, through Viollett, on 39 minutes, 1-1, and a penalty, converted by inside forward, Ernie Taylor, an ‘emergency’ February 19^th signing from Blackpool, 2-1, on 80 minutes, finally collapsed, on May 14^th at San Siro, 0-4; losing 2-5 on aggregate.

 Before the Munich disaster, the club had emphasized youth, as a platform upon which to build the future, which afterwards became a principle; in memory of those that lost their lives. In the 1955-56 season, Wilf McGuinness, 3 (1), debuted, 19 years, on October 8^th, 1955, against Wolves, 4-3, through Pegg, in the 42^nd minute, 1-0, Taylor, in the 71^st, 2-2, John Doherty, in the 84^th, 3-3, and Taylor, in the 88^th. Wilf later managed the club, appointed for 1969-70, after then manager, since 1945-46, Matt Busby.

 Former Manchester City right half, Busby debuted against Middlesborough, 3-1, at inside left, on November 2^nd, 1929, through right winger, Ernie Toseland, 42, center forward, Tommy Tait (28), and Welsh left winger, Jack Harrison, 1 (1), in what was, bizarrely, his only ever appearance. Matt requested the role of trainer, selector, seller and purchaser, from October 1^st, 1945, without interference. James W. Gibson, clothier, agreed, Chairman since 1927, though replaced in 1951, upon his demise, by Harold Hardman, a former trainee left winger at Everton, signed for 1908-09.

 Though transferred to Bradford City, on January 8^th, 1909, Harold appeared 4 times for the club, when John Davies, brewer, was Chairman, based at Bank Street’s ground, Clayton. Debuting, for then manager, Ernest Mangnall, on September 19^th, 1908, away at Manchester City, Hyde Road, 2-1, after goals from Scot’s center forward, Jimmy Turnbull, 1-1, on 41 minutes, and inside left, Harold Halse, on 68 minutes. Hardman, as Chairman, would oversee the proper development of the Youth Academy, and its concomitant; the rise of the ‘Busby Babes’.

 McGuinness, 13, had qualified for a league championship winners’ medal, in the 1956-57 campaign, at left-half, which was some feat, as that was the position held by the team’s ‘young giant’, Edwards, 34 (5). Descried as a talent with ‘everything’, because of his strength, stamina, the timing of his tackling, ‘The Tank’, and the two-footed power of his shooting, Duncan made his first team debut, 16 years and 185 days, against Cardiff City, 1-4, on April 4^th, 1953; through Byrne (pen.), on 87 minutes: Edwards’ only appearance that term.

 ‘Big Dunc’ was already on his way to winning the inaugural 1952-53 FA Youth Cup, alongside other emerging soccer Titans in the 1953 Final; Colman, Whelan, and Pegg. Beating Wolverhampton Wanderers, on May 4^th, 7-1, at Old Trafford, and on May 9^th drawing 2-2 at Molineux Stadium: taking the trophy 9-3 on aggregate. Some members of the side’d ironically be greater after Munich; left winger Scanlon, debuting on November 20^th, 1954, against Arsenal, 2-1, through center forward, Taylor, on 60 minutes, and inside right, Blanchflower, in the 87^th, subsequent to Albert’s recovering from injuries, incurred in the disaster, and captain, center half, Ron Cope, 21 years, debuting at Highbury, on September 29^th, 1956, 2-1, through inside right, Whelan, on 10 minutes, 1-0, and right winger, Berry (pen.), in the 35^th, 2-0.

 Bobby Charlton debuted, 18 years, on October 6^th, 1956, against Charlton Athletic, 4-2,  through Berry, in the 25^th minute, 1-1, Charlton, in the 32^nd and 37^th, 3-1, and Whelan, in the 65^th, 4-2. Charlton would become a legend after Munich, as the deep-lying center forward in the side, rising from the ashes, like the mythical Phoenix bird, to win the European Cup in 1968. With McGuinness at left half, Bobby, at outside left, had come into the team that won the 1954 FA Youth Cup, again against Wolves, 4-4, on April 23^rd, at Old Trafford, and on April 26^th, 1-0, at Molineux; 5-4 on aggregate.

 Eire’s Shay Brennan, right back in that ‘68 Final was at inside forward in the 1954-55 FA Youth Cup Final win over West Bromwich Albion, 4-1, on April 27^th, at Old Trafford, and on April 30^th, 3-0, at The Hawthorns; 7-1 on aggregate. Eire’s Joe Carolan, at right half; Morgans, right winger; inside forward, Mark Pearson, and Scot’s center forward, Alex Dawson, who’d feature strongly in the immediate post-Munich hiatus, were in the side that beat Chesterfield in the 1956 FA Youth Cup Final, 3-2 on April 30^th, at Old Trafford, and drawing, 1-1, on May 7^th, at the Recreation Ground; 4-3 on aggregate.

 The effect of youth, on the first team squad, was startling. Called ‘Boom Boom’ by Berliners, Edwards’ first international goal came, during a Friendly defeat of Germany, 3-1, on May 26^th, 1956, at Olympiastadion, Duncan, 33 (3), for the 1955-56 term, striking from the edge of the 18 yard box, past Rot-Weiss Essen ‘keeper, Fritz Herkenrath, after ‘Tank Gun’ evaded a tackle from Essen center half, Heinz Wewers; 1-0, in the 25^th minute.

 Colman, 25, ‘Snakehips’, for his body swerve, 19 years, debuted at Bolton’s Burnden Park, 1-3, despite Taylor’s opener in the 3^rd minute, on November 12^th, 1955. Eddie, right half to Duncan’s left half, was replacing Jeff Whitefoot, 15, debuting against Portsmouth, on April 15^th, 1950, 0-2, then the youngest to start for the club, 16 years, 105 days. Whitefoot belonged to Busby’s first phase ‘Babes’, along with John Doherty, 5 (2), 17 years, inside right, debuting in the 1952-53 season, on December 6^th, 1952, against Middlesboro’, 3-2, through Stan Pearson, on 7 minutes, at center forward, John Aston Snr, in the 23^rd, and Pearson, in the 32^nd, with Doherty, 16 (4), also a part of the squad that won the 1955-56 title, before Whelan’s emergence at inside right. Celebrated, for being able to find the net, with either foot, and often from difficult angles, Liam, 36 (27), top scored in 1956-57, arriving from Dublin’s Home Farm club, after a spell as a trainee, debuting on March 26^th, 1955, at Preston North End’s Deepdale, 2-0, through Scanlon, 14^th, and Byrne (pen.), 60^th minute.

 Though Jeff contributed, 3, the 1951-52 title was won by the more seasoned, apart from left full back, Byrne, 24 (7), sometime left winger that term, debuting on November 24^th, 1951, 22 years, against Liverpool, 0-0. Jack Rowley, 40 (30), center forward, and Stan Pearson, 41 (22), at inside left, had been in the 1948 FA Cup Final winning side, 4-2 against Blackpool, initially through Rowley, toeing the ball away from ‘keeper Joe Robinson’s fingertips, right boot, outstretched, past Joe, right, side-footing, 1-1, on 28 minutes, and in the 70^th, a cross from inside right, Johnny Morris, out on the right, level with the right corner of the 18 yard box. Jack, leaping, a header, left side of the goal area, level with the left upright, top right corner of the net, 2-2, then Stan Pearson, on 80 minutes, at inside left, right side of the penalty area, right-footed, in off the left post, 3-2, and right half, John Anderson, in the 82^nd, outside the 18 yard box, right side of the ‘D’, top left corner, 4-2.

 Scot, John Downie, 31 (11), joining from Bradford Park Avenue for £18,000, replaced inside right, Johnny Morris, before 1951-52’s championship success. Netting on his debut, on March 5^th, 1949, at Charlton Athletic, 3-2, through Stan Pearson, on 4 minutes, 1-0, John in the 52^nd, 2-1, and Pearson, 3-1, in the 62^nd.

 Reaching double figures, Taylor, 33 (25), and Viollett, 34 (20), debuting at Newcastle United’s Saint James Park, 19 years, on April 11^th, 1953,  2-1, through Taylor, on 7 minutes, 1-0, and in the 58^th, 2-1, the club won the 1955-56 title, and the FA Shield curtain raiser to 1956-57, 1-0, through Viollett, on 75 minutes, on October 24^th, against Manchester City, at Maine Road. Ray Wood, ‘keeper, 39, was replaced, on 45 minutes, by David Gaskell, then the youngest ever to take the field, at 16 years, 19 days; though being in the eleven at the start is always the genuine measure of a manager’s belief.

 Charlton, 14 (10), and McGuinness, 13, featured in ‘56-57, with Bobby sometimes at inside left instead of Viollett, while inside forward, Nobby Lawton, coming into the side for the 1957 FA Youth Cup Final against West Ham United, would press for a while in the post-Munich aftermath. ‘The Hammers’ were beaten, 3-2, on May 2^nd, at Upton Park, and on May 7^th, at Old Trafford, 5-0; 8-2 on aggregate.

 The side won the 1957 FA Shield ‘opener’ to the 1957-58 season, 4-0, at Old Trafford, on October 22^nd, having lost to Villa in the 1957 FA Cup Final, on May 4^th, at Wembley, the previous season, when going for ‘the double’ of league and cup. A collision with Villa left winger, Peter McParland, after only 6 minutes, disabled United ‘keeper, Wood, with Blanchflower taking the ‘keeper’s jersey. A hat-trick (3) in the FA Shield, on 50 minutes, 1-0, in the 54^th, 2-0, and 70^th, 3-0, with Berry (pen.), on 87 minutes, 4-0, Taylor got ‘hamstrung’ United’s sole reply, in the ‘57 Final, on 83 minutes, 1-2; what might have beens.

 Brennan, inside forward, 5 league starts that 1957-58 season, as the usual alternative to Pegg, left winger Scanlon, had injuries, Seamus, ‘Shay’, debuted, at outside left, in the initial post-Munich game. In the 5^th Round FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday, at Old Trafford, on February 19^th, 1958, Brennan’s corner on the left; high, in-swinging, in at the near post, beyond ‘keeper Brian Ryalls’ grasp, on 29 minutes, 1-0, and in the 70^th, Shay’s right instep, just outside the 6 yard box, level with the right upright; inside the right post, low, 2-0. Dawson, 12 (5), struck again, late on; right of the penalty area, outside the 6 yard box, opposite the right upright; low shot, right-footed, bottom left corner of the net, in the 85^th, 3-0.

 On a peoples’ wave of non-partisan emotion, the team would reach the May 3^rd FA Cup Final, at Wembley. Only to lose, at the last hurdle, to a clinical Bolton center forward, Nat Lofthouse. Receiving a low, left-footed through ball, from left half, Bryan Edwards, just outside the 18 yard box, left, Nat struck low, right-footed, from inside the penalty area, left, into the left corner of the net in only the 3^rd minute; bulling ‘keeper, Harry Gregg, 19, over his own line, as he tried to keep hold of the ball, 0-2, on 50 minutes.

 Though Brennan would go on to be a part of the side that won the 1963 FA Cup Final, at right back, 3-1, against Leicester City, as well as being regularly selected for the league title campaigns of 1964-65 and 1966-67, Bill Foulkes, 42, now as captain, was at right back in the Final, where he’d mostly been since Munich, after debuting, 20 years, on December 13^th, 1952, against Liverpool, 2-1, through Aston, on 50 minutes, 1-1, and Stan Pearson in the 80^th, while inside forward, Wales’ Colin Webster, 20 (6), who hadn’t made the trip to Belgrade, but had seen action in the ‘55-56, 15 (4), and ‘56-57, 5 (3), title charges, after debuting, 21 years, on November 28^th, 1953, at Portsmouth, 1-1, through Taylor’s equalizer, on 70 minutes, was out on the left as the winger.

 Freddie Goodwin, right ‘wing back’, defined as an attacker, in the place of the full back, supplying all of the width, rather than wingers, and also required to defend, as a full back, usually requiring an additional central defender when deploying, also wasn’t on the trip to Red Star. Debuting November 20^th, 1954, 21 years, against Arsenal, 2-1, through Taylor, on 60 minutes, 1-1, and Blanchflower, in the 87^th, 2-1, contributing to the ‘56, 8, and ‘57, 6, title wins, Freddie was given 16 starts in 1957-58. Stanley Crowther, 11, left half, £18,000 from Sunderland, with the thankless task of replacing Duncan, and Ernie Taylor, 11 (2), inside right, £8,000 from Blackpool, shortest player in the league, at 5’ 4”, with his defence-splitting passing ability, on a similar ‘hiding to nothing’, replacing ‘Billy’ Whelan, were both ‘emergency’ debuts, in the 3-0 FA Cup 5^th Round defeat of Sheffield Wednesday, on February 19^th. Having been to the Final, both were transferred, in the earlier part of the 1958-59 campaign; partly due to painful comparisons with their illustrious predecessors. Ernie, 11, to S’land for £7,000, on December 12^th, 1958, and ‘Stan’, 2, to Chelsea for £10,000, on December 16^th, 1958. Thanks, and farewell.

 The Munich disaster had been double for England, preparing for the 1958 World Cup Finals in Sweden; losing Byrne, Colman, Jones, Berry, Pegg, and Taylor. Though Charlton was in the squad, he wasn’t selected by then manager, Walter Winterbottom, for the team. Russia beat England in a play-off for 2^nd place in Group 4, at Ullevi, Gothenburg, 0-1, on June 17^th, progressing to the quarter final.

 Gregg was ‘keeper for the Northern Ireland team that had lost Jackie to injury, captained by his brother, Spurs’ right half, Danny Blanchflower, beaten 4-0 by France at the quarter-final stage, on June 19^th at Idrottsparken, Norrköping.

 Webster, named in Wales’ squad, took the field against Hungary, 1-1, Mexico, 1-1, and the quarter-final against eventual South American winners, Brazil. In the eleven, for injured Italian Serie A club, Juventus’ center forward at center half, ‘gentle giant’, John Charles, beaten on June 19^th, at Ullevi, by club Santos’ Pelé, 17 years, on 66 minutes, taking the ball on his chest, inside the 6 yard box, left, tapping the ball forward, right-footed, towards the goal, behind him, while turning to follow its path; right boot, stroking the ball, low, bobbling inside ‘keeper Jack Kelsey’s left upright, 1-0, en route to beating Scandinavia’s Sweden, in the Final, 5-2, on June 29^th, 1958, at Råsunda, Solna.

 Brazil’s first title, and Pelé’s first of three; in Northern Europe in ‘58, and in South America’s Chile in ‘62, against Central Eastern Europe’s Czechoslovakia, 3-1, on June 17^th at Estadio Nacional, Santiago, and in Central America’s Mexico in ‘70, against Southern Europe’s Italy, 4-1, on June 21^st, at Stadio Azteca, Mexico City.

 A throw in, on the left wing, from Cruzeiro’s center forward, Tostão, crossed, on the bounce, left-footed, by Corinthians’ left winger, Rivellino, just outside the 18 yard box, almost level with the right corner of the 6 yard box, where there’s Pelé, heading the ball, high, inside Cagliari ‘keeper Enrico Albertosi’s right post, 1-0, in the 18^th minute.

 Goodwin was a linchpin of the side in 1958-59, 42 (6), more often at right half, replacing Colman, while Carolan, 23, making his debut as a ‘Babe’, 21 years, on November 22^nd, 1958, at Old Trafford against Luton Town, 2-1, through Viollett in the 1^st minute, 1-0, and Charlton in the 11^th, 2-0, began impressively at left back, replacing the immediate choice after Munich, Ian Greaves, injured, unable to travel to Belgrade, transferred from Buxton United for 1953-54, debuting on October 2^nd, 1954, 22 years, at Wolves’ Molineux, 2-4, through Viollett, on 26 minutes, and Rowley, in the 73^rd. Ian, left back in the 1958 FA Cup Final defeat to Bolton, had 34 starts in 1958-59.

 Warren Bradley, 24 (12), wasn’t, strictly speaking, a youth product, but an amateur, with Northern League club, Bishop Auckland, winning the FA Amateur Cup in ‘56 against Corinthian Casuals, 4-1, on April 12^th at Middlesboro’s Ayrsome Park, after a draw, 1-1, on April 7^th at Wembley, and again in ‘57 against Wycombe Wanderers on April 13^th at Wembley, with Warren netting on 72 minutes, 3-1.

 After his debut, 25 years, on November 15^th, 1958, at Bolton, 3-6, through Dawson, on 35 minutes, 1-2, and in the 65^th, 2-3, and Charlton, in the 50^th, 3-3, the club’s emergency signing of Bradley, post-Munich, had immediate rewards; visibly, and tangibly, on-field, while £45,000 signing, ‘The Golden Boy’, 25 years, second striker, Albert Quixall, 33 (4), from Sheffield Wednesday, had glaringly less impact in terms of goals, although Charlton, 38 (29), gave him credit as a valuable ‘provider’. Dennis Viollet, 37 (21), and Scanlon, 42 (16), also got into double figures, with the team finishing 2^nd in the title race; 5 points behind Wolves on 55.

 The club finished 7^th in 1959-60. Maurice Setters, brought from West Bromwich Albion (WBA), in January 1960, for £30,000, replaced McGuinness, victim of a career-ending December 1959 leg-break, during a reserve team game against Stoke City. Goodwin was sold to West Yorkshire club, Leeds United, for £10,000, on March 16^th. Lawton, 3, debuted at inside left, on April 9^th, 1960, at Luton’s Kenilworth Road, 3-2, through Bradley, on 20 minutes, 1-0, and Dawson, in the 30^th , 2-1, and 32^nd, 3-1. Eire’s legendary midfielder, ‘general’ Johnny Giles, 10 (2), for a signing on fee of £10, turning out for Dublin’s Stella Maris in 1956, began his career as a right winger, 19 years, on September 12^th, 1959, against Spurs, 1-5, with only Viollett to reply, in the 43^rd minute, 1-3. Mark Pearson, 10 (3), 18 years, debuting in the FA Cup 5^th Round defeat of Sheffield Wednesday, in the aftermath of Munich, on February 19^th, began to impact as a forward, though Viollett, 36 (32), Charlton, 37 (18), Dawson, 22 (15), and Quixall, 33 (13), got into double figures.

 Mark Pearson, 27 (7), was how he repaid his being selected in 1960-61, while Carolan, 2, with Greaves transferred to Lincoln City in December 1960, was replaced by Eire’s Noel Cantwell, 24, at left back, brought from West Ham United for £29,500 in November 1960. Eire’s Tony Dunne, 3, 19 years, who’d be at left back for the ‘red devils’ against Portugal’s Sport Lisboa e Benfica, O Glorioso, ‘The Glorious One’, Benfica of Lisbon, in the European Cup Final of 1968, signing on April 26^th, 1960, from Dublin’s Shelbourne for £5,000, as cover for Brennan and Cantwell, debuted against Burnley, on October 15^th, 1960, 3-5, despite Viollett’s hat-trick, on 30 minutes, 1-1, in the 40^th, 2-3, and 80^th, 3-4.

 Jimmy Nicholson, 31 (5), 17 years, debuting on August 4^th, 1960, at Everton’s Goodison Park, 0-4, shared mainly half back duties with Nobby Stiles, 26 (2), 18 years, debuting, on October 1^st, 1960, at Bolton, 1-1, through Giles’ equalizer in the 75^th. Stiles’d be in the side that won the World Cup with England in 1966, alongside Bobby Charlton, and his brother, center back, Jack, at Leeds United, on July 30^th, at Wembley.

 Whereas center forward, Geoff Hurst, and England captain in ‘66, center half, Bobby Moore, had been losers for West Ham, against Blackburn Rovers, 1-1, and 1-0, that is, 1-2 on aggregate, in the Final of the 1959 FA Youth Cup, it was a hat-trick (3) from Hurst of ‘The Hammers’, in the 18^th, 101^st, and 120^th minutes, largely responsible for the defeat of Germany, 4-2 (2-2), a.e.t., although it was left wing, Martin Peters, also ‘forever blowing bubbles’ at Upton Park, 8 yards from goal, after Everton’s Alan Ball, right wing, found Hurst from a corner, who converted Geoff’s subsequently deflected strike, past ‘keeper, Hans Tilkowski, to give England the lead, 2-1, on 77 minutes.

 Giles, 23 (2), and Scot’s midfielder, Ian Moir, 8 (1), 17 years, completed the 1960-61 season’s roster of ‘Busby Babes’. The team again finished 7^th; Charlton, 39 (21), Dawson, 28 (16), Viollett, 24 (15), and Quixall, 38 (13), getting into double figures.

 Scot, David Herd, center forward, was signed for 1961-62, at £40,000 from Arsenal, top scorer there for the four previous seasons; 24, 15, 14, and 29, while Lawton, 20 (6), and Northern Irish left winger, or center forward, Sammy McMillan, 11 (6), debuting on November 4^th, 1961, in a defeat, 1-3, although Viollett reduced the deficit, 1-2, on 20 minutes, at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough, made significant contributions in terms of appearances and goals.

 With Busby looking in vain at Mark Pearson, 17 (1), to replace Viollett, 13 (7), transferred to second tier Stoke, 28 years, at £25,000 in January 1962, and Dawson, 4 (2), looking as if already replaced by David, the club finished 15^th, as only Herd, 27 (14), and Quixall, 21 (10), could reach double figures.

 Although the 1962-63 league position didn’t improve, 19^th, tempestuous Scot, Pat Crerand, 19, arrived on February 6^th, 1963, from Glasgow Celtic for £56,000, as a tough-tackling, ball-distributing, and tactically thoughtful, right half. The club, still recovering from the Munich disaster, needed him, and former Manchester City center forward, returned from Italy’s Serie A club, Torino, Turin, replacing Viollett, along with the pretenders to Dennis’ throne, for £55,000, Scot, Denis Law, 38 (23), believed by most to be the best striker of a generation.

 Beating Leicester City, 3-1, on May 25^th, 1963, at Wembley, with Cantwell, 25 (1), captain, and an opening goal by Law, ‘The King’ to the Stretford End supporters, reestablished the club in the top tier. Leicester ‘keeper, Gordon Banks, saved a Charlton, 28 (7), effort, on the half hour. Crerand, 25 yards out, intercepting the ball, bowled out by Banks, for Scot’s inside left, David Gibson. Lifting it, over the outstretched leg of the out rushing defender, left of the ‘D’, Pat, ran into the 18 yard box; squaring the ball to Law, right, with the outside of his right boot. To deceive the defence, Denis feinted, as if accepting the pass, but allowing the ball to run on behind him; stopping it with his left foot, turning anti-clockwise, on a sixpence, at the penalty spot, striking with his right boot, left corner of the net, 1-0.

 In the 57^th minute, a cross-field ball from Giles, 36 (4), bursting through on the right, from inside his own half, finds 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, 37 (19); a tap in, 2-0.

 Banks, coming for a Giles cross, floated from just outside the right corner of the 18 yard box, the defender; trying to head away the ball. Banks, impeded; attempting to catch the ball in the air, and sweep it under his arm, in a single movement; fumbling, making it seem as if he’s punched the ball to the ground. Herd, on the bounce, turns, right-footed, low, 3-1, past the defender on the goal line, on 85 minutes.

 At the traditional FA Shield, champions versus FA Cup winners, ‘showpiece’, on the opening day of the new season, the team lost, 0-4, to Everton, on August 17^th. However, the 1963-64 squad gave themselves a very good chance at winning a European trophy, 4-1 against CP Sporting of Portugal, in the Cup Winners Cup quarter-final at home, on February 26^th, 1964.

 Law got a hat-trick (3), receiving a long ball, right-footed, from right midfield, inside the Manchester half, bouncing in front of Denis, heading it on, still well outside the 18 yard box, but ahead of Sporting’s pursuing number 2, left back, Hilário, inside the left side of the ‘D’, moving right, almost at the penalty spot; right-footed strike, low, right corner of the net, 1-0, on 22 minutes.

 A pass, from just inside the Manchester half, outside of the right boot, Charlton chasing, catching up, well outside the 18 yard box, running on, with the ball, delivering a rocket from the right corner of the penalty area; low, right-footed. There’s an attempt to block by ‘keeper Joaquim Carvalho, but the ball’s trickling over the goal line; inside the right post, 2-0, in the 39^th minute.

 Brought down by defender, Alfredo Moreira, inside the 18 yard box, center, clean through on goal, Stiles is awarded a 60^th minute penalty. Law’s right-footed shot, low, left corner of the net, 3-0, despite Carvalho’s correctly going to his right. After another blatant assault by midfielder, captain Fernando Mendes, on Charlton, trying to accept a ball, inside the left side of the 18 yard box, from Best outside on the left, Dutch referee, Joop Martens, awards a second penalty. With half the Sporting team pushing and shoving Martens, as they did for the first decision, and both linesmen having to come on to prevent the melée developing into something more unpleasant, the Portuguese players are fortunate to remain on the pitch. Law, right-footed, low, right corner of the net, 4-1, in the 70^th minute.

 Disastrously the side lost, 0-5, away, on March 18^th, at Estádio José Alvalade, named for CP’s 3^rd President (1910-12), Lisbon. However, Busby’s youth policy continued. David Sadler, 19 (5), 17 years, inside forward, according to the squad roster, signing professionally, as a youth from Maidstone United, ‘The Stones’, debuting on August 16^th, 1963, at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough, 3-3, through Moir, on 38 minutes, 1-2, Charlton, in the 52^nd, 2-2, and in the 78^th, 3-3, would become even more distinguished as a center half.

 The mercurial dribbling skills of Northern Ireland’s left winger, George Best, 17 (4), 17 years, were seen for the first time against WBA, 1-0, through Sadler, on 64 minutes, on September 14^th, 1963, while Willie Anderson, 2, left winger, sold to Aston Villa, on January 17^th, 1967, for £20,000, because Best couldn’t be rivaled, debuted, 16 years, against Burnley, 5-1, on December 28^th, 1963, through Herd, on 11 minutes, 1-0, Moore, in the 25^th, 2-0, Best, in the 38^th, 3-0, Moore in the 68^th, 4-0, and Herd in the 70^th, 5-0.

 Wales’ Graham Moore, 18 (4), 22 years, at the club for only a year, through injury, £35,000 from ‘The Blues’ of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, London, competed for a role in midfield, with the overlooked and disappointed Giles, 0 that season, transferring to Leeds for £33,000 for the 1964-65 term, saying of Matt, ‘I am going to haunt him.’2 John did, and Matt admitted his ‘mistake’, although the difference between 15^th in the league in 1962-63, with Giles, and 2^nd that 1963-64 term, without John, is inarguable.

 Phil Chisnall, debuting on December 2^nd, against Everton, 1-5, with Herd’s 60^th minute consolation, 1961-62, 9 (1), 19 years, faring less well in the coaches’ estimation for 1962-63, 6 (1), made a significant contribution in 1963-64, 20 (6), as ‘probably the best passer of a ball in the country’,3 according to England manager, Alf Ramsey, displacing Quixall, at inside forward, alongside Moir, 18 (3), and Sadler. Law, 30 (30) and Herd, 30 (20), got into double figures, as the club finished runner-up in the league, 4 points behind Liverpool’s 57.

 The 1964 FA Youth Cup Final was won, with a team including captain, Bobby Noble, left back; Scot, John Fitzpatrick, at left half; right winger, Anderson; inside right and captain, Best, center forward, Sadler, and left winger, John Aston Jnr, on April 27^th, against Swindon Town, 1-1, at the County Ground, and 4-1 at Old Trafford, on April 30^th; 5-2 on aggregate.

 The team sheet; three left wingers; Anderson, Best, and Aston, is deceptive. In practice, wingers’ wings are switched; if they’re unsuccessful. Best, though a left winger, often ‘switched’ to the right, as he was an inside forward, or second striker (SS), as well as an attacking midfielder (AM), which is true for most left sided forwards, as they’re awkward for a right-sided, ‘square’, defence.

 In 1964-65 the team gave themselves an even better chance at winning a European trophy, 3-2, in the first leg of the semi-final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, at Old Trafford, on May 31^st, 1965, against Hungary’s Nemzeti Bajnokság I club, Ferencváros. Law opened the team’s account with a penalty equalizer, 1-1, before Herd, on 61, and 69 minutes, made it 3-1.

 However, in the second leg, on June 6^th, at Budapest’s Népstadion, ‘Peoples Park’, the ‘Fradi’ were awarded a penalty on 44 minutes, after Stiles, 41, trying to handle left winger Máté Fenyvesi, handled the ball, and right back, Desző Novák, right-footed, right corner, struck low, past Eire ‘keeper, Pat Dunne, 0-1; 3-3 aggregate. Crerand, 39 (3), tangling with forward, Pál Orosz, in the 75^th minute, both were red-carded. United lost a play off, as the match-up occurred before the ‘away goals count double’ ruling, 1-2, at Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, on June 16^th, with right winger, Connelly, a consolation goal on 86 minutes, after right winger, János Karába, struck on 44 minutes, 0-1, and left winger, Fenyvesi, on 54 minutes, 0-2.

 Pat Dunne, 37, was brought, £10,500 from Dublin’s Shamrock Rovers, close season, to compete with Gaskell, 5, ‘keeper in the 1963 FA Cup Final, as Busby had looked to replace Gregg. John Connelly arrived from Burnley’s Turf Moor for £56,000, as the side needed a right winger, following the hiatus surrounding the departure of Giles, while Fitzpatrick, 2, known for a high work-rate, stamina, biting tackles, off-the-ball running, touch control, and ball distribution, debuted, on February 24^th, 1965, 18 years, away at Sunderland’s Roker Park, 0-1, and John Aston Jnr., 1, 17 years, left winger, son of John Snr., sometime center forward, and left back in the 1948 FA Cup Final win at Wembley, on April 24^th, debuted on April 12^th, 1965, against Leicester City, 1-0, through Herd, on 49 minutes. The entire forward line of Law, 36 (28), Herd, 37 (20), Connelly, 42 (15), Best, 41 (10), and Charlton 41 (10), reached double figures, as the club were champions, with a better goal average, 2.282, than Leeds, 1.596, also 61 points, before goal difference became the basis for separating clubs level on points from 1976-77.

 Upon Harold Hardman’s demise, butcher Louis Edwards, ‘a fan’, in his own estimation, became Chairman. The 1965 FA Shield, ‘shared’, was drawn, 2-2, with Liverpool, at Old Trafford, on August 14^th, with Anderson on for ‘out-of-sorts’ Law on 18 minutes. Best, on 29 minutes, lurking 10 yards onside, L’pool center backs, Scot, Ron Yeats and Tommy Smith, were ready to move up, and spring the ‘offside trap’. Charlton, a through Ball, for Best to run onto. L’pool ‘keeper, Scot, Tommy Lawrence fails to come out, and Best, able to see more of the goal, places the ball wide of him, 1-0, on 29 minutes. Herd, on 81 minutes, deceptively casual, struck from the edge of the 18 yard box, 2-1.

 1965-66, qualifying as champions, was the club’s first stab at winning the European Cup since Munich. Having never left the competition, before the semi-final stage, the side duly progressed to an encounter with Partizan Belgrade, losing the first leg away, 0-2, on April 13^th, 1966. In the second leg, on April 20^th, Crerand was again red-carded, this time for fighting with center back, Ljubomir Mihajlović, and both were sent off, on 65 minutes, although it was clearly Stiles that had thrown a punch at Mihajlović.

 However, Pat did throw a left hook at Partizan left winger, Josip Pirmajer, for badgering him, on his way off the pitch. On the restart, a short corner on the left, taken by left winger, Anderson. Stiles, right-footed, an in-swinging cross-shot, from out by the corner flag, beating ‘keeper Milutin Šoškić, near post, 1-0, in the 72^nd minute; 1-2 on aggregate.

 Noble, 2, debuted at left back, 20 years, on April 9^th, 1966, against Leicester City, 1-2, through Connelly, on 81 minutes. Scot, 20 years, right winger, Jimmy Ryan, 4 (1), debuted, on May 4^th, at WBA, 3-3, through Herd, on 27 minutes, 1-0, Aston in the 49^th, 2-2, and Dunne, in the 70^th, 3-2. Herd, 36+1 (24), Charlton, 38 (16), and Law, 33 (15), reached double figures, but not Best, 31 (9), or Connelly, 31+1 (5), and the club finished 4^th in the league table.

 Matt brought ‘keeper, Alex Stepney, 35, from Chelsea for £55,000 for 1966-7, as replacement for Northern Ireland’s Harry Gregg, 2, transferred from Doncaster Rovers for £23,500 in December 1957 and, ‘keeper in the European Cup quarter-final against Red Star Belgrade, on February 5^th, 1958, known as ‘The Hero of Munich’ for his efforts to aid the survivors, as one of the few able bodied on the scene; immediately after the plane crash on the 6^th. Law, 36 (23), Herd, 28 (16), Charlton, 42 (12), and Best, 42 (10), achieved double figures, while early in the campaign Connelly, 6 (2), was transferred to second tier B’burn for £40,000, as the club won the league title from Nottingham Forest by 4 points with 60.

 The 1967-68 season began without Noble, because of injuries sustained in a car accident, on April 22^nd, 1967, following a draw, 0-0, at Sunderland, while Bobby was driving home, and before the team clinched the 1966-67 title, with a 6-1 defeat of West Ham at the Boleyn ground, in the penultimate game of the campaign, on May 6^th, 1967, beginning with a left-footed Charlton blockbuster, on 2 minutes, 1-0, from the right side of the 6 yard box. Dispossessed by Bobby, Jack Burkett, right back, too optimistically, had been trying to play the ball out, after Stiles’ shot was blocked. Aston delivered a high center for Crerand’s header, close in, right side of the goal area, in the 7^th, 2-0.

 Foulkes, and ‘keeper, Colin Mackleworth, rose to challenge for a ball; dropping at Bill’s feet, in the 10^th, 3-0. Best, accepting a Stiles’ pass, on 25 minutes, 4-0. Law (pen.) in the 63^rd, after center back, John Charles, was adjudged to have been pushing, 5-1, and Denis again in the 79^th. Though Mackleworth parried Best’s shot, Law was left free to stab the ball back, high, into the net, 6-1.

 Scot, Francis Burns, 18 years, debuting on September 2^nd, 1967, against West Ham at Upton Park, 3-1, through Kidd, on 54 minutes, 1-0, Sadler in the 59^th, 2-0, and Ryan, 3-1, in the 82^nd, took over Noble’s left back duties, while second striker, Gowling, 4+1 (1), 19 years, had a scoring debut, on March 30^th, 1968, against Stoke City, 4-2, at ‘The Potteries’, through Best, on 2 minutes, 1-0, Alan, in the 23^rd, 2-1, Aston in the 69^th, 3-2, and Ryan in the 78^th, 4-2.

 Best, 41 (28), in place of Connelly, Charlton, 41 (15), Kidd, 38 (15), replacing Herd, 6 (1), and Aston, 34+3 (11), but not Law, 23 (7), whose knee injury also kept him out of the European Cup Final, achieved double figures, as the club finished runner-up; 56 points to Manchester City’s 58.

 The FA Shield, on August 12^th, 1967, was notable for Tottenham Hotspur’s second, credited to Northern Irish ‘keeper, Pat Jennings; ball in hand, a long punt, bouncing in front of Stepney, and over his head into the net, 2-0, on 8 minutes; leaving United with a  mountain to climb. Crerand, left side of midfield, a few yards from the touchline, midway inside the Spurs’ half; right-footed ball, inside, right, along the ground, to Charlton. In position to shoot with his right boot, left footed, Bobby instead moves forward; shifting the ball, left of Spurs’ defenders, looking to block; left edge of the ‘D’. A left-footed strike; top left corner of the net, on 18 minutes, 1-2.

 Law, bursting-through, on a tremendous run, down the left, inside his own half; shimmying. The Spurs’ defender, inside the United half, uncertain which way Denis will go; Law goes left: past him. Then another defender, further left, and with a burst of electrifying pace, Denis goes past him also, but is forced out wide; onto the wing. Law, with the ball, inside the Spurs’ half; passing along the turf, low, to débutante center forward, Brian Kidd, 17 years; impressing. Kidd takes the ball forward, well outside, but level with, the left corner of the 18 yard box. A left-footed ball, right angled, low. Inch-perfect, grass-cutter; inside to Charlton: center of the field. Bobby, running onto the ball, striking with his left boot; top center of the net, on 20 minutes, 2-2.

 Charlton, left of center midfield, moves right of the defender, outside the ‘D’ at the 18 yard box, center; left-footed shot, low, saved by ‘keeper Jennings, at full stretch; down, by the left upright. Law, pouncing on the loose ball, left corner of the 6 yard box; left-footed, goal, center, on 72 minutes, 3-3. Sharing the Shield earned Kidd a league debut, on the first day of the campaign, August 19^th, against Everton, 1-3, at Goodison Park, with Charlton’s 86^th minute consolation.

 The season’s crown was also Brian’s, with Benfica beaten in the European Cup Final, 4-1 (1-1), a.e.t., at Wembley, on May 29^th, although the more studious would argue that it was a rare strike from Foulkes in the 78^th minute, 3-3, in the second leg of the semi-final against Real Madrid at the Santiago Berneabéu, on May 15^th, that made the Munich survivor the true hero. An own goal by defensive midfielder, Ignacio Zoco, in the 43^rd minute, 1-2, had given United a lifeline, although right winger, Amancio Amaro, El Brujo, ‘The Wizard’, restored Madrid’s lead, 1-3, just before half-time, leaving Sadler, in the 75^th, 2-3, to again reduce the gulf between the teams.

 The side were level, 3-3 aggregate, after the first leg, on April 24^th, 1-0, through left winger Aston’s left-footed ball, low along the ground, on 36 minutes, inside the 18 yard box, by the byline, finding Best, near the penalty spot, left-footed strike, center; roof of the net. Until Crerand found Best, sprinting down the right wing at the Berneabéu, with a throw-in. George, inside the 18 yard box, right, near the byline, back-heeled, right-footed, finding Foulkes. Ignoring screams from the dugout to remain at the back, Bill, going far enough forward to read Best’s intent, elegantly finished the move; right-footed, just outside the right corner of the 6 yard box: low, accurate, the ball nestling inside ‘keeper Antonio Betancort’s left netting, 4-3 on aggregate.

 With the score at Wembley, 0-0, after the first half, in the 53^rd minute, Sadler, in for injured Law, found Crerand, with a throw-in from the left touchline. David, receiving the ball back from ‘Paddy’, right-footed, passing the ball along the left wing. Moving inside, left corner of the 18 yard box, Sadler’s right-footed cross to Charlton; a glancing header, directing the ball into the inside of the net, near post, 1-0. However, in the 79^th José Augusto, winger, wide on the right, a high ball; center forward José Torres’ header, over the heads of Stiles and Sadler, center of the 18 yard box, with right midfielder Jaime Graça, running in. A powerful strike; right boot, right corner of the penalty area, left corner of the goal, 1-1, at full-time.

 In extra time, a right-footed punt by ‘keeper, Stepney, back-headed by Sadler, inside Benfica’s half; halfway between the center circle and the ‘D’. Jacinto Santos, center back, aims to swing a kick at the ball, or Best. On the outside of his right heel, Best flips the ball over Santos’ leg, racing on into the 18 yard box; the ball on his right foot. Best cuts inside, around ‘keeper, José Henrique, come out beyond the penalty spot; left-footed from Best, in the 92^nd, side-footed, on the edge of the penalty area, and level with the left upright, goal, center, 2-1. In the 94^th, from a corner on the left, high; Sadler, right of the penalty spot, heads the ball towards the left corner of the net. Kidd, without the ball bouncing, anticipating it doesn’t have enough pace, directly heads it at goal; center. Henrique, as if protecting his face, blocks with his hands. No bounce, Kidd, 18 years that day, moves right; leaps, heads in: over Henrique, top right corner, 3-1.

 In the second half of extra time, Kidd, 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. Bobby plays the ball back to Kidd, moving out to the right. Brian takes the ball, along the right wing, pushes the ball forward, right-footed, skips over the outstretched leg of left back, Fernando Cruz. Kidd cuts inside, right and center outside the 18 yard box; low, ball, driven along the ground, left-footed, to Charlton. Bobby, right corner of the penalty area, gives lift to the ball; right-footed, 4-1, in the 99^th minute, top left corner of the net.

 As clubs were permitted a substitute from 1965-66, ‘sub’ was Jimmy Rimmer, 16 years when ‘keeper for the 1964 FA Youth Cup Final, as necessary in case of injury to Stepney, rather than strategic or tactical; de rigeur only after an outfield replacement, as well as a ‘keeper, known as ‘two from five’, was allowed from 1988.

 Ominously, also in season 1967-68, Leeds United won the double of League Cup, 1-0, against Arsenal, at Wembley, on March 2^nd, 1968, and the Inter Cities Fairs Cup, after beating Ferencváros of Hungary, 1-0, at Elland Road, on August 7^th, 1968, in the first leg of the Final, and drawing, 0-0, in the second, on September 11^th at Népstadion, Budapest; 1-0 on aggregate. The specter of John Giles’ doom upon Busby’s decision to sell him had grown.

 However, victory in the 1968 European Champion Clubs’ Cup gave the Manchester team the opportunity to become Intercontinental Cup champions in a match-up between the club winners of South America’s Copa da Libertadores, ‘Freedom’s Cup’, Estudiantes de la Plata, Argentina, and the champions of Europe. The first leg, on September 25^th, 1968, against ‘The Students’, as Estadio Uno, in the provincial capital, La Plata, was deemed unsuitable, was staged at Primera División club, Boca Juniors, Estadio Boca Juniors, Buenos Aires. Lost 0-1, to a Marcus Conigliaro headed goal, in the 27^th minute; from a corner by strike partner, Filipe Ribaudo.

 Law, injured, was substituted by Youth Academy graduate from Italy, 20 years midfielder, Carlo Sartori, 11+2 that 1968-69 season, on 44 minutes. Sartori had made his league debut, substituting for Burns, 14+2, on October 9^th, 1968, at Spurs’ White Hart Lane, 2-2, through Crerand, on 35 minutes, 1-1, and Law in the 53^rd, 2-2. Stiles, 41 (1), described in the match program as ‘an assassin’,4 quoting Benfica coach, Otto Glória, at one point reported by the linesman for standing too close to violent midfielder, Carlos Bilardo, was sent off in the 79^th minute by Paraguayan referee, Hugo Sosa Miranda, for retaliating to kicks, punches, and head butts; the team endured.

 In the second leg, on 16^th October, at Old Trafford, automatically missed by Stiles, because red-carded, winger Juan Ramón Verón, La Bruja, ‘The Witch’, father of right midfielder, Juan Sebastián Verón, so La Brujita, ‘The Little Witch’, who won the 2002-03 title with United, headed a goal from a free kick by defender, Raúl Horacio Madero, past Stepney, 38, on 6 minutes, 0-1; 0-2 on aggregate. In the 79^th minute Best punched José Hugo Medina in the face and both were sent off.

 Scot’s right winger, Willie Morgan, 29 (6), ironically brought for the 1968-69 campaign from Burnley for £117,000, as a permanent replacement for Connelly, as Morgan had ousted him there, managed to get on the end of a right-footed Crerand, 35 (1), free kick, in the 90^th minute; right midfield, just inside the Estudiantes’ half. Willie, edge of the left corner of the penalty area, right-footed shot, to ‘keeper Alberto Josė Poletti’s left: bottom right corner of the net, 1-1; 1-2 on aggregate. Although the Stretford End were angered by Serbian referee, Konstantin Zečević, unsighted, not signaling a goal for a Kidd, 28+1 (1), effort that television coverage of the game showed had clearly been in the Estudiantes’ net, the club would not be blessed with the crown of Europe and South America.

 Busby’s main concern was how to replace Bill Foulkes, 36 years, at center half, 10+3, with Steve James, 18 years, the earliest candidate, 21 (1), debuting on October 12^th, 1968, against Liverpool, 0-2, at Anfield, while debuting, 18 years, as a substitute for Fitzpatrick, on September 9^th, 1967, in a 2-2 draw at home to Burnley, through Burns, on 86 minutes, 1-2, and Crerand in the 90^th, Scot, Frank Kopel, right back, 7+1, was back up to Dunne and Brennan.

 The team reached the semi-final stage in defending the European Cup, losing on April 23^rd, 1969, at San Siro to Italy’s Serie A club, AC Milan, 0-2, with Fitzpatrick red-carded on 80 minutes, kicking Sweden’s right winger, Kurt Hamrin, when the ball was yards away, and on May 15^th, at Old Trafford, 1-0. Best, edge of the 18 yard box, right of the ‘D’, avoiding tackles to his left; ball on his right foot, inside the area, stabbing the ball to Charlton. Bobby, right, running on with the ball; a right-footed rocket, at an acute angle, right corner of the 6 yard box: near the goal line, 70^th minute, 1-2 on aggregate. Best, 41 (19), and Law, 30 (14), reached double figures for the campaign; the club finishing 11^th, while John Giles’ Leeds United were champions.

 Busby advocated McGuinness, as his successor, and reserve coach Wilf was appointed manager for 1969-70. Scot, Ian Ure, 34 (1), center back, was brought from Arsenal for £80,000, while Paul Edwards, 18+1, right back, or center back, 21 years, debuted on August 19^th, 1969, at Goodison, Everton, 0-3.

 Eire center forward, 19 years, Don Givens, 4+4 (1), debuted, as a substitute for Dunne, 33, on August 9^th, at Crystal Palace, 2-2. Sadler, right midfield, right-footing a ball to Morgan, on the right wing, Willie’s left-footed cross had ‘keeper, John Jackson, going to challenge for the ball with Kidd, back-heading over the Palace ‘keeper, with Charlton running on, just outside the 6 yard box, right of center; striking right-footed, bottom left corner of the net, 1-1, on 24 minutes. After Jackson failed to punch away a long, right-footed ball from right midfield, Law, just in front of the beleaguered ‘keeper, and with his back to him, laid it into the path of Morgan, with his left boot, in the 56^th; Willie striking right-footed, just outside the 6 yard box, right of center, top left corner of the net, 2-2. Givens would go on to almost win the 1975-76 title with Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, Shepherd’s Bush, West London. Best, 37 (15), Kidd, 33+1 (12), and Charlton, 40 (12), achieved double figures, as the club finished 8^th.

 Although Wilf guided the team to a two-leg League Cup semi-final against Manchester City, the side lost, 1-2, at Maine Road, on December 3^rd, 1969, despite Best’s efforts. In the right full back position, making for the center circle with the ball; inside the City half of the circle, center, George passes to Kidd, outside the center circle, right: taking the ball out onto the right wing. Brian crossing, right-footed, from near the right touchline, well outside the 18 yard box; a long, high ball, into the goal area. Charlton, accepting what looks like a pass from the City defender, trying to trap the ball, right-footed; instead it’s rolling towards the right of the 6 yard box: left-footed strike from Bobby, 1-1, on 66 minutes. However, center forward, Francis Lee, just outside the 18 yard box, left, collecting a long ball from Oakes; wide on the left, takes it inside the left corner of the penalty area. Ure’s reckless tackle, scything Lee down, results in the awarding of a penalty; converted by Lee, on 88 minutes, 1-2. The second leg, on December 17^th, ended, 2-2; a 3-4 aggregate defeat. Nevertheless, right back, Paul Edwards, afforded Law opportunity to put the side ahead.

 Ure, center back, left of the ‘D’, inside the center circle, in the United half, left-footed ball, low, along the turf, to Crerand, center midfield. A through ball, between central midfielder, Alan Oakes, nearer to Pat, and central defender, Mike Doyle, farther off. Paul, right of the ‘D’, edge of the 18 yard box, nudging the ball, right. A legitimate tackle from Glyn Pardoe now unlikely, as Edwards ran the diagonal; in front of the City left back. Pardoe now behind; left, can’t bring Paul down. Edwards, straightens his sights on goal; inside the 18 yard box, right-footed strike: high, top right corner of the net, 1-1, on 23 minutes.

 Ure again, inside his own half; left of the center circle, left-footed pass to Best: inside the center circle, center. George, aggressively determined to run with the ball. Best’s basic character trait, in attack; surging forward into the City half. Shaking off pursuing striker, Ian Bowyer, with a burst of speed. Unable to avoid the next challenge, Best wins the ball, in a clash with Oakes, off his right boot. George, right-footed, right of the ‘D’, outside the 18 yard box; City ‘keeper, Joe Corrigan, parries the strike, high, both hands: can’t hold. Law, running into the 6 yard box, Corrigan diving to his right; the ball coming off his right hand. Denis pounces; left-footed, 2-1, on 60 minutes.

 In a second replay, the team lost to Leeds United, 0-1, in the FA Cup semi-final, on March 26^th, at Burnden Park; a left-footed strike, between penalty spot and edge of the 18 yard box, center, by Leeds’ captain, Billy Bremner; low, left corner of the net, on 7 minutes. The previous games, on March 14^th, at Hillsborough, being 0-0, and on March 23^rd, at Villa Park, 0-0, a.e.t., with Law, 10+1 (2), substituting for Sartori on 96 minutes in the first replay, and on 61 minutes for Carlo in the second replay; benched for much of the time in favor of Sartori: to fans’ disgruntlement.

 1970-71 was similarly disappointing, as Wilf was refused the financing of transfers. Promoting youth from within, strengthened by the loss of so much rare unfulfilled talent in the Munich air crash, with Matt having retired, policy ossified. The club loathe to replace nurtured talent developed by Busby’s Academy. Prolific center forward, with a cannonball shot, and majestic heading ability, Malcolm Macdonald, from Luton Town, for example, as a replacement for Charlton; as well as Colin Todd to replace Foulkes.

 Colin, Sunderland’s pace-staying, ice-cool, thoroughbred central defender, in the 1966 FA Youth Cup Final, lost, 3-5, on aggregate to Arsenal, was coached by Brian Clough, at Roker Park. Rejoining Clough, then manager at Derby County, Todd debuted on February 27^th, 1971, at The Baseball Ground, against Arsenal, 2-1, and went on to win the 1972-73, and 1974-75, league titles there. Mooted as Dunne’s replacement, Ipswich Town’s left back, Mick Mills, later captained England at the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain.

 Unable to buy to improve the side, McGuinness was relieved of team duties from December 29^th, 1970. In spite of Kidd’s efforts in the League Cup semi-final against Aston Villa. On December 16^th, 1970, in the first home leg, Brian began a move wide on the right, passing the ball to Stiles, between the legs of Stonehouse referee, Dave Smith, then ran into the 18 yard box. Stiles passed the ball to Sartori, right touchline; a high, left-footed cross. Aston Villa left back, Charlie Aitken, failed to clear; in fact heading the ball towards Brian, right of the 6 yard box. Kidd, scissors-kick volley, left-footed screamer, both feet off the ground, top left corner of the net, on 44 minutes, 1-1.

 Under threat of being replaced by Gowling, 17+3 (8), for his lack of goals, Brian, 24+1 (8), in the second leg, on December 23^rd, at Villa Park, collected a long punt from the right full back position, by the penalty area, deep in the Manchester half. Well outside the 18 yard box, right side of the field, out on the right wing, ball bouncing between Villa central defenders, Fred Turnbull, and Brian Tiler, Kidd’s ahead of the ball, shielding it, back to the Villa goal. Tiler, kicking at the ball, hits Brian in the chest, and appeals for a handball. Kidd, shaping to go out wider on the right, ball on his right boot, instead turns inside Turnbull, ball on his left boot; into the penalty area at the right edge of the ‘D’, right corner of the 18 yard box. Easing the ball past Fred, with the outside of his left boot, allowing the ball to run on, Brian passes the ball back, with his right boot, onto his left, then pushing the ball ahead of him, past the lunging form of Tiler. Kidd, racing on, nudged the ball past ‘keeper, John Dunn, diving at his boots, striking low, left-footed, left corner of the net, 1-0, on 14 minutes. However, the second leg finished, 1-2; 2-3 to Villa on aggregate. Thereafter, Matt returned, as manager, until season’s end.

 Leeds United’s John Giles won the 1971 Inter Cities Fairs Cup, in a rain affected Final that saw the first leg, at Italy’s Serie A club Juventus’ Stadio Comunale, Turin, on May 26^th, 1971, abandoned in the 51^st minute, 0-0. The replay was drawn, 2-2, while Leeds, drawing 1-1 at home, and the aggregate score being, 3-3, won the trophy on the ‘away goals count double’ rule. Manchester United approached Leicester City to release Eire’s Frank O’Farrell to be the club’s manager for the 1971-72 term.

 Tommy O’Neil, 1, right back, 18 years, debuting on May 5^th, 1971, 4-3, at Manchester City’s Maine Road, through Charlton on 15 minutes, 1-0, Law, in the 30^th, 2-0, and Best, in the 31^st, 3-0, and in the 75^th, 4-3. Scot, Willie Watson, 8, right back, 20 years, debuting September 26^th, 1970, at home to Blackpool, 1-1, with the opener from Best, on 29 minutes, after Morgan received a back-heeled pass on the right wing, racing upfield, cutting inside the 18 yard box, at the right corner, before crossing right-footed, parallel with the edge of the 6 yard box; the pass slightly behind it. Best, just outside the goal area, center, back-heeling the ball into the side netting of the left upright, low, 1-0. Tony Young, right wing/right back, 0+1, 17 years, debuting as substitute for Best in the 46^th minute, on August 29^th, 1970, at home to West Ham, 1-1, Fitzpatrick equalizing, in the 28^th, a 2^nd minute strike from Hurst. New faces introduced during the 1970-71 campaign. Best, 40 (18), and Law, 28 (15), got into double figures, as the club finished 8^th.

 The 1971-72 campaign ended with the club again finishing 8^th. Though top at New Year, injury to center back James, with Paul Edwards as his stand-in, resulted in 6 straight losses, while John Giles’ Leeds won the FA Cup, at Wembley, on May 6^th, 1972, against Arsenal, 1-0.

 Although O’Neill, 37, secured the right back berth, Scot, Martin Buchan, 13+1, center back, and sometime right back, arrived for £120,000 from Aberdeen, on February 29^th, 1972, as a long-term replacement for Sadler, debuting on March 4^th, against Spurs, at White Hart Lane, 0-2, and left winger, Ian Storey-Moore, 11 (5), as a replacement for Aston, 2+7, though John effectively bowed out in 1970-71, 17+1 (3), transferred to Luton for 1972-73 for £30,000. At £225,000 from Forest, Ian’s was a scoring debut, on March 11^th, 1972, against Huddersfield Town, 2-0, through Best, on 35 minutes, and Storey-Moore in the 62^nd.

 Northern Irish second striker, Sammy McIlroy, 8+8 (4), hoping to eventually replace Law, while overtaking Gowling, 35+2 (6), as a preferred alternative, on his debut, at Manchester City’s Maine Road, 3-3, on November 6^th, 1971, with the opener, on 39 minutes. Best, beginning a move, just outside the center circle, inside the City half, finds Kidd, out on the right wing. Brian, left-footed, crosses the ball into the penalty area. George, back to goal, outside the edge of the 6 yard box, center, traps the ball, loose; leaving it for ‘Super Sam’, running on, to strike, left-footed: inside the right upright, 1-0. Charlton, center midfield, inside the City half, passing to Best, inside left position, crossing the ball left-footed, at the edge of the 18 yard box, finding Kidd, near the penalty spot, left-footed, right corner of the net, 2-0, on 46 minutes. Gowling, in the 64^th,  inside the penalty area, deflecting a long-range shot, well outside the 18 yard box, from Aston, half-time ‘sub’ for Dunne, at left midfield, past ‘keeper, Joe Corrigan, 3-1. Best, 40 (18), Law, 32+1 (13), and Kidd, 34 (10), made it into double figures for the season.

 O’Farrell was replaced by Scotland team boss, Tommy Docherty, on December 19^th, 1972, with the club finishing 18^th in the league. Ted MacDougall, 18 (5), center forward, from then third tier Bournemouth for £200,000, scoring on his debut, in the 18^th minute, against Birmingham City, on October 14^th, 1972, 1-0, and Wales’ renowned header of the ball, center forward, Ron, Wyn ‘The Leap’, Davies, 15+1 (4), £60,000 from Manchester City, debuting against Derby County at Old Trafford, on September 23^rd, 1972, bought to challenge Law, 9+2 (1), and Kidd, 17+5 (4), for their places in the team, sooner than McIlroy was able to.

 Dunne, center midfield, outside the ‘D’ at the 18 yard box, finding Best with the outside of his left boot, left. George, with his back to goal, lifting the ball, right-footed, over into the penalty area, where Storey-Moore, right of the the penalty spot, outside the 6 yard box, headed into the bottom left corner of the net, 1-0, on 33 minutes.

 Morgan, bursting through, from right midfield, crossing into the penalty area, well outside the 18 yard box, with the Derby defender, center, outside the 6 yard box, able only to sidefoot the ball towards the left edge of the ‘D’. Wyn, pouncing to strike, right-footed humdinger, top right corner of ‘keeper Colin Boulton’s net, 2-0, in the 66^th minute.

 Best, taking the ball in the left back position, running to the center circle, releasing a forward ball, right-footed, just outside the circle, in the Manchester half, for Morgan to chase. Willie, catching up with the ball, going through the circle in the Derby half, midway to the penalty area, outpacing Scot’s midfielder, Archie Gemmill, stroking a low, right-footed shot, from the edge of the 18 yard box, at the ‘D’, center; bottom left corner of the net, 3-0, in the 75^th minute.

 Tony Young, 28+2, had emerged as first choice at right back, although Docherty bought Scot, Alex Forsyth, 8, 20 years, for £100,000 from Scotland’s then first tier club, Partick

Thistle, to fill that position, debuting January 6^th, 1973, at Arsenal, 1-3, with a consolation from Kidd, on 85 minutes, and Scot, Jim Holton, 15 (3), from Shrewsbury Town at Gay Meadow, for £80,000, to fill the problematic center back role.

 At 21 years, almost unbeatable in the air, and aggressive in the tackle, though without much delicacy on the ground with the ball, Holton debuted, 6’ 1”, on January 20^th, 1973, against West Ham, 2-2. Charlton (pen.), right-footed, left of the goal, on 31 minutes, 1-1, after Morgan was brought down, inside the right edge of the penalty area. Macari, in the 80^th, stretching, just outside the 6 yard box, turning a right-footed cross-shot from Morgan, on the left, outside the 18 yard box, in at the left corner of the net, 2-2.

 With modern soccer strategy shifting, from left half, center half, and right half backs, to twinned center backs, with a half back moving into central midfield, the fans chant was, ‘Six foot two, eyes of blue. Big Jim Holton's after you.’5 They’d have to wait for blond, blue-eyed ‘Big Gordon’ McQueen, 6’ 3”, for that, as 6’ 1” Holton’s eyes, like his hair, were brown.

 With the retirement of Crerand, coach under O’Farrell, and assistant manager with Docherty, ‘The Doc’ brought Scot, George ‘Stroller’ Graham, in December 1972 to fill  that midfield position, from Arsenal for £120,000, where he’d top scored for ‘The Gunners’, at center forward in 1966-67, 33 (11), and 1967-68, 38 (16), before John Radford moved from the left wing into the central striking role.

 At left midfield George won the Inter Cities Fairs Cup in 1969-70, 1-3, away, in the first leg of the Final, against Belgium’s Anderlecht, at Constant Vanden Stock, on April 22^nd, 1970, and 3-0, on April 28^th, 1970, in the second leg at Highbury; 4-3 on aggregate.

 The side from ‘the Marble Halls’ next won the 1970-71 league title, and FA Cup ‘double’. With George again at inside forward, at Wembley, on May 8^th, 1971, Liverpool were beaten, 2-1 (0-0), a.e.t., though Graham lost his place in the Arsenal line-up, after the signing of Alan Ball from Everton for £220,000, on December 22^nd, 1971.

 Debuting for United, Graham, 18 (1), 28 years, along with Forsyth at left back, as Tony Young was in Alex’s usual right back position, on January 6^th, 1973, at former club, Arsenal, 1-3, disappointed in 1972-73, with Eire’s Mick Martin, 14+2 (2), 21 years, brought for £20,000 from Bohemians, Dublin, debuting on 24^th January, 1973, at home, 0-0, against Everton, challenging George for selection in the team.

 Lou Macari, 16 (5), Scot’s club Glasgow Celtic’s second striker, arrived for £200,000 to replace Law, debuting, along with Holton, on January 20^th, 1973, against West Ham, 2-2, securing that point in the 80^th minute. Best, 19 (4), announced he wouldn’t play for Docherty, leaving Morgan, 39 (4), and Storey-Moore, 26 (5), to provide the service to the forwards from the wings. Charlton, 34+2 (6), top scored, as the club struggled to finish 18^th.

 In the second disaster, after Munich, the club was relegated in 1973-74 to the second tier; finishing 21^st in the table, with 32 points. Birmingham City above, on 36, 20^th, and Norwich City, below, on 29, 22^nd, were also consigned to the second tier. The team was so diffident in front of goal that opprobrium was poured on the side, as Tommy gave Stepney, 42 (2), the task of taking penalties, although Gerry Daly, 14+2 (1), Eire’s attacking midfielder, challenging Mick Martin, 12+4, and replacing the disappointing Graham, 23+1 (1), viewed as one-paced, and so often outpaced, transferred from Bohemians (Bohs) for £20,000, debuting on August 25^th, 1973, 19 years, at Arsenal’s Highbury, 0-3, missed but 1 of 19 in his subsequent career at the club.

 Stewart Houston, 20 (2), Scot’s left back, replacement for the formerly irreplaceable Dunne, arrived from West London’s Brentford, ‘The Bees’, for £55,000, debuting on January 1^st, 1974, at QPR, 0-3, and Scot’s attacking midfielder, Jim McCalliog, 11 (4), for £60,000 from Wolves, as support for McIlroy and Macari, 34+1 (5), debuting on March 16^th, 1974, away to Birmingham, 0-1.

 Jim, striking 4 times in 3 matches, against Newcastle United, 1-0, on April 13^th, 1974; Everton, 3-0, on April 15^th, and away at S’ton, 1-1, on April 20^th, looked to have saved the side. However, there were defeats in the final games of the run-in; away at Everton, 0-1, on April 23^rd; and against Manchester City at home, 0-1, on April 27^th. The die-hard Stretford End were absolutely silenced, as Colin Bell, unconcernedly in control at center midfield, right-footed a pass to center forward, Francis Lee, back to goal, inside the ‘D’. Lee, taking the ball, with his right foot, going to his left, a diagonal run, across the ‘D’, inside the penalty area, outside and right of the 6 yard box, right-footed a cross-pass inside to former Old Trafford favorite, Law. Allowed a free transfer to Maine Road for 1973-74 by Docherty, Denis, at the edge of the goal area, center, almost apologetically, back-heeling the ball into the right corner of Stepney’s net, on 82 minutes, which for soccer folklorists sealed United’s fate, and although confirmed by another defeat, away at Stoke, 0-1, on April 29^th, it had.

 In the event of Storey-Moore, 2 (1), incurring an ultimately career-ending injury in training, the truculent Best, 12 (2), agreed to a brief resumption, though stating categorically he wouldn’t accept second tier, and didn’t, initially preferring a return to competitive action in the United States’ North American Soccer League, at Los Angeles Aztecs, 23 (15), during the NASL’s 1976 season, taking place in spring, summer, and autumn, with the Aztecs finishing 3^rd in the Pacific Conference Southern Division, losing 0-2 to Dallas Tornado in the 1^st Round of the championship play-offs, on August 18^th, 1976, while the home game against QPR, on January 1^st, 1974, 0-3, was George’s last for United.

 Docherty persevered with Morgan on the right, 41 (2), and left winger, Trevor Anderson, 11+1 (1), transferred for £10,000 from Northern Ireland’s Portadown club, Armagh, 2+5 (1) in 1972-73, debuting on March 31^st, 1973, 22 years, substituting for Kidd, 21 (2), on 65 minutes, at The Dell, Southampton, 2-0, through Charlton, on 16 minutes, and Holton, in the 50^th, while trying out Welsh central defender, Clive Griffiths, 7, 18 years, debuting October 27^th, 1973, at Burnley’s Turf Moor, 0-0, and more successfully, defensive midfielder, Brian Greenhoff, 36 (3), 20 years, debuting at Portman Road against Ipswich Town’s ‘Tractor Boys’, on September 8^th, 1973, 1-2, with Trevor Anderson the consolation, on 85 minutes. McIlroy, 24+5 (6), top scored, while John Giles’ Leeds were champions.

 Brian Greenhoff began to forge a career as a center back in the second tier, alongside Buchan, 42, after Holton, 34 (2), broke a leg, with Wyn ‘The Leap’ Davies substituting for him, on 15 minutes, at Sheffield Wednesday, ‘The Owls’, on December 7^th, 1974. Jim never played for the team again.

 The opener, on 7 minutes, at Hillsborough, came from Houston’s left-footed free kick, outside the 18 yard box, center, through the Wednesday wall, bottom right corner of the net, 1-0. A free kick, left midfield, outside the 18 yard box corner, McCalliog, left-footed; a far post header down, across the goalmouth, for Macari, opposite the left upright, inside the 6 yard box, to boot in with his left, low, in the 53^rd minute, center net, 2-3. Stuart Pearson, bought from Hull City for the 1974-75 season for £200,000, on 63 minutes, turning in a right-footed cross, low, from the right, outside the 18 yard box, midway along the side of the penalty area, left-footed, at the penalty spot, inside the right upright, 3-3. A Wednesday defender adjudged to have handled, a free-kick ensued; right-footed, out on the right wing, high, into the penalty area. Macari’s strike, just inside the edge of the 18 yard box, center, blocked; Lou struck again, the ball further right, low, right boot, in the 85^th minute, inside the bottom left corner of the net, 4-4.

 The club won the second tier championship trophy; a cup with a lid, similar to the FA Cup in design, though distinguishedly smaller: finishing 3 ahead of Villa with 61 points. Stuart Pearson, 30+1 (17), bludgeoning Northern center forward, replacing Kidd, transferred to Arsenal for £110,000, scoring on his debut at Leicester City’s Filbert Street, on August 17^th, 1-0, with Stuart, also debuting on August 17^th, 1974, seeing victory at Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road, 2-0, after Morgan, on 28 minutes, received a lobbed ball from Brian Greenhoff, right-footed; left of the center circle, inside the Orient half. Willie, wide on the right, tearing into the right corner of the 18 yard box, approaching the right corner of the 6 yard box; right-footed shot, top left corner of the net, 1-0.

 A free kick awarded, outside the penalty area, after right back Forsyth was brought down from behind by Orient left back, Bill Roffey, near the right touchline. Alex taking the kick, left back Houston’s header, outside the left corner of the 6 yard box, going in off the inside of the near post, 2-0, in the 73^rd minute. Macari, 36+2 (11), and Daly, 36+1 (11), also reached double figures.

 The term was noteworthy for the sudden limelight shone on Arnold Sidebottom, 12, sometime seam-bowler for Yorkshire, as a cricketer, and for England in the Third Test against Australia, from July 11^th to 16^th, 1985, at Nottinghamshire’s Trent Bridge; taking the wicket of leg-spin bowler, Bob Holland (1 for 65). Emergency stand-in for Holton, Sidebottom, but 2 starts in the 1972-73 season, debuted on April 23^rd, 1973, 19 years, against Sheffield United, 1-2, despite Kidd’s opener on 12 minutes.

 The campaign was also notable for the arrival, late in the campaign, of right winger, Steve Coppell, 9+1 (1), from third tier Tranmere Rovers for £60,000, debuting at Cardiff, 4-0, 19 years, on March 1^st, 1975, through Houston, on 59 minutes, Pearson, in the 62^nd, McIlroy, in the 85^th, and Macari, in the 88^th. Coppell’s impact, on for Morgan, 32+2 (3), on 58 minutes, was instantaneous, as heir designate to captain Willie’s position in the team.

 Again the side reached the semi-final of the League Cup, with a first leg against second tier, Norwich City, on January 15^th, 1975. Macari netted twice, in the 51^st, 1-1, and 71^st, 2-1, but MacDougall, another haunting, got an equalizer in the 88^th minute, drawing 2-2 at Old Trafford, before the side lost, 0-1, on January 22^nd at Carrow Road; 2-3 on aggregate.

 New faces, with a future at the club, were Scot’s left back, Arthur Albiston, 2, 17 years, debuting against Manchester City in the 3^rd Round of the League Cup, on October 9^th, 1974, 1-0, through Daly (pen.), on 78 minutes; Northern Irish right back, Jimmy Nicholl, 0+1, 18 years, debuting on April 5^th, 1975, at S’ton, 1-0, through Macari, on 76 minutes, with Nicholl on for Buchan, 41, in the 85^th minute, and Northern Irish, attacking (AM) and/or defensive midfielder (DM), David McCreery, 0+2, 17 years, debuting, as substitute for Morgan, in the 70^th minute, on October 15^th, 1974, at Portsmouth, 0-0.

 Docherty added Tommy Jackson, 16+1, who ran like a barrel, but could organize from center midfield, on a ‘free transfer’ from Forest, debuting on August 16^th, 1975, away at Wolves, 2-0, through Macari, in the 73^rd and 79^th minutes. Initially Jackson was to captain the reserve team, as a ‘mother hen’, but marshaled the first team in the early part of the season’s campaigning; like Tik-Tok in Frank L. Baum’s stories of ‘the army of Oz’.

 Gordon Hill, 26 (7), left winger, in the Storey-Moore position, came from Millwall for £70,000. ’Merlin’, to ‘The Lions’ of Bermondsey, South East London; going past opposing right backs with a magician’s illusoriness. Practicing elusiveness to deliver accurate balls into the 6 yard box, for Stuart Pearson, the position’s near (phew), to get onto. As the wizard Coppell, 39 (4), did on the right, with the result that the league championship was almost won.

 The fact that it wasn’t, and Givens’, 41 (13), QPR finished 1975-76 runner-up, 1 point behind Liverpool, with 60, is as thorny a subject as the hedge keeping the prince away in ‘Sleeping Beauty’. The Doc’, midway through the campaign, had determined that Stepney, 38, should be replaced by Eire ‘keeper, Paddy Roche, 4, who was there, or rather wasn’t, for a League Cup 5^th Round defeat, 0-4, away to Manchester City, on November 12^th, 1975.

 The spell began well enough, with a defeat of Norwich, 1-0, at home, on November 1^st, 1975; Stuart Pearson netting on 79 minutes. However, a 1-3 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield, on November 8^th, after Houston’s left-footed cross-shot, outside the 18 yard box, midway along the left side, with ‘keeper Clemence able only to keep the ball out at the near post, finding Coppell running up to blast a half-volley, left-footed, into the back of the net, right corner, 1-2, was followed by that League Cup exit.

 Although the side recovered to beat Villa at home, on November 15^th, 2-0, with strikes from Coppell in the 15^th, and McIlroy in the 55^th minute, defeat at Highbury to Arsenal, 1-3, on November 22^nd, was 4 points lost, in the period before 3 for a win from 1981-82. Coppell, wide on the right, going nearer to the right corner of the penalty area, passing the ball to right back, Nicholl, center midfield. Jimmy’s forward ball, controlled by Pearson, on his left thigh, back to goal, just inside the 18 yard box, turning to strike, right-footed, top right corner of the net, 1-2, on 58 minutes, leaving the team too much ground to make up. With Stepney restored, the side didn’t experience defeat again until, 1-2, away at also-promoted Villa, on February 21^st, 1976, emphasizing Docherty’s error.

 With the league title out of reach, the club progressed to the 1976 FA Cup Final, losing, 0-1, to second tier club, Southampton, ‘The Saints’, at Wembley, on May 1^st, after right winger, Paul Gilchrist, wide on the S’ton right, just inside the United half, heading down a high ball, to center forward, Mick Channon, pressed by left back, Houston, on the bounce, back to goal, left-footed, across to McCalliog, transferred to S’ton by Docherty, at £40,000, for the 1974-75 term, and coming back to haunt. Jim, right edge of the center circle ‘D’, inside the S’ton half of the pitch; lobbing a right-footed ball over the defence: finding left winger, Bobby Stokes. Outside the ‘D’ of the 18 yard box, Stokes running with the ball; left edge of the ‘D’, left-footed. The ball, low, along the ground, beating Stepney, inside the right post, 0-1, in the 83^rd minute. The nearly men. Pearson, 39 (13), Macari, 36 (12), and McIlroy, 41 (10), hit double figures, as the club finished 3^rd, on 56 points, 3 behind runner-up QPR.

 After the 1976-77 term began, Docherty made the decision to drop McIlroy, 39+1 (2), from the front line. Daly, 16+1 (4), would lose out, transferred to Derby County, on February 15^th, 1977, for £175,000, while Sam would be at center midfield with Macari, 38 (9), rather than second striker. Brian Greenhoff’s, 40 (3), second striker brother, Jimmy, 27 (8), was transferred from Stoke City for £100,000, debuting at Leicester City’s Filbert Street, 1-1, through a Daly (pen.), in the 84^th minute, on November 20^th, 1976. Although Nicholl, 39, replaced Forsyth, 3+1, at right back, the unspoken belief was that the team would return to Wembley and win the FA Cup in the Final; the dream that became reality.

 Giles, departing to become player-manager of WBA, after the Yorkshire club’s loss to German Bundesliga club, Bayern Munich, in the 1975 European Cup Final, 0-2, at Parc des Princes, Paris, France, on May 28^th, Leeds were beaten, 2-1, in the FA Cup semi-final, on April 23^rd, 1977. With early goals; from Jimmy, in the 6^th minute, after an in-swinging corner on the right. Taken left-footed by Hill, finding Coppell, by the right corner of the 6 yard box; a back header. Leeds’ right midfielder, Frank Gray, unable to clear; the ball, ricocheting off his leg, it falls to Jim. Leaning back, with the instep of his right boot; top of the net, right corner, 1-0. In the 14^th, Hill, outside the left edge of the ‘D’, at the 18 yard box; shot charged down by left back, Peter Hampton, rebounds right, to Coppell. Just inside the 18 yard box, parallel with the right corner of the 6 yard box; a right-footed hooked volley: top left corner of Scot’s ‘keeper David Stewart’s net, 2-0.

 ‘The Reds’ went on to defeat Liverpool in the May 21^st, 1977 FA Cup Final, 2-1, after McIlroy’s headed ball, going a long way forward, from left of the ‘D’ in the center circle, inside the L’pool half. Headed determinedly on by Jimmy, central midfield; captain Emlyn ‘Crazy Horse’ Hughes, central defender, challenging. Ball over his head, Pearson running onto it; between Liverpool’s Welsh left back, Joey Jones, and central defender, Tommy Smith: right of the 18 yard box ‘D’. Jones closing, to Stuart’s right. Pearson, heading the ball down, forward, and right; leaving Jones behind, left: making an angle for the strike. Inside the right corner of the 18 yard box, Stuart, right-footed, low; the ball squeezing under ‘keeper Ray Clemence, on 51 minutes: left corner of the net, 1-0.

 An equalizing goal; a right-footed half-volley. From just inside the 18 yard box; left of the ‘D’. L’pool midfielder, Jimmy Case; on the turn. Collecting a long through ball, on his right thigh, back to goal. Off the right boot of left back, Jones, wide on the left; inside the United half, on 53 minutes. Case, moving the ball, a yard to his left, with his right boot; a yard in from the 18 yard line: center. Jimmy, turning, strikes; top right corner of the net, 1-1.

 Nicholl, wide on the right; a ball, long and high. Macari, Hughes close on his heels, back-heading; the ball finds Jim: inside the right corner of the 18 yard box. A tussle, won by the L’pool defender, but Lou, running in, before the ball can be controlled; striking, right-footed, deflecting off Jim’s chest, past ‘keeper Clemence: inside the right post, 2-1, on 55 minutes.

 The occasion was noteworthy for the inclusion of Albiston, 14+3, at left back, Houston, 36 (3), being absent through torn ankle ligament damage, which ultimately ended his career at the club, with Arthur taking over the position permanently, and defensive midfielder McCreery’s, 9+16 (2), substituting for Hill, on 81 minutes, become a feature of the team’s defensive strategy.

 Pearson, 39 (15), and Hill, 38+1 (15), made double figures, as the club finished the campaign 6^th in the league. Docherty was sacked before the 1977-78 season, after it was revealed he was having a love affair with Mary, the wife of the club’s physiotherapist, Laurie Brown.

 Some supporters felt Tommy was the third disaster after Munich, but he managed in the period before 1988, when 2 outfield substitutes from 5 on the bench, were permissible, and in those circumstances, as Alex Ferguson would later prove, ‘resting’ squad members, like the unluckily surplus Daly, as an aspect of a ‘rotation system’, similar to American Football’s changes from ‘offense’ to ‘defense’, where the benched professional would expect to give 100% effort, while appearing 50% of ‘game time’, was far preferable to disposing of useful talent on the transfer market.

 Dave Sexton, appointed as manager from QPR from 1977-78, shared the FA Shield with Liverpool, at Wembley, on August 13^th, 0-0, then examined the available members of the squad, before turning to the transfer market; ‘keeper, Roche, 19; former Spurs’ right winger, transferred for £30,000; Northern Irish, Chris McGrath, 9+9 (1), debuting October 23^rd, 1976, at home to Norwich, 2-2, through Daly (pen.), 1-0, on 38 minutes, and Hill, in the 42^nd, 2-0. Although Chris’ introduction, substituting for McIlroy, on 46 minutes, coincided with City’s resurgence. Eire’s left winger, Ashley Grimes, 7+6 (2), from ‘Bohs’ for £35,000, as cover for Hill, debuted on August 20^th, 1977, 20 years, substituting for Pearson, on 55 minutes, at Birmingham City’s St. Andrew’s, 4-1, with Macari, level with the left upright, inside the 6 yard box, heading in a right-footed corner on the left from Coppell, on 5 minutes, 1-0.

 Coppell, in the 22^nd minute, a long throw-in, from the right touchline, opposite the 18 yard box, center, finds Macari’s back header, inside the penalty area, outside the right corner of the 6 yard box, with the defender unable to clear; heading the ball left and down: Lou volleying into the roof of the net, 2-0.

 Hill, seizing upon a ball lofted by left back Albiston, left-footed, in the left midfield position, into the penalty area; Gordon volleying, left-footed, just outside the corner of the goal area: top right corner of the net, 75^th minute, 3-1.

 Macari’s hat-trick (3), in the 83^rd, from a left-footed Hill corner on the right. A header, center, just outside the 6 yard box, down and across the goalmouth. McIlroy, trying to keep the ball down, while directing it at goal, right-footed, outside the goal area, right, bouncing into Lou’s path. Macari’s header. City’s ‘keeper, Jim Montgomery, reflexively saves, arm outstretched; left handed. Lou strikes at the fallen ball, right-footed; acute angle: far left corner of the net, 4-1.

 Youth Academy graduate, center forward, Andy Ritchie, 4, 17 years, debuted December 26^th, 1977, at Everton, 6-2, through Macari, on 27 minutes, 1-0, Hill, in the 41^st, 2-0, Lou, in the 53^rd, 3-0, Coppell, in the 58^th, 4-0, Jimmy Greenhoff, in the 68^th, 5-0, and McIlroy, in the 75^th minute, 6-1.

 Sexton brought center half, Scot, ‘Big Gordon’ McQueen, 14 (1), £500,000, on January 4^th, 1978. A defender in the Holton mold, 6’ 3”, as replacement for the perceivably ‘height-challenged’, 5’ 9”, Brian Greenhoff, 31 (1), and clever enough, on the ground, with the ball, to allay any fears over his ability to distribute; after breaking up an attack. Also Scot, ‘Big Joe’ Jordan, 14 (3), £350,000; a no-nonsense center forward in the same mold, 6’ 1”, aiming to be unbeatable in the air: initially conceived as a replacement for Jimmy Greenhoff, 31 years, 22+1 (6). Both Gord’ and Joe came from Leeds United. Jimmy and Jordan were paired, however, as center forward and second striker. ‘Pancho’ Pearson, the  ‘bandit’, nicknamed for Mexico’s Pancho Villa,6 incurred a knee injury that, sidelining him for 1978-79, eventually resulted in his transfer, 30 years, to West Ham.

 Before season’s end it was revealed, perhaps unwisely, that Hill would be transferred for £250,000 to Derby County. Hill, 36 (17), and Pearson, 30 (10), were the strikers that got into double figures, as the club finished 10^th in the table. Dave was beginning to look like the fourth disaster after Munich.

 Taking over from Roche, 14, Gary Bailey, 28, 20 years, born in South Africa, ‘keeper for Wits University, Johannesburg, paying his own airfare from there to try out at the club, successfully, debuted on November 18^th, 1978, against Ipswich at Old Trafford, 2-0, through Coppell, on 7 minutes, and Jimmy Greenhoff, in the 85^th, while Stepney left for Texas’ Dallas Tornado in the NASL.

 Mickey Thomas arrived from Wales’  Wrexham, Y Dreigiau, ‘The Dragons’, as Hill’s replacement. However, 1 goal from 25 starts, debuting on November 25^th, 1978, at Chelsea, 1-0, crossing at the goal line, outside the 6 yard box, for Jimmy Greenhoff, center and edge of the goal area, to head down into the left corner of the net, on 68 minutes, compared to Gordon’s prolific scoring rate, from out wide on the left, raised a few eyebrows. Thomas required a subtle but essential delineation, as to performance criteria in the role of providing from midfield as a wing, Mickey, or attacking up front as a winger, Hill.

 Only a fanfare was needed to emphasize the club’s luck in persuading a ‘standout’ 15-a-side Gaelic football star with Dublin to join. As a center, Kevin Moran was revolutionary, because atypically he wasn’t static. More attack-minded, and mobile, through Kevin, ‘Dubs’ were All-Ireland Champions against Kerry, 3-8, goals and points, to 0-10, in 1976, at Croke Park, Dublin, on September 26^th, and 5-12, that is, 5 goals in the net, and 12 points over the cross bar, between the posts above the goalmouth, to 3-6 against Armagh, in 1977, on September 25^th. The future of Eire’s soccer at center back, Moran, 1, 22 years, debuted on April 30^th, 1979, at S’ton, 1-1, after Ritchie’s opener, on 13 minutes, 1-0.

 The team reached the FA Cup Final, losing, 2-3, against Arsenal, at Wembley, on May 12^th, 1979, after being, 0-2, down, then coming back late on in the match to make it, 2-2. A right-footed free kick from Coppell, over near the right touchline; Jordan, left of the 18 yard box, driving the ball into the six yard box, right-footed, low, and McQueen, relatively disabled through cramp, and therefore a liability in defence, so playing up front, as substitute Brian Greenhoff had been injured, warming up by the touchline, turning the ball, left-footed, into the right corner of the net; 1-2, on 86 minutes.

 Coppell, near the center circle, a long ball; left-footed. McIlroy, shaping as if to run on with the ball, instead holding up its progress, on his left thigh, Arsenal center back, Eire’s David O’Leary, unable to challenge inside the penalty area, losing his balance, slides to the ground, without troubling Sam’s progress. Steve Walford, defender, on 83 minutes, in for David Price, central midfielder; a decision by manager, Northern Ireland’s Terry Neill, blamed for Arsenal’s losing their pattern: in pursuit. Sammy nutmegs him, right-footed, Walford slipping to the turf. Pat Jennings, now Arsenal’s ‘keeper, transferring from relegated Spurs, on August 6^th, 1977, comes out to dive at the ball at McIlroy’s feet, but unerringly Sam slips it past Jennings, left-footed, a yard to the right of the penalty spot, before Scot’s center back, Willie Young, arriving, left, can intercept, and the ball is nestling in the left post’s side netting, 2-2. Wide on the left, however, in the 89^th minute, left winger, Graham Rix, at the corner flag, crossing for second striker, Alan Sunderland, to nod the ball in; almost on the goalmouth, 2-3.

 Jimmy Greenhoff, 33 (11), Coppell, 42 (11), and Ritchie, 16+1 (10), made double figures, as the club finished 9^th in the table. Sexton’s big buy for the 1979-80 season was Chelsea’s midfield orchestrator, Ray Wilkins, 27 (2), for £750,000. McQueen’s commanding presence had improved the defence; 35 goals conceded, while Liverpool, champions that term, conceded 30. However, where United scored 65, L’pool struck 80 times. The Manchester side, 58 points, runner-up to the Merseysiders’ 60. Though Thomas’ figures improved, 35 (8), Jordan’s, 32 (13), were the only double figures; indicating the team’s lack of penetration, as well as the disproportionate amount of team effort expended in assisting Joe to improve his tally.

 On the day that Martin Edwards, Louis’ son, became Chairman, on March 22^nd, 1980, following his father’s demise, the home team beat Manchester City, in the ‘derby’, 1-0, with McIlroy, having chased a long ball, outside the left corner of the City penalty area, right-footed, passing it back to Albiston, out on the left wing. Arthur, left-footed, finds right winger, Coppell, with a forward ball. Steve, with his back to goal, inside the left corner of the 18 yard box, back-heeling, left-footed, for left wing Thomas’ strike, with his left boot, over City ‘keeper Corrigan’s head, into the roof of the net, on 48 minutes. The first win in 8 and 2 defeats, with the side losing, on the last day of the season, 0-2, to Leeds at Elland Road, dropping 2 points; 2 behind champions, L’pool. Moreover, Sexton’s credibility had suffered; 0-6, at Ipswich’s Portman Road, on March 1^st, 1980.

 1980-81 followed the same pattern. Sexton brought Forest center forward, Garry Birtles, 25 (0) that season for United, as a replacement for Jimmy, but 9 (6) for Forest before his transfer for £1.25m. In the 1979 European Cup Final, Birtles was center forward for Forest, 35 (14) against Sweden’s Malmö FF, at Olympiastadion, Munich, 1-0, on May 30^th, and in the 1980 European Cup Final, Garry was again # 9, 42 (12), against German Bundesliga club, Hamburger SV, at the Berneabéu, Madrid, 1-0, on May 28^th, so hopes were high. Birtles debuted for United, on October 22^nd, 1980, at the Victoria Ground, Stoke, 2-1, through Jordan, on 15 minutes, 1-0, and Macari in the 58^th, 2-0. Garry’s inability to score at all that season for United became frustrating.

 Nikola Joyanović, 19 (4), £300,000 from Red Star Belgrade, only the second non-Briton at the club, after Sartori, debuted February 2^nd, 1980, at Derby, 3-1, replaced in the 73^rd by Grimes, with the opener down to center forward Jordan’s persevering run down the left wing, then along the left goal line, crossing left-footed for ‘Super Sam’ at the far post. McIlroy’s header, having hit the right upright, bounced across the goalmouth, where Thomas struck, left-footed, on 38 minutes, 1-1, inside the left post. Alhough Derby ‘keeper, David McKellar, looked to have saved, Mickey’s appeal for a goal to be awarded was upheld.

 McIlroy, right side of the 18 yard box, squaring the ball into the center of the goal area, with the heel of his right boot, where the defender, attempting to clear, succeeded only in directing the ball back into Sammy’s path. McIlroy netting, at close range, right-footed, inside the right upright, 2-1, in the 89^th minute, as the defender collided with ‘keeper McKellar, in his anger to atone.

 A Barry Powell own goal, in the 90^th, at the 6 yard box, center line, inadvertently directing a cross, from out by the left goal line, past ‘keeper McKellar, made it 3-1, ironically after midfielder Powell had given ‘The Rams’ the lead in the 33^rd minute, 0-1.

 Jovanović, with Moran, 32, Buchan, 26, and McQueen, 11 (2), shared responsibility at the center of defence, with sometime center back, Mike Duxbury, 27+6 (2), and sometime center back, Nicholl, 36 (1), though more often right backs, paired with Albiston, 42 (1), or sometime left back, Grimes, 6+2 (2), meant few goals conceded. Jordan, 33 (15), made double figures, but only Macari, 37+1 (9), shared some of the responsibility for what had become the onerous burden of scoring enough goals to stay at the club; finishing in 8^th position.

 Sexton was replaced for 1981-82 by flamboyant WBA manager, Ron Atkinson, lampooned by the press as ‘Big Time Charlie’, because of his larger than life persona; suited to publicity, television appearances, and the media generally; helpful to a club with such a long history, and tradition of greatness: achieved with flare and style. ‘Big Ron’ moved quickly to secure the aerial power of Frank Stapleton, center forward, from Arsenal, for £950,000, with excellent ball control technique, and a striker’s instinct on the move. Unlike the air power of Jordan; laboring to control the ball on the ground: moved to Italy’s Serie A club, AC Milan, for £325,000. Also, right back, John Gidman, 36+1 (1), came; displacing Nicholl, 0+1, at £450,000 from Everton, with Thomas moved on to Goodison in the ‘swap’ deal.

 Remi Moses, 20+1 (2), central midfielder, for £500,000, as competition for Macari, 10+1 (2), and left-footed central midfielder, Bryan Robson, 32 (5), for £1.5m arrived from Atkinson’s former club, WBA. While McIlroy, 12 (3), on February 2^nd, 1982, was transferred to Stoke for £350,000, Robson was widely believed the best of his generation, as ‘Big Dunc’ had been.

 Youth Academy graduate, Northern Irish, Norman Whiteside, 1+1 (1), 17 years, on 44 minutes, 2-0, the youngest ever to score for the club, on his full debut, May 15^th, 1982, against Stoke, 2-0, with Robson also scoring in the 44^th, 1-0, though Whiteside had appeared, as a 46^th minute substitute for Duxbury, when 16 years, at Brighton & Hove Albion’s Goldstone Ground, on April 24^th, 1982, with Norman passing left-footed, just inside the Brighton half, on the right touchline, a long ball to Stapleton, showing blistering speed, down the left wing. By the right corner of the 18 yard box, Frank left-footed infield to Wilkins, center midfield, outside the penalty area ‘D’, center. Ray’s left-footed strike, low, inside the right post, 1-0, on 87 minutes.

 Norman, together with Youth Academy graduate, Scot, Scott McGarvey, 10+6 (2), were emerging as potential second strikers to Frank, while Ron, ‘Bojangles’, because of the clanking gold jewelry he wore, had gotten Birtles, 32+1 (11), to put on his goalscoring boots. Scott’s debut, 17 years, was as a substitute for Macari, in the 75^th minute, on September 13^th, 1980, against Leicester, 5-0, through Coppell, on 3 minutes, Grimes, in the 43^rd, Jovanović, in the 49^th, Macari, in the 59^th, and Jovanović, in the 67^th.

 Birtles and Stapleton, 41 (13), made double figures, as the team, though winning 7 out of their last 9 games, and having led for much of the campaign, finished 3^rd. The determining results were, 0-1, against Liverpool, on April 7^th, 1982, and 1-2 at Ipswich’s Portman Road, on April 20^th, as L’pool were champions, with 87, and Ipswich 2^nd, on 83, to United’s 78.

 Birtles, with McGarvey and Whiteside pressing for places in the side, and unselected for the team, at the beginning of 1982-83, in September 1982 returned to Forest for £250,000. Ron had moved pre-season to bring, in McIlroy’s former positional role, Dutch midfielder, Arnold Mühren, 32 (5), on a free transfer from Ipswich, because of his vision, allied to his ability to control the tempo of a game, and as an accurate passer of the ball; short or long.

 Eire’s Paul McGrath, 14 (3), moving from Saint Patrick’s Athletic, ‘the black pearl of Inchicore’, Dublin, stood in with equanimity for Robson, and at center back, where Buchan, 3, was being brought to the end of his career by Moran, 29 (2). Paul would replace McQueen, 37, making him ‘the pearl of great price’ (Matt: 13. 45-6) at Old Trafford.

 Laurie Cunningham, also called ‘the black pearl’ by devotees of Spain’s La Liga club, Real Madrid CF, was brought on loan. Ron had sold him for £950,000, as manager of WBA, but Laurie, 3+2 (1), with injury issues, reducing his speed and effectiveness as a left winger, though debuting on April 19^th, 1983, and on for Whiteside, 46 minutes, at Everton’s Goodison, 0-2, wasn’t to be.

 The side reached the 1983 League Cup Final, 1-2 (1-1), a.e.t., to Liverpool, at Wembley, on March 26^th, with Whiteside, 39 (8), 17 years, the youngest, on 12 minutes, ever to score in a League Cup Final. Norman, well outside the 18 yard box, back to goal, left of the ‘D’, taking a long ball from center back, McQueen, left of the center circle, just inside the L‘pool half, on his chest, sticking out his left leg, around the ball, dragging it forward with his left boot, away from the L’pool defender; moving right, across the ‘D’, center, at the edge of the penalty area, right-footed shot, low, inside Zimbabwean ‘keeper Bruce Grobbelaar’s right upright, 1-0. Whiteside, also the youngest to score in an FA Cup Final, against Brighton, after a draw at Wembley, on May 21^st, 2-2 (2-2), a.e.t. Norman, 18 years, having replaced Birtles, as ‘the cynosure of all eyes’, getting the second, on 30 minutes, 4-0, in the replay on May 26^th.

 In the initial Final, after right back Duxbury’s, 42 (1), right-footed cross, midway along the right of the 18 yard box, and outside of it, headed on by Whiteside, at the near post, spiting the efforts of Brighton’s Eire captain, midfielder Tony Grealish, to circumvent, Frank stabbed the ball high into the net, with his left boot, at the far post, ‘The Seagulls’ center back, Steve Gatting, despite being almost in Stapleton’s shorts to wear his boots, unable to prevent it, 1-1, on 55 minutes. In the 72^nd minute, a Wilkins’, 26 (1), trademark curler; left-footed, edge of the 18 yard box, right, 2-1, top left corner.

 Wales’ right winger, Alan Davies, 2+1, was in the side for a recurrent injury to Steve Coppell, 29 (4). A vicious, high challenge, from Hungarian left back, József Tóth, of Nemzeti Bajnokság I club, Újpesti Dózsa, shattered Steve’s knee, on 67 minutes, in the Group 4 qualifier for the 1982 World Cup, on November 18^th, 1981, at Wembley, in a defeat, 1-0, for Hungary, while leaving Steve prey to knee problems.

 In the replay, inside the Brighton area, back to goal, Davies laid the ball on to Robson; a left-footed drive, past Brighton ‘keeper Graham Moseley, low, into the right corner of the net, 1-0, on 25 minutes. Whiteside, left edge of the six yard box, headed Davies’ right-footed cross, from outside the 18 yard box, at its left side, midway, down into the bottom right corner, on 30 minutes, 2-0. In the 44^th minute, Robson, heading on a left-footed free-kick from Mühren, left of the 18 yard box; headed again, down by Stapleton at the far post: Robson, tapping in at the near post, 3-0.

 The game was over, after Robson was brought down by Brighton center back, Gary Stevens, with Mühren, converting the spot-kick in the 62^nd minute, 4-0. Stapleton, 41 (14), and Robson, 33 (10), got into double figures for the league season, as the club reached 3^rd, 12 points behind Liverpool on 82.

 Liverpool were beaten at Wembley, on August 20^th, 2-0, in the FA Shield, with goals from Robson, rounding ‘keeper Grobbelaar, at the 18 yard box ‘D’, forced right, right-footed; low, back of the net, center, from right edge of the ‘D’, 1-0, in the 23^rd. From a corner on the left, 2-0, in the 60^th minute. The ball, on its way to being headed in, saved by Bruce, and again kept out by Bruce on the goal line, but not from Robson’s trusty left boot.

 During the 1983-84 campaign emerged Youth Academy graduates; Wales’ Mark Hughes, 7+4 (4), center forward, 19 years, debuting October 26^th, 1983, at Port Vale, substituting for Whiteside during the League Cup 2^nd Round, second leg, 2-0, through Whiteside, on 15 minutes, and Wilkins (pen.), in the 84^th, and Wales’ right winger, 19 years, Clayton Blackmore, 1, debuting May 16^th, 1984, at Forest’s City Ground, 0-2. Giving Moran a variety of center back partners, as well as McQueen, 20 (1), and Paul McGrath, 9 (1), Scot, Graeme Hogg, 16 (1), 19 years, debuting January 7^th, 1984, at Bournemouth, in the FA Cup 3^rd Round, 0-2.

 From the transfer market, Ron brought left winger, Scot, Arthur Graham, 33+4 (5), for £45,000 from Leeds United, with his league debut, on August 27^th, 1983, against QPR, with Mühren (pen.), on 10 minutes; low, bottom left corner, 1-0, after right back, Duxbury, was brought down, right of the penalty area: looking to cross the ball.

 Stapleton, in the 17^th, heading in a cross at the edge of the goal area, center, 2-0, from Mike, just outside the penalty area, by the goal line, before Arnold again, after Frank, inside the QPR half, center midfield, controlling a punt from ‘keeper Bailey, right-footed a pass to Graham, out on the left wing. Arthur, by the left corner of the 18 yard box, crossing the ball for Mühren’s right-footed strike, center of the ‘D’, edge of the penalty area, top left corner of the net, 3-1 in the 90^th.

 On loan from Spurs came center forward, Garth Crooks, 25 years, 6+1 (2), though somewhat lacking in the original deceptive teenage pace that had given him the ‘cocky arrogance’ opposing fans chanted racist abuse at him for. Debuting, on November 19^th, 1983, against Watford, 4-1, through Stapleton, in the 9^th, 1-0, and 31^st minute, 2-0, Robson, on 73 minutes, 3-0, and Stapleton again, in the 83^rd, 4-0, a hat-trick (3), Garth’s casual Jamaican looseness, allied to ‘Jack Flash’ bursts of energetic firepower, put further pressure on Whiteside to fight for a berth in the team, upfront, alongside Stapleton.

 The side reached the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup. In the first leg, with Italy’s Serie A club, Juventus, on April 11^th, 1984, after a long high ball from Albiston, left-footed, from the left wing, just inside the Juventus’ half; over the heads of the defence, and the attack, as they rise to head the ball: in vain. Whiteside, in the 6 yard box, controlling it with his knees, the ball on the turf; left-footed strike at goal, parried by Juvé ‘keeper, Stefano Tacconi. Davies, 10^th minute substitute for Gidman; ball bouncing gently in front of him, center of the 6 yard box. Alan, seizing his opportunity; right-footed, into the net, 1-1, in the 36^th minute.

 The second leg away, 1-2, on April 25^th; 2-3 on aggregate. In the 63^rd minute, 0-1, Whiteside comes on, as a substitute for Stapleton and, in the 70^th, left winger, Graham, by the left touchline, level with the left corner of the 18 yard box, dinking the ball into that left corner; finds McGrath. Turning this way and that, now level with the left corner of the 6 yard box, Paul back-heels; low, slow, sleight of foot. The Juventus’ defence, made somnolent, for moments, by some Irish black magic. Norman collects, on 70 minutes, left corner of the 6 yard box; left-footed strike, top right corner of the net, 1-1. Stapleton, 42 (13), Robson, 33 (12), and Whiteside, 30+7 (10), amassed double figures, as the club ended the season 4^th in the table.

 Macari, 0+5, was ‘freed’ to become Swindon Town’s player-manager, Graham scoring on 50 minutes for Lou at his Testimonial, 1-1, against former club, Glasgow Celtic, ‘The Bhoys’, on May 13^th, 1984. A portion of gate receipts, traditionally is awarded to a retiring player, as an honorific. Macari wore the red shirt in the first half, and the green and white hoops in the second.

 After selling Ray Wilkins to AC Milan for £1.5m close season, while McGarvey was sold to Portsmouth for £85,000, with Whiteside, 23+4 (9), moved into midfield, and Hughes in attack, Ron brought in wingers for 1984-85; Scot’s right winger, Gordon Strachan, £600,000 from Aberdeen, and Denmark’s left winger, Jesper Olsen, 36 (5), £350,000 from Dutch Eredivisie club, Ajax of Amsterdam, ‘Sons of the Gods’, together with striker, Alan Brazil, 17+3 (5), £625,000 from Spurs, to press Stapleton, 21+3 (6), for a place in the side: a complete attack.

 The team reached the quarter-final of the former Inter Cities Fairs Cup, rebranded from 1971, as the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Cup, only to lose out to Hungary’s Videoton, 4-5 on penalties, after a first leg win, 1-0, on March 6^th, 1985. Stapleton, 21+3 (6), on 60 minutes, just outside the 6 yard box, center, heading in a right-footed cross from Strachan, by the right side of the 18 yard box, midway; followed by defeat, 0-1, away, in the second leg, on March 20^th, at Sóstói Stadion, Székesfehérvár; 1-1 on aggregate.

 The team reached the 1985 FA Cup Final against Everton, at Wembley, on May 18^th. A game marked by Moran’s, (19 (4), being red-carded on 78 minutes; for fouling midfielder Peter Reid’s clean through run on goal. Whiteside’s left-footed, curling shot, inside the left post; from the right corner of the 18 yard box, beat Wales’ ‘keeper, Neville Southall, in the 110^th minute, 1-0 (0-0), a.e.t.

 Albiston, 39, a tidy, compact left back, and a useful crosser of the ball on the overlap; three times FA Cup winner, for Scot’s manager Docherty in 1977, and Ron in 1983, and 1985, now had the dubious distinction of being the only player to have a medal from all of the club’s successful trophy hunts over 22 years. Between European Cup victory in 1968, and Robson’s, 32+1 (9), lifting of the FA Cup at London’s Wembley in 1990. Hughes, 38 (16), and Strachan, 41 (15), got into double figures, as the term ended with the club 4^th.

  The FA Shield was lost to Everton, 0-2, at Wembley, on August 10^th, with Duxbury, 21+2 (1), normally a right back, or center back, preferred as a defensive midfielder (DM) to Moses, 4, though Remi replaced Mike, on 61 minutes, with the score, 0-1. With the adeptness of Graham lost to Bradford City, transferred, added to the squad for 1985-86 was much admired, former Manchester City left winger, Peter Barnes, 12+1 (2), languishing at Coventry City, for £30,000, debuting on August 31^s, 1985, at Forest, 3-1.

 Hughes opened, on 2 minutes; a strike from just outside the left corner of the 18 yard box, top right corner of Dutch ‘keeper Hans Segers’ net, 1-0. Barnes, in the 5^th, after a run with the ball by Robson, down the right wing, cutting inside the penalty area, crossing from the right side of the goal area, close in, with the defender unable to clear; Peter right-footing into the right side of the net, 2-0. A cross, high, by the right corner of the 18 yard box, on 41 minutes, finding Stapleton, left corner of the 6 yard box, heading the ball into the inside netting of the right upright, 3-0, as the team began the campaign with 10 straight wins. 13 out of 15, with 2 draws, and top of the league until February 2^nd, losing at West Ham, 1-2, United had looked like champions elect.

 Colin Gibson, 18 (5), an attacking left back, who could switch to being an attacking midfielder (AM), had transferred from Aston Villa for £275,000, debuting on November 30^th, 1985, against Watford, 1-1, through Brazil, on 68 minutes, 1-0, and right back, John Sivebæk, 2+1, £285,000 from Danish club, Vejle BK, debuting on February 9^th, 1986, at Liverpool, 1-1, despite Gibson’s opener, on 15 minutes, 1-0, with a left-footed shot, from left of the inside of the ‘D’, that ‘keeper Grobbelaar couldn’t hold, down by the left post. Colin, running on into the goal area, booted into the net, with his left, right corner, as Bruce tried to reclaim it.

 With the club 2^nd in the league table on March 1^st, defeated at S’ton, 0-1, within a month fans of the team received the demoralizing news. Hughes, 40 (17), would be joining Spain’s Catalan La Liga club, FC Barcelona, for £2m for the 1986-87 season. Managerial suicide; the fifth disaster after Munich.

 Atkinson moved to secure center forward, Terry Gibson, 2+5, £600,000 from Coventry City, debuting on 69 minutes, as a substitute for Robson, on February 2^nd, 1986, at Upton Park, West Ham, 1-2, despite Robson’s opener in the 26^th, accepting a right-footed, lobbed through ball, from Stapleton, beyond the center circle, left of center midfield, over the Hammers’ defence, Bryan running onto it, between central defenders, Tony Gale and Alvin Martin, and inside the edge of the penalty area, center, lobbing, right-footed, over ‘keeper, Phil Parkes, as he came out, 1-0. Ron also recruited center forward, Peter Davenport, 11 (1), from Forest, £750,000, debuting on March 15^th, 1986, at QPR, 0-1, but the sale of Hughes would be Atkinson’s bane, as philosopher George Santayana wrote, ‘Those who repeat the mistakes of history are doomed.’7

 As evidenced by the dearth in front of goal, and Alan Brazil’s stats, 1+10 (3), forwards who could score goals for Manchester United were rare. Stapleton, 34+7 (7), was nearing the end of his illustrious career; joining Ajax for £100,000 for 1987-88. Only a madman would have relinquished a goalscoring machine, like Hughes. Apart from Mark, only Olsen, 25+3 (11), coming inside, from out wide on the left, made double figures, as the club again finished 4^th.

 The 1986-87 term began with defeat, 0-1, at Arsenal on August 23^rd, 1986. The team lost the first three games; leaving the club 21^st of 22. Although the first league win, September 13^th, against S’ton, was a demolition, 5-1, through Olsen (pen.), on 22 minutes, Davenport in the 25^th, Stapleton, in the 36^th, Whiteside, in the 53^rd, and Stapleton in the 83^rd. Gidman joined Manchester City, ‘on a free’ in October, with Sivebæk earmarked to take over at right back, and Barnes, 7, provider for Hughes the previous term, would also go back to City, on January 14^th, 1986, for £20,000.

 Against Chelsea, on September 28^th, 1986, latching onto central midfielder, Nigel Spackman’s through ball, running into space between Sivebaek, 27+1 (1), and McGrath, 34+1 (2), center forward, Kerry Dixon, struck the ball past United reserve ‘keeper, Chris Turner, 0-1. However, Olsen, 22+6 (3), having substituted for Moses, 17+1, on 58 minutes, in the 59^th United were awarded a penalty for a push on Robson, 29+1 (7), by ‘keeper Tony Godden, who didn’t move from his central position, and saved with his legs, as Olsen struck the ball straight at him, 0-1; then, in the 61^st minute, Scot’s central midfielder, John McNaught, brought Olsen down in the area, and Strachan, 33+1 (4), struck the awarded penalty to Godden’s right. Luck out United, as Chelsea’s ‘keeper saved; diving to stop the ball, with his outstretched hand, 0-1.

 The career of  United’s ‘keeper Bailey, 4, was at an end, because of a knee injury, incurred during training, at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. England, captained by S’ton ‘keeper, Peter Shilton, lost to eventual winners Argentina, 1-2, in the quarter-final, after attacking left midfielder (AM), Aston Villa’s Steve Hodge, miscued a clearance, at Stadio Azteca, Mexico City, on June 22^nd. Diego Maradona of Italy’s Serie A club, SSC Napoli, ‘the hand of God’, punched the ball into the net, in the 51^st minute, as it came down inside the penalty area, 1-0.

 Despite Ron bringing Turner, 23, from Sunderland for £275,000 for 1985-86, to challenge Bailey for the goalkeeping jersey, Youth Academy graduate ‘keeper, Gary Walsh, 14, 18 years, debuting on December 13^th, 1986, at Villa, 3-3, through Davenport, on 18 minutes, 1-0, Whiteside, in the 54^th, 2-1, and Peter again, in the 55^th, 3-1, became first choice.

 Ron’s last signing, central midfielder, Eire’s Liam O’Brien, 22 years, brought from Shamrock Rovers for £50,000, 9+2 that term, debuted, but for new manager, Alex Ferguson, on December 20^th, 1986, against Leicester, 2-0, through Colin Gibson, on 11 minutes, and Stapleton in the 67^th. Liam, red-carded for a late tackle on left back, Mark ‘Psycho’ Dennis, after only 85 seconds, on January 3^rd, 1987, at S’ton, where Olsen, on 11 minutes, left-footed, low, outside the 18 yard box, almost opposite the right upright, inside the post there, made it nevertheless, 1-0, was an indication of Alex’s own belief in success through determination. ‘Psycho’ Dennis earned his nickname, after being straight red-carded, without a yellow warning card, 10 times, with O’Brien’s lateness meant, as an early warning for Dennis, about his behavior for the ensuing 90 minutes; plus time added on: for injuries and stoppages.

 Scot, Ferguson, who’d sold Strachan, adequately exciting replacement for ‘crocked’ Coppell, to Atkinson, on November 6^th, while manager of Aberdeen, was appointed, after Ron’s side lost, 1-4, at S’ton, in a League Cup 3^rd Round replay, on November 4^th, 1986, with Davenport, on 88 minutes, the late consolation, after a lackadaisical defender’s back pass at the left corner of the 18 yard box. Davenport, chasing the ball, catching up with it, before ‘keeper, Peter Shilton, could collect, and after taking it left, away from Shilton, turning the ball back, with his left foot, as ‘Shilts’ dove. Davenport then going right, right-footing the ball into the net, center, 1-4. Only Davenport got into double figures, 34+5 (14, and 4 of them penalties), as the club ended the term 11^th in the league; they’d been 19^th, and fourth from bottom, when Ron was dismissed.

1 ‘Kenny Morgans’, The Telegraph, November 19^th, 2012, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/sport-obituaries/9688932/Kenny-Morgans.html?msockid=0d9dc40815ff6c030867d27214816d0b .

2 ‘Interview: Leeds Legend John Giles’, The Scotsman, November 13^th, 2010.

3 ‘United Pay Tribute to Phil Chisnall’, March 4^th, 2021, https://www.manutd.com/en/news/detail/man-utd-tribute-as-phil-chisnall-sadly-passes-away .

4 Tyrrell, Tom, and David Meek The Hamlyn Illustrated History of Manchester United 1878-1996, London: Hamlyn, 1968, p. 81.

5 Neal, Toby ‘Big characters brought to mind with memories of sporting glory. Footballing greats grace county history’, Shropshire Star, July 24^th, 2013, p. 27.

6 Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa, born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula (1878-1923), was a Mexican revolutionary, described as a ‘bandit’ by the revolted against.

7 Santayana, George The Life Of Reason, Vol. 1, Reason in Common Sense, 1905, p. 284.

Alex Ferguson: A Legacy Ignored

When Scot, Alex Ferguson, took over, as Manchester United’s manager, from ‘Big Ron’ Atkinson, on November 6^th, 1986, it’d be 27 years before he retired. What he left, as a legacy, was a simple formula and format that his successors ignored at their peril. Tactical analysis of team play focuses on where the players take up their starting positions, for example, 4-3-3; a goalkeeper behind four defenders, three midfielders, and three forwards. ‘Fergie’ reduced the strategic planning to positional types, that is, two full backs; two central defenders; two in central midfield; two center forwards, and two wingers. A 2-2-2-2-2 system, or 5 x 2s, incorporating the basic philosophy of having left-sided players, on the left side of the field, and right-sided players on the pitch’s right side.

 The incontrovertible result was 13 league titles, beginning with 1992-93, and concluding with 2012-13, after which triumphant season Alex retired, with the short-lived appointment of Everton boss, David Moyes, tenure teminated, on April 22^nd, 2014. His team selection failed to reach the 2014 League Cup Final; losing the January 22^nd second leg, semi-final penalty ‘shoot-out’, at home to Sunderland: finding the net in one out of five attempts, 1-2. With the club ending the season 7^th,  Ferguson protégée, left-wing, Welshman Ryan Giggs, was appointed as interim player-manager, prior to the coach’s reins being taken up, at the beginning of the 2014-15 season, by the Netherlands’ Louis van Gaal. Before the advent of Ferguson, the Manchester club of Trafford hadn’t won a league championship since 1966-67; 19 years before his appointment, and 26 years before his first league title success in 1992-93.

 The club had won the European Champions Clubs’ Cup on May 29^th, 1968, a knockout tournament, inaugurated in 1955, and restyled in 1992 as the UEFA Champions League (UCL), though commonly known as, ‘the European Cup’. With group stages of four teams from 1993, and from 2024 a league format, requiring the contesting of a ‘play off’, after the United States’ ‘conference’ model for the Superbowl of American Football, to reach the Final. However, three FA Cup successes, in 1977, 1983, and 1985, the last two under Atkinson’s stewardship, were all there was to show in the trophy cabinet for 23 years’ endeavor. Until Alex’s May 17^th, 1990, FA Cup Final replay win against Crystal Palace, 1-0. Largely attributable to the 59^th minute goal from big-boned, and gawky-appearing, but precise, and with determination to use what skill he had, left full back, Lee Martin.

 The first game, on May 12^th, 1990, had ended, 3-3 (2-2), after extra time (a.e.t.), with England captain, by then craggily impactful, at 33 years, left sided midfielder, Bryan ‘Captain Marvel’ Robson, equalizing on 35 minutes. A strong header, down, left edge of the six yard box, following a cross, right-footed from Scot’s goal-poaching center forward, Brian McClair, by the touchline, outside the 18 yard box, deflecting off Palace right back, John Pemberton’s shin; inside the left upright, 1-1. Wales’ center forward, persistently pressing, Mark Hughes, put the team ahead, on 62 minutes; right midfielder, soothing controller, Neil Webb, having charged down an attempted clearance by Palace central defender, Andy Thorn. The ball coming to Hughes, outside the left edge of the six yard box; a left-footed strike, wrong-footing ‘keeper Nigel Martyn, angled into the top right corner, 2-1. The second, equalizing goal, in the 113^th minute of extra time, coming after jinking left winger, Danny Wallace, center midfield, stroked the ball low, along the turf, between two defenders; left back, Richard Shaw, and center back, Andy Thorn. Hughes, left, and shadowed by Palace central defender, Gary O’Reilly, ran on and collected the ball, center of the ‘D’; into the 18 yard box, right side, striking past onrushing ‘keeper Martyn; right-footed, low, net bulging: inside the right post, 3-3.

 After just four FA Cup successes in 22 years, since the club’s defeat of Portugal’s Primeira Liga club, Benfica of Lisbon, at England’s national Wembley Stadium, London, 4-1 (1-1), a.e.t., the name of Manchester United lay registered in the minds of the non-partisan as a ‘cup team’. At Aberdeen, Alex had been responsible for breaking the stranglehold that the Glasgow clubs, Rangers and Celtic, had over football in Scotland. Culminating, on May 11^th, 1983, in the defeat of Spanish La Liga club giants Real Madrid CF, 2-1 (1-1), a.e.t., that is, 2 additional halves x 15 minutes, at Gothenburg’s stadium, Nya Ullevi, Sweden, Ferguson guided ‘The Dons’ of ‘the granite city’ to title success in 1979-80, 1983-84, and 1984-85; successive Scottish Cups in 1982, 1983, and 1984, including the Scot’s ‘double’ of league and cup in 1983-84; as well as the European Super Cup of 1983, 2-0, at Pittodrie Stadium on December 20^th, 1983, against German Bundesliga club, Hamburger SV, over two legs. The first at Hamburger’s Volksparkstadion, on November 22^nd , 1983, finishing 0-0. Alex had enough granite.

Gordon Strachan, Scot’s right winger, had been transferred from Aberdeen to Manchester United, in August 1984, for £500,000. At London’s Wembley, on May 18^th, 1985, ‘the wee man’ was in the team that won the FA Cup against Everton, 1-0 (0-0), a.e.t., with the 50s ‘throwback’ stylishness of 20 years of age Northern Ireland international Norman Whiteside, whose left-footed, curling shot, inside the left post, from the right corner of the 18 yard box, beat Wales’ ‘keeper, Neville Southall, in the 110^th minute. Despite Eire’s center back, Kevin Moran, being red carded on 78 minutes, sent off, having brought down midfielder, Peter Reid; fearing he’d be clear through. Gordon, 41 starts (15 goals) that 1984-85 season, was there when Alex arrived to build on previous success.

 Ferguson moved quickly to secure the transfer of Celtic center forward McClair, 40 (24) that 1987-88 season, for £850,000, also bringing right back, Viv Andersen, 30+1 (2) that term, from Arsenal for £250,000, and returning Hughes, 38 (14) for the 1988-89 campaign, for £1.8m from Spain’s La Liga club, FC Barcelona, Catalonia, whence he’d been sold by Atkinson at £2m, before the start in 1986-87; despite being the club’s top scorer for successive terms, 1984-85, 38 (16), and 1985-86, 40 (17). Ferguson then had twin center forwards, and a right winger, Strachan, who’d now been with him, ever since his arriving at Aberdeen, as manager, for Scotland’s 1978-79 Premiership competition.

 Denmark’s left winger, Jesper Olsen, a contributor to the 1985 FA Cup win, 36 (5) that 1984-85 term, along with Gordon, constituted Alex’s initial pair of wings, while paired with Eire’s center forward, Frank Stapleton, 21+3 (6), bought by Atkinson from Arsenal for £900,000 for 1981-82, 41 (13) that campaign, was Whiteside. The youngest debut, age 16, since 1953’s l’enfant terrible, Duncan Edwards, and resembling the panache and swashbuckling of manager Matt Busby’s ‘Babes’ of the period, coming on as a 77^th minute substitute for defender, Mike Duxbury, in an away win at the Goldstone Ground of Brighton & Hove Albion, 1-0, on April 24^th, 1982.

 Title winners in the 1951-52, 1955-56 and 1956-57 seasons, Manchester United’s plane, British European Airways Flight 609, crashed on takeoff at 15.03 pm from Munich-Riem airport, Germany, on February 6^th, 1958, killing 8; left full back and captain, Roger Byrne, 26, left full back, Geoff Bent, 0, center half, Mark Jones, 10, right half, Eddie Colman, 24, Eire inside right, Billy Whelan, 20 (12), center forward, Tommy Taylor, 25 (16), and left winger, David Pegg, 21 (4), while left half, Duncan Edwards, 26 (6), died at Rechts der Isar hospital 15 days later, and injury ended the careers of inside forward, Northern Irish Jackie Blanchflower, 18, and right winger, Johnny Berry, 20 (4). The squad was returning from a 3-3 draw, on February 5^th, against Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade, in the quarter-final of the European Cup, qualifying the team to contest a semi-final with Italian Serie A club, AC Milan. The first team decimated, a makeshift side won, 2-1, on May 8^th at Old Trafford, but collapsed on May 14^th at San Siro, 0-4, losing 2-5 on aggregate.

 Stapleton and Whiteside were Ferguson’s initial twin strikers, who’d won the 1983 FA Cup for ‘Big Ron’, as a pair, against Brighton, although the first Wembley game on May 21^st, 1983, ended, 2-2 (2-2), a.e.t., with Frank, 41 (14) that season, getting an equalizing first goal on 55 minutes, after right back Duxbury’s, 42 (1), right-footed cross, midway along the right of the 18 yard box, and outside of it. Headed on by Whiteside, 39 (8), at the near post, spiting the efforts of Brighton’s Eire captain, midfielder Tony Grealish, to circumvent, Frank stabbed the ball high into the net, with his left boot, at the far post, ‘The Seagulls’ center back, Steve Gatting, unable to prevent it.

 England captain in 1976, before Robson, loosely comfortable on the ball, Ray ‘Butch’ Wilkins, brought for the 1979-80 term, 37 (2) that season, from Chelsea for £750,000 to give some purposeful calm to the midfield by Dave Sexton, manager after ‘The Doc’, in the 72^nd minute jiggered a second, with a trademark curler, left-footed, edge of the 18 yard box, right, 2-1, top left corner, but would be sold to AC Milan of the San Siro for £1.5m for the 1984-85 season by Atkinson; a contributory factor in Ron’s eventual dismissal. The replay, on May 26^th, 1983, was won, 4-0.

 Wales’ right winger, Alan Davies, 2+1, that season, was in the side for a recurrent injury to Steve Coppell, 29 (4), who’d been there since his debut, as a substitute, in a defeat of Cardiff City, 4-0, on March 1^st, 1975, after Docherty bought him from third tier Tranmere Rovers for £60,000, with the Manchester club returning to the first tier, as second tier champions in 1974-75, after being relegated in 1973-74, with Northern Ireland’s Sammy, ‘Super Sam’, McIlroy then top-scoring, 24+5 (6).

 A vicious, high challenge, from ‘hostage to fate’, Hungarian left back, József Tóth, of Nemzeti Bajnokság I club, Újpesti Dózsa, who’d go on to win the Magyar Kupa on April 4^th, 1982, 2-0 against Videoton, at Városi Stadion, Szekszárd, had shattered Steve’s knee for Hungary, on 67 minutes, in the Group 4 qualifier for the 1982 World Cup, on November 18^th, 1981, at Wembley, in a defeat, 1-0, for the Magyar, while leaving Steve prey to knee problems affecting his reliability.

 Inside the Brighton area, back to goal, Davies laid the ball on to Robson, 33 (10) that 1982-83 season’s campaign; a left-footed drive, past Brighton ‘keeper Graham Moseley, low, into the right corner of the net, 1-0, on 25 minutes. Whiteside, 39 (8), left edge of the six yard box, headed Davies’ right-footed cross, outside the 18 yard box, left side, midway, down into the bottom right corner, on 30 minutes, 2-0. In the 44^th minute, Robson, heading on a left-footed free-kick from Dutch midfielder, Arnold Mühren, 32 (5), left of the 18 yard box; headed again, down by Stapleton at the far post: Robson, tapping in at the near post, 3-0. The game was over, after Robson was brought down by Brighton center back, Gary Stevens, with Mühren, converting the spot-kick in the 62^nd minute, 4-0.

 England captain, 1980-91, what had to be resolved for Alex was the position of right midfield, alongside Robson, who’d remain the creative and destructive dynamo of the team until Ferguson’s first English Premier League title and FA Cup ‘double’ success of 1993-94, when the players known as ‘Fergie’s fledglings’ began unassumingly to come to the fore to graciously assume the roles of their fading predecessors. Helped, from 1988, by UEFA’s 2 substitutes allowable from 5 on the bench ruling, including a ‘keeper, Alex could try youth, and make adjustments off the bench to suit his opinion. From West Ham United, East London, Stratford, just after the commencement of the 1989-90 season, came ‘never say die’, strong tackling, ball distributor and winner, with an opportunist’s eye for a goal, and long-range ‘shooting’, Paul Ince, ‘the Guv’nor’. A shrewd buy for £1m, ‘Father’ Ince wouldn’t accept any nonsense from juniors.

 Scot, Arthur Albiston, tidy and compact, and a useful crosser of the ball on the overlap, was three times FA Cup winner, for Scot’s manager Tommy Docherty in 1977, and Ron in 1983, and 1985. Still turning out at left full back, when Ferguson arrived, with Duxbury, exponent of the sliding tackle, but also niggling at opponents’ ankles, like his predecessor, Northern Ireland’s Jimmy Nicholl, making them wary and awkward, paired with him at right full back. Arthur had the dubious distinction of being the only player to have a medal from all of the club’s successful trophy hunts over 22 years. Between European Cup victory in 1968, and Robson’s lifting of the FA Cup at London’s Wembley in 1990.

 The cornerstone of the twin center back partnership, ‘Dolly and Daisy’, would form the core of the defense. Arriving from Norwich City on December 17^th, 1987, for £825,000, in the shape of Steve Bruce, 21 (2) that 1987-88 season, although Gary Pallister’s arrival, from Middlesborough for £2.3m, wouldn’t transpire until August 29^th, 1989, during Ferguson’s early days in pursuit of silverware for the cabinet. Bruce and Pallister replaced Ron’s preferred Eire duo, Paul McGrath, 21+1 (2) for that 1987-88 term, sometime rival for Robson’s central midfield berth, 36 (11), because of his appetite for the ball, and aggressive demands of it, as well as the players about him, and Kevin Moran, 20+1, gritty in the air and dour on the ground, but signing for Spain’s La Liga club, Sporting Gijón for the 1988-89 campaign, ‘on a free’.

 Although expectations ran high that Ferguson and Strachan would renew their productive relationship at ‘the theater of dreams’, Alex sold Gordon to second tier Leeds United for £300,000 in March 1989, and Whiteside to Everton for £750,000 for the 1989-90 term, while McGrath signed for Aston Villa for £400,000. Ferguson had Webb, the Rolls Royce of midfield smoothers, transferred from Nottingham Forest to fill Strachan’s slot, on the right side, at £1.5m for the 1989-90 campaign, 10+1 (2). Though the pairing of left and right wingers lay close in future terms, left wingers; Scot’s Ralph Milne, bought in November 1988 from third tier Bristol City for £170,000; precocious at 18 years, Lee Sharpe, transferred from Torquay United for £200,000 for season 1988-89, 19+3, and sardonic Wallace, brought from Southampton for £1.2m in September 1989, were Ferguson’s moves in the direction of out-and-out wing play along the forward line.

 Wallace, bubbly and effervescent, in the course of the club’s winning of the FA Cup in 1990, the longer, fast legs of Sharpe, were on the left wing for the May 15^th, 1991, European Cup Winners’ Cup Final defeat of Barcelona, 2-1, at Stadion Feijenoord, ‘De Kuip’ (‘The Tub’), Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Hughes, from a Robson free-kick, half-way inside the Barça half, center, left-footed, found Bruce there to direct a header, right of center of the 18 yard box. Mark racing in, to tap the ball, left-footed, into the net; inside the left post, as it fell, 1-0, in the 67^th minute. Hughes, rounding ‘keeper, Carles Busquets, well outside the 18 yard box, forced out wide, to its center; right edge, acutely angled, the ball low, right-footed, inside the post, far left, 2-0, in the 74^th minute. Before Dutch defensive midfielder, Ronald Koeman’s free-kick on 79 minutes, 2-1.

 The pattern of replacing tired legs with fresh, without disturbing the 5 x 2s pairing format, became a hallmark of Ferguson’s approach to tactics, strategy, and transfers ‘in’. Freed to sign for Blackburn Rovers’ 1990-91 season, right back, Duxbury, with feisty left back, Colin Gibson, £750,000 from Villa, bought by ‘Big Ron’ in November 1985, signing for Leicester City for £100,000 on December 20^th, 1990, and right back Andersen, freed to Sheffield Wednesday on January 9^th, 1991, signaled Alex’s belief in renewing a stale squad.

 On November 19^th, 1991, at Old Trafford, in the European Super Cup Final, Red Star Belgrade were beaten, 1-0. McClair, edge and center of the 6 yard box, right-footed, left corner, low, in the 67^th minute, after Webb’s strike hit the right post, midway up, and rebounded. Not until the emergence of Giggs, Wales’ left wing, elegant dancer by the bylines, coming on as a 71^st minute substitute, would Alex feel comfortable with the idea of selecting paired wingers.

 Russia’s Andrei Kanchelskis, Ukrainian born right wing wizard, arriving from Ukraine’s Premier League club, Shakhtar Donetsk, for £650,000, on March 26^th, 1991, started the Super Cup Final. Andrei and Ryan would be the right and left wing pairing in the side that defeated Forest, in the League Cup Final, on April 12^th, 1992, with Sharpe substituting for Kanchelskis on 75 minutes, as an inverted left footed right winger.

 In front of ‘the Gary Baldies’, re-named for 80s Forest goal-hero Birtles, after Gary once took the field, shaven-headed, in front of supporters, known as ‘the Garibaldis’, because those of Guiseppe Garibaldi, Italy’s 19^th century republican revolutionary, were ‘Redshirts’, Giggs, left of center edge of the 18 yard box, squared a ball inside to McClair, center edge, who ran in and scored with a ball hit low, into the right corner of the net, left-footed, close by the penalty spot, 1-0, in the 14^th minute.

 France’s Eric Cantona, arriving from Leeds for £1m for the 1992-93 campaign, defender Mal Donaghy left for Chelsea for £150,000, before the season began, and center forward, Mark Robins, for Norwich for £800,000, while Webb returned to Nottingham Forest for £800,000 on November 23^rd, 1992. Leeds’ manager, Howard Wilkinson, had narrowly taken the 1991-92 title ahead of Alex, with the ‘ghost’ of Strachan come back to haunt, and Cantona, signed by Howard for £1m in January ‘92 from French club Nîmes Olympique, 17 (2), inspirational and instrumental.

 For Leeds, in 1991-92, Eric started 8+7 substitute appearances; scoring 3 goals. Leeds’ first on 57 minutes, substituting in the 46^th for Danny’s center forward brother, Rodney Wallace, in the match against Luton Town, at Elland Road, on February 27^th, 1992. Scot’s midfielder, Gary McAllister, broke through, into the 18 yard box, from center midfield, and chesting the ball on, looked to have been brought down by ‘keeper, Steve Sutton. The ball, breaking right to Cantona; lashed delightedly into the top right corner of the net: right boot, 2-0. Leeds’ fourth on 74 minutes was Eric’s second, at home to Wimbledon, 5-1, on March 14^th, robbing Wimbledon’s center half, while chasing a long ball, just over the halfway line. Tearing into the 18 yard box, left; releasing a left-footed howler: top right corner, 4-1. Leeds’ third, in the 89^th minute, was Cantona’s third, after coming on in the 85^th for Rod Wallace, against Chelsea, in the April 11^th home game. Moving with the ball, at the right corner of the 18 yard box, right foot; flicking it left, turning center back, Paul Elliott, this way; then flicking the ball right, left foot, turning Elliott that way ... inside the 6 yard box, unleashing a strong, right footed, volley from his instep: far corner, top right, 3-0.

 Eric, beginning his senior career at AJ Auxerre, 1986-87, 36 (13), where in 1987-88, 32 (8), he was in the side that won the Coppa delle Alpi (Cup of the Alps), 3-1, scoring the first goal on 49 minutes, in the second half of the Final against Swiss Super League club, Grasshopper Zurich, on July 8^th, 1987, had been transferred to Nîmes, ‘The Crocodiles’, because of his temper, from Olympique de Marseille, despite having helped that Ligue 1 club to the 1988-89, 22 (5), French title, before being loaned, first to Girondins Bordeaux, 11 (6), then Montpellier HSC, 33 (10), where he won the Coupe de France, 2-1 (0-0), a.e.t., against Racing Club, at Parc des Princes, Paris, on June 2^nd, 1990, before returning to Marseille, where he again helped the club to win in 1990-91, 18 (8), the French title.

 Alex saw Cantona’s athletic, imperiously upright style; shoulders back, chest out, preparing to direct other players, seemingly telepathically aware of where the ball at his feet was, without a downward glance, to impeccably locate teammates with the lofted ball, or calculated shorter pass, and find the target, with head or feet, as the difference between the sides. After Leeds took the 1991-92 title by 4 points on 82, Ferguson remained impressed. Cantona, scoring a hat-trick (3) in a 4-3 defeat of Liverpool to secure the Charity Shield at Wembley, on August 8^th, 1992, scored another, on August 25^th, in a home defeat of Spurs, 5-0.

 On September 6^th, Eric’s coming off the bench to almost score, with a bicycle-kick, in a 2-0 defeat to ‘the red devils’ at Old Trafford, seemed to reactivate an indelible imprint on Ferguson’s psyche. Cantona, 14+1 (6) at Leeds, was duly coaxed into signing on November 26^th, as a striking complement to Hughes, 41 starts, and top-scoring on 15, with the probings of McClair, 41+1 (9) that season, withdrawn into a midfield role beside Ince. Alex’s team then lost only twice in the league, Eric starting 21+1 (9 goals), and finished the season as 1992-93 champions, 10 points clear of Villa on 84.

 Eire’s right central midfielder, Roy Keane, rugged in dispossessing and possession, and a maker and taker of extraordinary goals, was brought for £3.75m from Forest to start alongside Ince from 1993-94. The club nearly won the domestic treble, but lost, 1-3, to Villa in the Wembley Final of the League Cup on March 27^th, 1994. Hughes with the sole reply, after left back Denis Irwin’s right-footed corner, finding captain Keane, right of the 18 yard box, ball struck right-footed first time, deflected on its way to goal. Trapped by Hughes, right side of the 6 yard box, stabbing it into the left corner of the net, past Australian ‘keeper, Mark Bosnich, ‘too little too late’, in the 82^nd minute, 1-2. Although the FA Cup, 4-0, against Chelsea, on May 14^th, 1994, was won, as well as the league, 92 points, 8 ahead of Blackburn Rovers.

 The team took an unassailable lead from two penalties at Wembley, converted by Nistelrooy, in the 60^th minute, after Irwin was scythed down by midfielder, Eddie Newton, and Kanchelskis, deliberately tumbled over by Jamaican left back, Frank Sinclair, in the 66^th. Ruud, on both occasions, low, and to the right corner, sent Russian ‘keeper Dmitri Kharine the same wrong way. An error by Sinclair, leaving Hughes a clear run, Mark struck the ball into the left corner, 3-0, in the 69^th minute. With the game effectively over, as a contest, Cantona, wide right, found Hughes inside, who set Ince to chase a through ball. Rounding ‘keeper Kharine, with a defender looming, Paul unselfishly squared the ball to McClair for a simple tap in, 4-0, in the 92^nd minute. The ‘double’ of league championship and FA Cup was won, for the first time in the history of Manchester United, with Cantona, 34 (18), Giggs, 32+6 (13), and Hughes, 36 (12), achieving ‘double figures’, in terms of goals scored.

 Robson, midfielders, Clayton Blackmore and Mike Phelan, left at the end of the 1993-94 season. Brian to manage Middlesboro’; Clayton to play for him and coach on a free transfer, and Mike on a free to West Bromwich Albion. The 1994-95 term was a disappointment. Eric, sent off, in the 48^th minute at Crystal Palace, on January 25^th, 1995, with the score, 0-0, for kicking at Palace defender, Richard Shaw, was suspended by the FA for launching into the crowd. Delivering a martial arts, ‘kung-fu’, style kick, and punches at a fan on the terrace, Matthew Simmons, Cantona alleged provocation, ‘Fuck off back to France, you French bastard.’1 The match ended, 1-1, with calculatingly efficacious center half, David May, 15+4 (2) that season, squad stalwart at the far post, heading down a left-footed cross from left winger Sharpe, 26+2 (3), from left of the 18 yard box, by the touchline, and Palace ‘keeper Martyn able only to push it into his net; giving United the lead in the 57^th minute, 1-0.

 Cantona would have the role of France’s ambassador, Paul Le Foix, to actress Cate Blanchett’s Queen Elizabeth I, in the 16^th century period movie, Elizabeth (1998), who was wooed by actor Vincent Cassel, as Henry, Duke of Anjou, and rejected by Liz for ‘cross-dressing’, as fans do. Reading a carefully composed statement, off a sheet of paper he held, at the media conference that ensued, following his altercation with the fan, Eric declared, ‘When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.’2 He juxtaposed newspaper reporters with Sardinia, an island in the Mediterranean, below the Côte d'Azur, South of France, and off the knee of the ‘boot’ of Italy, with its ‘sardine sea’ of economic support for its king.

 Victor Emmanuel II was the supporter of Garibaldi’s ‘red shirts’ for the unification of Italy as a kingdom; taking place on March 17^th, 1861. ‘Le god,’ as Cantona was labeled by soccer news reporters, and its supporters, though he’d been shaven-headed for a while, and wearing a red shirt, like the Forest ‘Gary Baldies’, named for Birtles, wasn’t ‘packed in’, like a sardine in a tin, as Liz had spurned Anjou, who’d boasted to Le Foix, as fans do, although the stadium, that is, the ‘tin’, isn’t theirs, of possessing, ‘Une très grosse clé!’3 Cantona’s mild observation was that, as a key to Sardinia, that is, fandom, fanning was a matter of respect, while sparks of genius can become fires; if enflamed by fans.

 English newspaper journalism, characterized by the ‘Page 3’ ethos of The Sun, ‘topless’ photos of partially nude teenage girls could be seen from the early 1970s onwards. By commenting that ‘seagulls’ follow a ‘big key’, Eric was indicating that he wasn’t a girl to be seen, and that he didn’t just see, girls; sardines caught in a trawl.

 Blackburn took the title by 1 point on 89, while Ferguson’s squad had a superior goal difference of +49 to +41. Hughes failed to reach double figures, and finishing on 8 league goals, was transferred for £1.5m to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge for 1995-96, with lethal opportunist, Newcastle United striker, Andy Cole, signing for £6m on January 10^th, 17+1 (12 goals), equal with Cantona, 21 (12), while lightning quick right winger, Kanchelskis, 25+5 (14), top-scored, as the side reached the May 20^th, 1995, FA Cup Final at Wembley, only to lose, 0-1, to Everton, with Hughes and McClair as the twin strikers.

1995-96 saw the emergence of ‘the famous five’; coolly aloof right winger, and specialist free-kick taker, David Beckham, 26+7 (7); hard-tackling central midfield ball-distributor, Nicky Butt, 31+1 (2); technically outstanding full backs, Phil, 21+3, and Gary Neville, 30+1, and attacking midfielder, Paul, ‘he scores goals’, Scholes: the head of the diamond. That Alex had great faith in these young stars was evident from his sale of bruiser Ince to Italian Serie A club, Internazionale of Milan, for £7.5m, and Kanchelskis to Everton for £5m. The league was won by 4 points from Newcastle United on 82, with Cantona, 30 (14), Giggs, 30+3 (11), Cole, 32+2 (11), and Scholes, 16+10 (10), the contributors in double figures, while the club’s second ‘double’ was completed at Wembley, in the May 11^th, 1996, FA Cup Final against Liverpool, 1-0, after ‘keeper, David James, on 86 minutes, failed to punch a corner away, and through a crowded penalty area Cantona volleyed the ball into the net.

 Throughout Alex maintained the team’s pattern. Andy and Eric were twinned as strikers, and right winger Beckham was paired with Giggs; a winger on the left of the park too affording more balanced attacking options. Though Phil Neville appeared at right back in the ‘96 Final, brother Gary would make that position his own, with Phil having to accept a midfield role, when selected, or the left full back position, as #2 to Gary, held by right footed Denis Irwin, 31 (1) that 1995-96 season. Although Denis’ transfer from second tier, Oldham Athletic, 42 (1), for £625,000 for the start of the 1990-91 term, 33+1, having impressed in the 1990 FA Cup semi-final, had been for the right back role, that had been filled instead by Paul Parker, bought by Ferguson from Queens Park Rangers (QPR) for £2m, on August 8^th, 1991.

 The first FA Cup semi-final had been drawn, 3-3 (2-2), a.e.t., at Manchester City’s ‘neutral’ Maine Road, on April 8^th, 1990. A cross from midfielder, Rick Holden, right edge of the 18 yard box, pushed away by Scot’s ‘keeper, Jim Leighton, only got as far as center back, Earl Barrett; tapping in on 5 minutes, 0-1. Bruce, sliding in decisively near the halfway line to beat center forward, Ian Marshall, to a loose ball, it ran on to Webb, who angled a pass into space, behind the defence. Robson, marauding, striking the ball, right-footed. Despite ‘keeper Jon Hallworth’s almost blocking it, trickling over the line; inside the left upright, on 29 minutes, 1-1, at half-time.

 Midway through the second half, on for Robson in the 71^st minute, Wallace, right corner of the 18 yard box, crossed, left-footed. Colin Gibson, outside the left corner of the 6 yard box, headed it inside. Webb met that with a header that looped over ‘keeper Hallworth into the net, 2-1, in the 72^nd minute. Wallace, escaping from his marker, left back Andy Barlow, ran onto a ball from McClair, stroked right-footed down the pitch’s middle. Danny, left edge of the ‘D’, slipped the ball past outrushing Hallworth: left-footed, into the net, right corner, 3-2, in the 92^nd minute.

 The first semi-final ending, 3-3, United won the Maine Road replay, 2-1 (1-1), a.e.t., on April 11^th, 1990. A  ball, from out on the left wing, crossed by Ince, left-footed, threading through, to the far post, where McClair tapped in, made it 1-0, on 50 minutes. The 114^th minute strike, by ‘fledgling’ center forward, Robins, on for Martin in the 100^th minute, from a Phelan through ball on the right, between Rick Holden and Barrett, struck right-footed, low, at the left edge of the ‘D’, inside the left post, making it 2-1, is usually credited with having saved Ferguson’s job.

 Phelan, a holding midfield player, deployed as a right back, after his transfer from Norwich for £750,000 for 1989-90, 38+1 that season, was at right midfield for the 1991 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final defeat of Barça, with right footed Youth Academy graduate,  Wales’ Blackmore, at left back, although both were central midfielders. Eire’s Irwin, and Parker, replaced by Gary and/or Phil, were brought to ensure Phelan, and Blackmore, preferred at left back to Martin, scorer of the incredible goal that won the 1990 FA Cup Final replay against Crystal Palace, 1-0, were available for selection in midfield.

 Lee, perhaps the unluckiest of ‘Fergie’s fledglings’, had emerged, despite central defender, Donaghy, being brought in October 1988 from Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road for £650,000, filling the left back slot in 1988-89, 30 starts that term, while Martin, 20+4 in 1988-89, was similarly first choice at left back, 28+4, for only the 1989-90 season, although his left wing run to chest down, inside the left corner of the 18 yard box, a right-footed crossfield ball from Webb, right and center midfield, to drive a right-footed shot, high inside the left post, remains an indelible imprint on grateful fans’ memories.

 Both Paul Parker (Derby County), and Steve Bruce (Birmingham City), were given free transfers, before the 1996-97 campaign, with Norwegian defensive midfielder or center back, Ronny Johnsen, bought for £1.2m from Turkey’s Süper Lig club, Beşiktaş J.K., Istanbul, in the summer, and May, central defender, bought from Blackburn for £1.2m, as cover for Bruce and/or Pallister, before the 1994-95 term, sharing twin central defensive duties with ‘Pally’.

 Karel Poborský’s arrival, a Czech right winger, from Liga 1 club, Slavia Prague, for £3.5m, 15+7 (3), demonstrated Ferguson’s determination to keep his team’s pattern of play in the event of injury to Beckham, 33+3 (8), for example; or simply to have options. Sharpe had been transferred to Leeds for £4.5m before the season commenced. Keeping pressure on the incumbent to perform increased expectations. Norwegian center forward, quicksilver Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 25+8, brought from Molde of Norway’s Eliteserien for £1.5m, top-scored with 18 pounced, and striking partner, now also captain, Eric, age 30, retired, 36 (11), with the club champions on 75 points; 7 beyond Newcastle.

 Season 1997-98 was disappointing, although a shrewd taker of chances, second striker Teddy Sheringham, arrived from Spurs for £3.5m, 28+3 (9), as McClair was freed to Scotland’s Motherwell, while Poborský was sold to Benfica of Portugal for £2m on December 30^th, 1997, and another tough central defender, Norwegian Henning Berg had arrived from Blackburn for £5m, 23+4 (1). However, Arsenal, ‘The Gunners’ of Highbury Stadium, North London’s Islington, took the title with 78, 1 point more than ‘the reds’. Only Cole, 31+2 (15), got into double figures.

 In contrast 1998-99 was overwhelmingly triumphant, with the club winning both league, by 1 point from Arsenal on 79, and FA Cup ‘double’, on May 22^nd, 1999, beating Newcastle, 2-0, at Wembley, and the European (UCL) Cup, 2-1, against German Bundesliga club, Bayern Munich, for a then unique ‘treble’, on May 26^th, 1999, at Barcelona’s Nou Camp. Cole’s strike partner was Trinidad and Tobago’s happy-go-lucky Dwight Yorke, who struck like a cobra, and was transferred from Villa on August 20^th, 1998, for £12.6m, while Sweden’s ice-cool Jesper Blomqvist, 20+5 (1), a £4.4m left winger, arrived from Italian Serie A side Parma, to apply pressure on left wing Giggs, to improve his performance, according to ‘Fergie’, in the delivering of more accurate crosses to the goal area. Dutch defender, Jaap Stam, 30 (1), arguably the best of a generation, from PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands’ Eredivisie, £10.6m, would twin as a central defender with adaptable Johnsen, 19+3 (3), Berg 10+6, or Wes Brown, 11+3, who’d joined the club’s Youth Academy age 12. Yorke, 32 (18), Cole, 26+6 (17), and Solskjaer, 9+10 (12), got into double figures.

 The 1999 FA Cup Final was salutary. Johnsen and May were paired as central defenders, although Stam came on in the 78^th minute for Scholes, which meant Johnsen assuming a central defensive midfield role. Roy Keane, captain, alongside Scholes in center midfield, sustained an injury on 9 minutes to his left ankle, after being in a tackle with Newcastle central midfielder, Wales’ Gary Speed.

 Beckham moved into center midfield alongside Scholes, with Solskjaer moving out onto the right wing. Sheringham, substituting for Keane, took over as the striker partnering Cole, replaced by Yorke on 60 minutes, and on 11 minutes, passed with the outside of his right foot, to Beckham, center midfield. Running onto David’s low, along the turf, right-footed through ball, inside the ‘D’, midpoint, ‘Sheri’ struck the ball, right-footed, low, along the ground, center goal, 1-0.

 On 53 minutes, Teddy, with his back to goal, inside the 18 yard box, laid the ball into Scholes’ path, inside the ‘D’. Paul, low, left footed, right side of the net, 2-0. Such flexibility, always implicit in the quality of the playing staff, became demonstrable; through the implementation of 1995’s ruling that 3 substitutes could be deployed from 7 permitted on the bench.

 The 1999 European Cup Final against Bayern Munich was similarly illuminative. Beckham started in right midfield, alongside central defensive midfielder, Nicky Butt. Both Keane and Scholes having incurred suspensions, in the semi-final against Italian Serie A side Juventus, La Vecchia Signora, ‘the Old Lady’ of Turin.

 As yellow cards are shown on the pitch by a referee for a rule infringement, if a red is shown, signifying a second infringement, the player’s ordered off the field of play. With quality replacements available for each ‘2’, Ferguson’s system repeatedly demonstrated its flexibility in coping with such exigencies of fate. Enough yellow, and/or a red card, and a player’s effectively sent off from a game he’s expecting to play in, but isn’t allowed to start. Alex’s 5 x 2s ‘spare part surgery’ system encouraged both hopeful and entrenched squad members to be ‘where angels fear to tread’; giving their all.

 United drew, 1-1, on April 7^th, 1999, at home in the first leg against Juventus, i bianconeri, ‘the black and whites’, although that wasn’t on until 90+2 minutes, when the defence’s headed clearance of Beckham’s overhead kick, into the penalty area, could only reach Giggs, left corner of the 6 yard box; striking past Juvé ‘keeper, Angelo Peruzzi, left-footed into the top right corner.

 In the second leg in Turin, on April 21^st, 1999, United were down, 0-1, to a 6^th minute strike by ‘Zebras’ center forward, Filippo Inzaghi. From a corner, taken short by France’s attacking midfield (AM) genius, Zinedine Zidane, returned by left winger, Angelo Di Livio, and crossed to the far-post, Inzaghi volleyed in, right-footed; ignoring the despairing attempt of Gary Neville to manhandle him. Five minutes later, left back, Gianluca Pessotto, past the halfway line, on the left-wing, right-footed, forward to Inzaghi, left edge of the area. Filippo, left corner, outside the 6 yard box, left-footed, deflecting off center back Stam’s outstretched boot; looping over ‘Great Dane’, ‘keeper Peter Schmeichel, 0-2.

 Keane marshaled a fightback. From a Beckham corner on the left, getting between Pessotto and Zidane, parallel with the left upright, just outside the 6 yard box, on 24 minutes Roy directed the ball with his head into the top right corner, 1-2. Keane was then yellow carded by Swiss referee Urs Meier, in the 33^rd minute, for bringing down Zidane, le directeur, right of the United halfway line, and would miss the Final. Gary Neville, taking the ball away from Di Livio, in a professional, perfunctory way, that bordered on the disdainful, drove a long, straight pass, towards the 18 yard box edge, where Beckham headed down to Cole. A half-volleyed pass, curled over the defence, from outside the right corner of the box; met on 34 minutes by Dwight Yorke’s flying header: just outside, and left of the 6 yard box, low, bottom right corner, 2-2. United ahead on the ‘away goals count double’ rule.

 Late on in the second half, Scholes coming on for Blomqvist, in the 68^th minute, yellow carded for a two-footed challenge on French central midfielder, Didier Deschamps, in the 76^th, was also suspended for the Final. With the Juvé fans in the Stadio Delle Alpi aghast, Uruguayan defender, substitute Paolo Montero, goonishly booted United ‘keeper Schmeichel’s kick into the night, on its reentry, to Yorke, 35 yards out, who burst between Montero and central defender, Ciro Ferrara, at the ‘D’. Inside the 18 yard box, Peruzzi coming out to trip him, Yorke rounded the ‘keeper, right, with referee Meier playing ‘advantage’, rather than award a penalty, and Cole, magnetic inside the 6 yard box, right; right boot, left corner of the net, low, 3-2, in the 83^rd minute: 4-3 on aggregate.

 FC Bayern took the lead on 6 minutes in the UEFA Champions League Final, through a direct free kick from right forward (RF) Mario Basler, bending the ball around the ‘wall’ formed by the red shirts of Manchester. On 67 minutes Blomqvist was substituted by Sheringham, and on 81 minutes Cole was substituted by Solskjaer. Both Teddy, redirecting a low shot from Giggs into the net, and Ole, almost on the goal line at the far post, after a Beckham corner, headed on by Sheringham, scored from close in, in the 90+1 and 90+3 minutes, 2-1, showing not only how Ferguson’s reinvigoration of attacks, from the 5/7 substitutes on the bench, depended on his astute wheeling and dealing in the transfer market, as well as his promoting of talent from within, but the virtue of the 5 x 2s system, where any single member of a twinned pair could be removed and replaced; reestablishing and renewing team effort.

 To unduly complicate soccer is to try to play with your foot up your arse. Alex’s system was beautiful in its symmetry. All that was required were adequate replacements. Both 1988’s 5 substitute permission, and 1995’s 7 substitute permission, were conducive to Alex’s temperament, which was to optimize the effectiveness of the team on the pitch. Post-Ferguson coaches largely ignored the picture UEFA had drawn for them; neglecting the exciting attacking possibilities afforded by replacements; in preference for greater defensive coordination; for example, three-at-the-back.

 Instead of the half back line, in front of left and right full backs, traditional for almost 100 years at the club, since its 1878 inception, as Newton Heath, ‘the Heathens’, and mutating only in the modern era, after the single substitute permitted from 1965, into twin center backs, and a holding midfielder, three central defenders were advocated by Ferguson’s successors; taking up positions behind left and right full backs. This, in spite of Alex’s 5 x 2s ‘blueprint for success’.

 1999 was the beginning of three successive league title triumphs, with the club taking the 1999-2000 championship by 18 points from Arsenal on 91. Defeat at Stade Louis II, Monaco, on August 27^th, 1999, in the Super Cup to Italian Serie A club SS Lazio, 0-1, on Argentinian ‘playmaker’ Juan Verón’s debut for ‘The Eagles’, and despite Keane and Scholes being restored to center midfield, was balanced by the side’s defeat of Brazil’s Palmeiras, representing Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, and the other clubs of South America’s league championships, as winners of their Copa da Libertadores, ‘Freedom’s Cup’, in the November 30^th, 1999, National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan, Final of the Intercontinental Cup, 1-0. A fine run and cross from Ryan Giggs along the left wing, finding Keane on 35 minutes, at the far post, stretching out his right; to boot the ball gleefully past Brazilian ‘keeper, Marcos, into the net.

 On August 21^st, 1999, South African winger, Quinton Fortune, on the bench for the Intercontinental Cup Final, had arrived for £1.5m from Spain’s La Liga club, Atlético Madrid. The match was most noteworthy for the selection of France’s Mikaël Silvestre at center back, Pallister having re-signed pre-season for Boro’ for £2.5m, alongside Stam; Brown being out for the entire campaign through injury. Brought from Italian Serie A club Internazionale of Milan for £4m, on 10^th September, 1999, an adaptable and capable left-sided defender, Silvestre, 30+1 that 1999-2000 season, would compete with Irwin, 25 (3), for the left back position too. Yorke, 29+3 (20), Cole, 23+5 (19), and Solskjaer, 15+13 (12), got into double figures.

 In 2000-01, the club finishing 10 points clear of Arsenal on 80, with Berg leaving for B’burn for £1.75m on December 15^th, 2000, only Sheringham, 23+6 (15), freed to join Spurs at season’s end, and Solskjaer, 19+12 (10), made double figures, while Stam, age 29, was sold to Lazio early on in 2001-02 for £16.5m, with Brown, 25+3, having recovered from injury. Blomqvist was freed to join Everton on November 8^th, 2001, and Cole left for B’burn for £8m on December 29^th. Ferguson brought from Inter Milan for £2.5m the prescient anticipations of France’s center half, Laurent Blanc, ‘Le Presidente’, age 35, 29 (1). Dutch center forward, Ruud van Nistelrooy, came from PSV Eindhoven for £19m, with a killer’s instinct for goals, and Argentina’s sophisticated ball-playing central midfielder, Juan Sebastián Verón, from Lazio for £28.1m.

 Nistelrooy, 29+3 (23), Solskjaer, 23+7 (17), and Beckham, 23+5 (11), got into double figures. The club finished 3^rd, with the European Cup semi-final against German Bundesliga club, Bayer Leverkusen, commanded by Germany’s captain, central midfielder, Michael Ballack, all-important. However, an unconvincing draw ensued, 2-2, at Old Trafford, on April 24^th, 2002.

 A 30^th minute own goal by Croatian defender, Boris Zivkovic (o.g.), deflecting past ‘keeper, Hans-Jörg Butt, inside the right post, off his chest, a Solskjaer effort, following Ruud’s cross, midway along, and outside the right edge of the 18 yard box, 1-1, and a 67^th minute Nistelrooy penalty, top left corner, 2-1, having been tripped by Brazilian midfielder, Zé Roberto, near the right corner of the 6 yard box, after receiving a pass from Beckham, center midfield, outside the 18 yard box, could have been enough, but wasn’t.

 Keane, through from a pass by Nistelrooy, left of the ‘D’, and outside the 18 yard box, rounded ‘keeper, Butt, just forward of the penalty spot. From the acute angle, Roy, left-footed, left corner of the 6 yard box, into the right corner of the net; taking the lead in the 28^th minute, 1-0, but the second leg was drawn, 1-1, on April 30^th, 2002, away at BayArena. Eventual runners-up in the tournament, ‘The Factory XI’, 1-2, to Spain’s Real Madrid, Leverkusen went through to the May 15^th , 2002, Final at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, on the ‘away goals rule’. In the event of the aggregate score being equal, 3-3, Bayer had scored more away goals (2).

 Irwin and Johnsen were released, and Yorke left for £2.6m for B’Burn for 2002-03, but Nistelrooy’s goals were enough to take the title by 5 points from Arsenal with 83, while the signing of a mature center back, with a honed intuition to intercept, Rio Ferdinand, from Leeds for £29.3m, 27+1 that campaign, was ‘gilt edged security’, although with the physical capacity for endurance, and appetite for the fight, emerging Eire defender, and central midfielder, John O’Shea, 26+6, would eventually rival him. Ruud, 33+1 (25), and Scholes, 31+2 (14), got into double figures, while Ferguson’s ‘Supersub’ was Uruguayan Diego Forlán, 7+18 (6) that season, brought from Independiente of Argentina’s Primera División for £6.9m on January 22^nd, 2002.

 Although the 2003 League Cup Final was lost, 0-2, to Anfield club, Liverpool, held on March 2^nd, at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, while London’s national Wembley Stadium, opened on April 28^th, 1923, as ‘Empire Stadium’, was being demolished, prior to the new building of Wembley Stadium, opening in 2007, Ferguson’s team sheet was a perfect description of his 5 x 2s system. Left and right paired full backs, (# 1) were Gary Neville, 19+7 that 2002-03 term, and Silvestre, 34+1 (2), with twinned center backs, (# 2) Rio Ferdinand, and Wes Brown, 22, and in central midfield, Verón, 21+4 (2), and captain Keane, 19+2, were twinned (# 3). Beckham, 27+4 (6), right wing, and Giggs, 32+4 (8), left wing, were paired (# 4), with Scholes (SS) and Nistelrooy as twin strikers (# 5), completing the picture, while Solskjaer, 29+8 (9), came on as an attacking substitute in the 74^th minute for central defender, Brown. Illustrated was the value of fresh, quality insertions, and the necessity for preparing a balanced 5 x 2s squad, with sufficient depth to stand being rotated; without noticeable deterioration in terms of results.

 The beauty of the 5 x 2s system was that it encouraged a manager to want 5 of everything, that is, 5 full backs; 5 center backs; 5 midfielders; 5 wingers, and 5 forwards, to cover all the exigencies of fate, which is what Ferguson did. Before the 2003-04 campaign, May was released, and Blanc retired, while Alex signed for £12.24m Portuguese right wing magician, with his ‘step-over’ illusoriness, and eluding super strength, Cristiano Ronaldo, 15+14 (4), from Portugal’s Primeira Liga club, CP Sporting of Lisbon, as Beckham was sold to Real Madrid for £17.25m, and Verón to Chelsea for £15m. During the season the deceptively graceful power of French center forward, Louis Saha, 9+3 (7), came from Fulham, West London, for £12.82m, on January 23^rd, 2004, while the term was also significant for the graduation of ‘braw’, brave and courageous, Scot’s right midfielder, with all the penetrating skills of a forward, Darren Fletcher, 17+5, at the Youth Academy since 11 years.

 Despite the club finishing 3^rd, the team won the 2004 FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium on May 20^th, 3-0, against ‘The Lions’ of Millwall, Bermondsey, South East London, with Fletcher in central midfield alongside Keane. Ronaldo, center, just outside the 6 yard box, headed in a Gary Neville chip from outside the 18 yard box, right, to give the side the lead in the 44^th, 1-0. Nistelrooy, scoring the second goal on 65 minutes, from the penalty spot, top left corner, after Millwall’s central midfielder, Dave Livermore, ended a right wing run by Giggs, bringing him down inside the 6 yard box, right side, also got the third in the 81^st. After a ball from Scholes, along the left touchline to left winger, Giggs, who cut inside, running into the 18 yard box, left, before driving a low cross into the penalty area, finding Ruud three yards out; a ‘surgical strike’, 3-0. Nistelrooy was the only goalscorer into double figures in the league that season, 31+1 (20).

 Before the 2004-05 season began Nicky Butt signed for Newcastle for £2.5m, and Forlán for Spain’s La Liga club, Villarreal, ‘The Yellow Submarine’, on August 21^st, 2004, for €3.2m. Ferguson moved to sign 18 years center forward; if not prolific, industrious Wayne Rooney, from Everton for £27m; center forward, right winger, or central midfielder; Alan Smith, 22+9 (6), ‘Jack of all trades’, from Leeds for £7m, and the silky skills at left back, or center back, of Argentina’s Gabriel Heinze, 26+1, from French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain for £6.9m. The club finished 3^rd, with only Rooney making double figures, 24+5 (11), and the team lost to Arsenal in the May 21^st, 2005, FA Cup Final in Cardiff, 0-0 (0-0), a.e.t., 4-5 on penalties, with Scholes failing to convert.

 Apparently inexhaustibly attacking South Korean midfielder, Ji Sung ‘Three-Lung’ Park, 23+11 (1), arrived for £4m from PSV Eindhoven, for 2005-06, with Phil Neville transferred to Everton on August 4^th, 2005, for £3m, and Keane, 4+1, released on November 18^th, 2005. Ferguson, shoring up the defense, on December 25^th, 2005, brought Serbia’s ‘stopper’ center back, Nemanja Vidić, 9+2, from Russia’s Premier League club, Spartak Moscow, for £7m, and France’s left back, Patrice Evra, 7+4, on January 6^th, 2006, from Ligue 1 club, Monaco, ‘The Rock’, for £5.5m. The club finished 2^nd, 8 points behind Chelsea, ‘The Blues’ of Stamford Bridge, on 91, but won the Final of the 2006 League Cup, on February 26^th, in Cardiff against Wigan Athletic, 4-0.

 Latics’ ‘keeper, Mike Pollitt, having incurred an early injury, Aussie ‘keeper, John Filan, came on as a 14^th minute substitute. Rooney opened the scoring on 33 minutes, after Dutch ‘keeper Edwin van der Sar's long punt downfield, headed on by Saha. Dutch center back, captain Arjan de Zeeuw, nutmegged by Wayne, and colliding with French right back, Pascal Chimbonda, left Rooney with only Wigan ‘keeper Filan to beat. Wayne ran into the 18 yard box, center, right-footed; delivering a clinical, low, dipping shot, 1-0. In the 55^th minute, Giggs, eluding tackles in midfield, threaded a pass out to Ronaldo. The right winger, finding captain, Gary Neville, overlapping, with the ball; Saha connected with his cross. Though Filan saved, the ball rebounded to Louis, bundling it into the net, inside the left post; almost on his knees, 2-0. In the 59^th minute, Swiss center back, Stéphane Henchoz, cleared the ball, center edge of the 18 yard box, only as far as Saha; right midfield. Louis’ pass to Ronaldo, inside and right of the 18 yard box; opposite the right upright. Cristiano rifled the ball in; low, left corner of the net, 3-0. In the 61^st minute a Giggs’ free-kick, outside the right edge of the 18 yard box, initially won in the air by Saha, outside the 6 yard box; directed at goal. Headed on by Ferdinand, inside the 6 yard box, towards Wayne, on the proverbial ‘sixpence’, Rooney, turning anti-clockwise, directed the ball into the Wigan net with his right boot, 4-0. Only Nistelrooy, 28+7 (21), and Rooney, 34+2 (16), got into double figures in the league’s season.

 Quinton Fortune was released; before the start of the campaign. Nistelrooy, disappointed at losing his place to Saha, and ‘benched’ for the 2006 League Cup Final, was sold to Real Madrid for £10.2m, and Michael Carrick, 29+4 (3) that 2006-07 season, perfectionist, and hypercritical central defensive midfielder, given the number 16 shirt worn by Keane, indicating no-change in the 5 x 2s system, was signed from Spurs for £18.6m. The season also saw the signs of a knee injury that would curtail the career effectiveness and accelerate the retirement of ‘Three Lung’ Park, 8+6 (5), although the club won the league title 6 points clear of Chelsea on 89. Only Ronaldo, 31+3 (17), and Rooney, 33+2 (14), got into double figures, and at Wembley, on May 27^th, the 2007 FA Cup Final was lost, 0-1, a.e.t., to a 116^th minute strike from Ivory Coast’s center forward, Didier Drogba, after a ‘sucker punch’; edge of the 18 yard box, ‘one-two’ with midfielder Frank Lampard.

 2007-08 was a pre-season chiaroscuro, with Smith sold to Newcastle for £6m, before the start, and Heinze to Real Madrid on August 23^rd, 2007, for £8m, while Solskjaer retired, on August 28^th, 2007. German polish added to the techniques used by solid, half-winger, Owen Hargreaves, 16+7 (2), signing from Bayern Munich for £17m; Brazil’s left midfielder, Anderson, 16+8, perhaps ‘moving to the rhythms of a different samba beat’, from Portugal’s Primeira Liga club, FC Porto for £20m; scintillating right winger, Nani, 16+10 (3), from Sporting Lisbon for €25.5m, and pugilistic Argentine striker, Carlos Tevez, leaving the Boleyn Ground of West Ham, and loaned through Media Sport Investment (MSI) for two years, making his debut in the second game of the season against Portsmouth, 1-1, away at Fratton Park, on August 15^th, 2007. Ronaldo, 31+3 (31), Tevez, 31+3 (14), and Rooney, 25+2 (12), got into double figures, as the club won the league title by 2 points from Chelsea on 87.

 In the UCL Final of May 21^st, 2008, at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, Russia, ‘keeper Edwin saved French center forward Nicolas Anelka’s penalty to give the club its third victory in the competition, 1-1 (1-1), a.e.t., 6-5 on penalties, after Cristiano, almost at the penalty spot, had headed Brown’s cross from close to the right corner flag into the net; beating Chelsea’s Czech ‘keeper, Petr Čech, to give the team the lead, 1-0, on 26 minutes.

 Qualifying for the world governing soccer body, Federation of International Football Associations’ (FIFA) World Club Cup, by virtue of winning the UCL, in accordance with ‘seeding’ the side entered the contest at the semi-final stage against Gamba Osaka of Japan’s J1 league, winners of the 2008 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League. At Yokohama’s Inter national Stadium, on December 18^th, 2008, the team took the lead from a Giggs’ corner, on the right. Vidić, center of the 6 yard box, outjumping his opponent, Gamba captain, Satoshi Yamaguchi, powering a header past ‘keeper, Yosuke Fujigaya, into the bottom right corner of the net, in the 28^th minute, 1-0. Ronaldo, similarly outjumping midfielder, Tomokazu Myojin, with a header, from near the penalty spot, inside the left post, on 45+1 minutes, 2-0, before forward, Masato Yamazaki, struck from the right, well outside the penalty area, 2-1, in the 74^th minute.

 Rooney, having just been brought on as a substitute, restored the lead, after latching on to a defence-splitting, long through ball from Fletcher, in the 75^th minute, at the edge of the ‘D’, left. Edge of the 18 yard box, shrugging off defender, Sota Nakazawa, to his right, Rooney, left-footed, now inside the box, left, striking low, into the bottom right corner of the net, 3-1. Evra’s cross, midway along the edge of the 18 yard box, left-footed; slightly behind Patrice, finding Darren. A header, left of the penalty spot; inside the left post, 4-1, on 78 minutes. Rooney, inside the area, accepting a left-footed pass from Giggs, center midfield, stroked forward to Wayne, inside the ‘D’, left, running with the ball into the 18 yard box; left-footed, low, evading Osaka ‘keeper, Fujigaya: center of the net, 5-1, in the 79^th. Gamba, awarded a penalty, after Gary Neville was adjudged to have handled a cross from the left, midfielder Yasuhito Endō converted the 85^th minute spot-kick, 5-2. Hideo Hashimoto, striking in a way almost identical to Yamazaki for Gamba’s first, the midfielder made it 5-3 on 90+1 minutes.

 United had earned an encounter, in the December 21^st, 2008, Final in Yokohama, with LDU Quito of Ecuador’s Serie A, Copa da Libertadores winners, South America’s club championship. Despite ‘Vida’ elbowing Argentine center forward, Claudio Beiler, and being sent off in the 49^th minute, a sideways pass from Ronaldo, outside of his left boot, center edge of the 18 yard box, to Rooney’s right, waiting at the area’s left corner, struck right-footed, right corner of ‘keeper José Cevallos’ net, on 73 minutes, 1-0. Brazil’s Rafael da Silva, 12+4 (1), was selected at right back; arriving in January with twin brother, Fabio, both unavailable for selection until July; having, then, 18 years.

 Just after the 2008-09 season began, Silvestre was sold to Arsenal for €3.50m, on August 20^th, 2008, with Saha going to Everton for €7.50m. Two games into the campaign, on September 1^st, Ferguson secured the unorthodox services of brilliant, and maverick, Bulgarian center forward, Dimitar Berbatov, 29+2 (9), from Spurs for £30.75m. The club won the 2009 League Cup Final against Spurs, at Wembley on March 1^st, 0-0, a.e.t., 4-1 on penalties. In a relatively inexperienced team, in accordance with the club’s policy of giving youth a chance in the EFL Cup, gangly Northern Irish Jonny Evans, 17, was at center back; Eire’s heartful Darron Gibson, 3+1, at center midfield, and multiple skills in thirst of a goal, Danny Welbeck, 1+2 (1), at center forward.

 The club won the league title by 4 points from Liverpool on 90, but only Cristiano, leaping like a salmon with dynamite in his boots, 31+2 (18), and Rooney, crafting each of his goals with the craftiness of the devil red, 25+5 (12), got into double figures. Although the team made the UCL Final again, on May 27^th, 2009, at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy, the side lost to Barça, 0-2. Alex inexplicably selected Park, 21+4 (2), probably for his enthusiastic openness about wanting to be included, and omitted the master, Scholes, 14+7 (2), who’d scored from long range, in the 14^th minute of the second leg of the 2008 semi-final at Old Trafford, on April 29^th, after the first leg, away on April 23^rd, at Nou Camp, 0-0. An attempted clearance by Italian right back, Gianluca Zambrotta, reached Paul, left of center midfield, well outside the 18 yard box, and left of the ‘D’. Scholes’ right-footed rocket swang right to enter at the top right corner of ‘keeper José Manuel Pinto’s net, 1-0; Barça beaten on aggregate.

 Before the 2009-10 season began Cristiano was sold to Real Madrid for £80m, while Ferguson moved to bring Ecuador’s right winger, Antonio Valencia, 29+5 (5), often utilized as a left/wing back, from Wigan Athletic for £16m, and Michael Owen, 5+14 (3), England center forward, out of contract, and given a free transfer by Newcastle. The club finished 2^nd to Chelsea by 1 point on 86. Only Rooney, 32 (26), and Berbatov, 24+9 (12), got into double figures.

 The side won the 2010 League Cup Final, on February 28^th at Wembley, against Villa, 2-1. With goals from Owen in the 12^th minute, right-footed, low, left corner of the net, 1-0, after Berbatov’s running with the ball, down the right flank, tackled at the left corner of the 18 yard box; the ball loosed, left, to Michael, and Rooney in the 74^th. ‘Three Lung’ Park, passing the ball, along the ground, towards Berbatov; right corner of the 18 yard box. Dimitri, back heel, returning the ball. Park, crossing right-footed, closer to the goal line. Wayne’s header, almost at the penalty spot, over US’ ‘keeper Brad Friedel; bottom right corner of the net. Canceling out a successful spot kick from center midfielder, James Milner, side-footed, bottom right corner, following Vida’s pulling down center forward, Gabriel Agbonlahor, by his shirt, inside the left corner of the 18 yard box; in the 5^th minute.

 Before the 2010-11 season began, Ferguson moved to bring center back, Chris Smalling, 11+5, from Fulham for €8m, and ebullient and incisive Mexican center forward, Javier Hernández, Chicharito, ‘little pea’, from Mexico’s Liga MX club, C. D. Guadalajara for €7.5m. Gary Neville, 3, retired undefeated on February 2^nd, 2011, with Vidić appointed captain. The club won the title by 9 points from Chelsea on 80, with Berbatov, 24+8 (20), Hernández, 15+12 (13), and Rooney, 25+3 (11), getting into double figures.

 Paul Pogba dominated at center midfield at 18 years, as the club won its tenth FA Youth Cup. The Youth Academy side beat Sheffield United, over the two-leg Final, 2-2, on May 17^th, 2011, at Bramall Lane, and 4-1 on May 23^rd, 2011, at Old Trafford; 6-3 on aggregate. At right midfield, Jessie Lingard, who’d get the 2016 FA Cup Final winner, 19+6 (4) that 2015-16 season. A 110^th minute volleyed goal, right-footed, from inside the 18 yard box, right; top left corner of the Crystal Palace net, 2-1, (1-1), a.e.t., for manager van Gaal, while substituting in the 90^th minute for Spain’s Juan Mata (RW), 34+4 (6) that term. Harry Maguire, at left back for Sheffield, was signed for £80m, as captain, and center back, from Leicester City, on August 5^th, for 2019-20, 38+1, by then manager, from Norway’s Eliteserien club, Molde, former striker-hero in the 1999 UCL Final, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

 The first team squad again reached the UCL Final, on May 28^th, 2011, at Wembley Stadium, London, again losing to Barça, 1-3, despite Rooney’s 34^th minute equalizer. Wayne, outside the 18 yard box, right corner; a right-footed ball, eliding a challenge from center back, Gerard Piqué, to Giggs inside the box. Controlled by Ryan, on his left thigh; Argentine center back, Javier Mascherano, coming over to challenge him. The ‘one-two’, Giggs left-footed; back to Rooney, now inside the 18 yard box. French left back, Eric Abidal, arm and hand up in the air, instead of defending: unappealing to Hungarian referee, Viktor Kassai. Wayne, right-footed; ignoring Brazilian right back Dani Alves’ last gap lunge: top left corner of ‘keeper Victor Valdés’ net, 1-1.

 Piqué, signed for United from Barça’s youth team, debuted on October 26^th, 2004, as a 67th minute replacement for O’Shea, in a 3-0 League Cup 3^rd Round win at Crewe Alexandra, had qualified for a UCL winners’ medal in 2008. Gerard, 9 league starts in 2007-08, returned to the Catalan club for 2008-09 for £5m, where he won the UCL in 2009, and 2011, against Ferguson’s side, and the UCL again, versus Italy’s Juvé, 3-1, in Germany, on June 6^th, 2015, at Berlin’s Olimpiastadion.

 Fabio da Silva was at right back in the 2011 UCL Final, as brother Rafael had been in 2009, but Scholes, 16+6 (1) that season, and 24+4 (3) in 2009-10, was again omitted. Alex’s preference for ‘crocked’ Ji Sung Park, 13+2 (5) that term, and 10+7 (3) in 2009-10, appeared more than sentimental. Influenced by false enthusiasm, surrounding one of Asia’s supposedly indomitable spirits. A sign of dementia, or the implementing of a belief that Ferguson was senile and manipulable by a shaman.

 Edwin retired at the end of 2010-11. Phil Jones, 25+4 (1), a colossus of a central defender, arrived from B’burn for £16.5m, and Ashley Young, 19+6 (6), a box-to-box left winger, utilized often as a left/wing back, from Villa for £17m, before the 2011-12 season commenced. Brown, €6.m, and O’Shea, €6.5m, were transferred to Sunderland, ‘The Black Cats’. Though Scholes, doubtless disappointed at being left out of consecutive UCL Finals, retired, results conspired to alter Ferguson’s thinking. After being beaten at home by B’burn, 2-3, on December 31^st, 2011, despite a Berbatov brace, in the 52^nd, after an attempt from Rafael, drifting over the 6 yard box, headed in, and in the 62^nd, inside ‘keeper Mark Bunn’s penalty area, stroking in the ball, bottom right corner, following Valencia’s cross, United lost away, on January 4^th, 2012, at Newcastle’s Saint James Park, 0-3; persuading Alex to beg Paul back.

 While midfielder, Darron Gibson, was transferred to Everton for €3.5m on January 13^th, 2012, Paul duly resumed the red shirt, 14+3 (4), opening the scoring, on 45+1 minutes, against Bolton Wanderers, 3-0, at Old Trafford, on January 14^th, and the club almost recovered to win the title, with Park’s concluding statistics, 10+7 (2). Finishing 2^nd in the league, equal on 89 points with Manchester City, but a goal difference of +56 to City’s +64, statistics suggest Berbatov, 5+7 (7), would have scored more, and more frequently than Welbeck, 23+7 (9), if selected. Only Rooney, 32+2 (27), and ambitiously driven Hernández, with a Central American’s insatiable desire to forever escape the barrio, 18+10 (10), got into double figures.

 Paul Poga, out of contract, signing for 2012-13 for Juventus, would be at center midfield against Piqué in Barça’s 2015 UCL Final defeat of ‘the Old Lady’. Not all roses in the garden. Paul would be returned by Portuguese manager, José Mourinho, from Juventus for £89m, 29+1 (5) that 2016-17 term. Winning the 2017 League Cup Final against Southampton, ‘The Saints’, 3-2, on February 26^th at Wembley, and the 2017 Europa Cup Final, against Dutch Eredivisie club, Ajax of Amsterdam, ‘Sons of the Gods’, 2-0, on May 24^th at Friends Arena, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden, with Pogba credited with the first goal, 1-0, after his struck ball, on 18 minutes, looping over ‘keeper, André Onana, deflected off Columbian center back, Davinson Sánchez. However, out of contract, Paul returned to Juvé for 2022-23.

 Park left, before the 2012-13 term started, for QPR at €6.5m, and Berbatov for Fulham for £5m, on August 31^st, 2012, while Owen was released. Japan’s ‘shadow striker’, Shinji Kagawa, 17+3 (6), arrived from German Bundesliga club, Borussia Dortmund, for £17m, and the piercing vision of center forward, Robin van Persie, former Feyenoord, Rotterdam, Eredivisie striker, 2001-04, coached into a finished product by Arsenal’s French manager, Arsène Wenger. The Netherlands’ finely tooled goal-machine, Robin, added before the campaign’s commencement; for £24m. The club finished 1^st, Alex’s 13^th league title, 11 points clear of Manchester City on 89, with van Persie, 35+3 (26), Rooney, 22+5 (12), and Hernández, 9+13 (10), getting into double figures.

 A ‘fledgling’, midfielder Tom Cleverley, 18+4 (2), Youth Academy product, since 12 years, flared briefly, and imaginatively, as the heir to Scholes’ engine room, and imaged again for a season, 2013-14, 18+4 (1), under the managership of Ferguson’s successor, Moyes, but ultimately Alex retired ignored. The 5 x 2s system abandoned in favor of the inverted magi, who defer to play with their opposite foot up their arse at the park’s other side.

1 Meade, Samuel, ‘What happened to Crystal Palace fan Eric Cantona wished he'd kung-fu kicked harder?’, Mirror, January 18^th, 2023, 10.51 am,  https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/what-happened-crystal-palace-fan-28984640 .

2 Midgley, Simon The Independent, April 1, 1995.

3 Cassel, Vincent as Henry, Duc d’Anjou, ‘A very big key!’ (transl.), Elizabeth, Gramercy Pictures; Kapurfilm; Working Title Films; Channel Four Films; Proson Film, 1998.

Disabled United

Even 13 times English Premier League title winning Scot’s manager, Alex Ferguson, experimented with three-at-the-back, which was presented by one of his successors, Dutch manager of the national team at the 2014 World Cup Finals, Louis van Gaal, as novel, but Manchester United had been deploying a half back line well before the 1908 league title triumph with Dick Duckworth, Charlie Roberts, and Scot’s Alex Bell at right half, center half, and left half. It wasn’t until the short-lived era of former reserve team coach, Wilf McGuinness, replacing Matt Busby, on his recommendation, for the 1969-70 season, and the club finishing 8^th, that the team sheet represented the distinction between the defensive midfielder and the central defensive partnership, for example, Scot’s right half, Pat Crerand, center half, Bill Foulkes, and ‘Nobby’ Stiles, nominally left half, but twinned with Foulkes in the center of defense, was finally acknowledged in the match day program, United Review, with Crerand #4 indicated as deployed alongside deep-lying center forward, Bobby Charlton #9, in center midfield, while Foulkes and Stiles were clearly marked as the twin central defenders; flanked by left and right full backs.

 An analysis of the club’s difficulties of the period provides some illumination on the problems associated with three-at-the-back, which focuses primarily on disability. Invariably a team sheet containing a half back line without a central defensive midfielder was a sign of a team disabled, for example, without Paddy Crerand, the manager could chose David Sadler, billed either as a center half or center forward. An alternative at half back was Scot, John Fitzpatrick, and Steve James at center half, but in the days when there weren’t any substitutes, injuries to key players were genuinely disabling for a team, which functioned as ‘the first eleven’, with a single substitute allowed only after 1965, and up until 1988, when a second outfield player was permitted to substitute, that was the rule.

 As substitutions were either not allowed, or for injuries only, with tactical substitutions permissible as a later afterthought, squads were much smaller; approximately 16 regulars with 30+ games. Utility players, like Sadler, who could deploy in midfield, as well as center back, and as a forward, were highly desirable members of the playing staff. The rise of the utility player, as single substitute, meant a concomitant demise in importance of the specialized position, which ultimately resulted in make-do, fudge, and degeneration. The club was relegated in 1973-74, 21^st of 22, with Sammy McIlroy top-scoring on 6 goals, largely because of a plethora of defenders, who could play in midfield at a pinch, and with little change in the forward line since Busby’s European Cup win over Portugal’s Benfica, 4-1 (1-1), a.e.t., at London’s national stadium, Wembley, on May 29^th, 1968.

 Because of the desirability of the utility midfield player as ‘twelfth man’, the club’s squad came to consist almost entirely of half backs. In 1970-71, after Busby replaced McGuinness on 29^th December, 1970, until season’s end, due to a run of poor results, including a second successive defeat, 2-3, on aggregate to Aston Villa, at the League Cup semi-final stage, the club finished 8^th again. Apart from Crerand (24), Sadler (32), and Stiles (17), Scot’s John Fitzpatrick (35), David Sadler (32), Paul Edwards (29+1), Scot’s Francis Burns (16+4), Steve James (13), Scot’s Ian Ure (13), Scot’s Willy Watson (8), Tommy O’ Neil (1), Tony Young (0+1), and Scot’s Ian Donald (0), loosely construed as ‘defenders’, were essentially strung out somewhere along with the half back line. Excluding goalkeepers, Alex Stepney and Jimmy Rimmer, 13 out of 21 outfielders were backs, with only Alan Gowling (17+3), Brian Kidd (24+1), and Scot, Denis Law (28), labeled ‘forwards’.

 The scramble to be the utility player that was first choice on the single substitutes’ bench disabled the club. In 1970-71, Law top scored on 15, with Gowling and Kidd on 8 apiece. With Leicester City manager, Eire’s Frank O’ Farrell, appointed for 1971-72, and McIlroy scoring on his November 6^th, 1971, debut in a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford against Manchester City, the squad recovered, but largely through the resurgence of left winger, George Best, 18 goals in 40 games, and the March 7^th, 1972, ₤200,000 transfer of right winger, Ian Storey-Moore from Nottingham Forest, 5 in 11, while again the club finished 8^th. It wouldn’t be until two substitutes, allowable from five on the bench from 1988, that the utility back would be replaced by a selection of specialized replacements, based on strategy and tactical requirements more suitable to an  attack-minded squad. O’Farrell was replaced on December 22^nd, 1972, by Scotland national team manager, Scot’s Tommy Docherty, the club barely avoiding relegation, after finishing that 1972-73 season 18^th, and Charlton top scoring on 6, while Docherty was again held totally responsible for relegation in 1973-74.

 The club had almost no success, between the introduction of the single substitute in 1965, and the two substitutes of five on the bench rule change from 1988, coinciding with the tactical movement of a half back into midfield, together with the perceived need for a single substitute that could be deployed as a utility back, primarily because squad competition focused mainly on that role. In consecutive FA Cup Finals under Docherty, for example, against Southampton, lost 0-1 in 1976, and Liverpool, won 2-1 in 1977, speculation was rife as to whether substitute, Northern Irish utility midfielder, David McCreery, would be needed. As it transpired, McCreery substituted for left winger, Gordon Hill, top scorer in 1976-77 (38+1) 15, and 1977-78 (36) 17, in both matches, while manager after ‘The Doc’, Dave Sexton, had Hill transferred for £250,000 to Derby County for 1978-79, questioning his work-rate and subsequent value to the team. Not a joke with the board, Dave brought Garry Birtles from Forest for £1.25m. Makiing 28 appearances for but a single goal, after his debut on October 22nd, 1980, at Stoke City's Victoria Ground. fans' disappointment in center forward,  '2 'r's Garry', contributed to Sexton's dismissal.

 Promotion, as champions, was won in 1974-75, with Stuart Pearson, bought from second tier Hull City for £200,000, the first in three seasons to get into double figures for goals scored with 17. Perhaps the yardstick for the period was England’s victory in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley, 4-2 (2-2), a.e.t., without substitutes, and where the half-back line was captain, West Ham’s Bobby Moore, Leeds United’s Jack Charlton, and Nobby Stiles, because injury or a sending off, especially in the case of Moore or Charlton, would require replacing from the players on the pitch, necessarily producing a defensive approach, whereas the single substitute rule afforded the possibility of replacing off the bench, which contributed to the movement of a half back into midfield, as it was no longer necessary for a reserve central defender to be on the field of play from the kick-off.

 At Manchester United the difficulty had been in replacing Bill Foulkes at center back. Foulkes, a right back in the 1955-56 and 1956-57 title winning teams, was moved into the center by Busby, after the February 6^th air disaster that devastated the team on its way back from a quarter final draw, 3-3, against Red Star Belgrade in the European Champions Clubs’ Cup of 1958. Steve James, product of the club’s youth policy, aged 19, had been the first to try, debuting at Liverpool on October 12^th, 1968, followed by Scot’s Ian Ure, transferred from Arsenal for 1969-70 by McGuinness for £80,000, while Docherty had brought Scot’s center back, Jim Holton, 6 ft 1 in, from third tier Shrewsbury Town for £80,000 on January 10^th, 1973. Ever present at #6 for over a decade, after the departure of Stiles (1960-71) to Middlesbrough for £20,000, was Scot’s Martin Buchan, brought by O’Farrell from Aberdeen for £120,000 on February 29^th, 1972, and initially deployed as a right full back, Buchan (1972-1983) would become the mainstay of the side’s defense alongside a variety of center halves.

 Least likely beneficiary of the single substitute system had been central defensive midfielder, Brian Greenhoff, alongside Buchan and Northern Irishman Tommy Jackson, in a half back line that had begun Docherty’s 1975-76 season’s campaigning. Greenhoff, 5 ft 9 in, had been tried, since his debut at Ipswich Town’s Portman Road ground on September 8th, 1973, and not found wanting. Before Sexton moved to sign Scot’s center back, Gordon McQueen, 6 ft 3 in, from Leeds United in February 1978 for £500,000, Brian’s half back role had been secure. McQueen, alongside Buchan, set a precedent, dividing defense from midfield, with twinned, tall, strong, central defenders, at the back, whereas Greenhoff had represented the distinct possibility of a return to the half back line.

 Sexton was replaced as manager by ‘Big Ron’ Atkinson of West Bromwich Albion, who endeared himself immediately by bringing his captain there, ‘Captain Marvel’, left footed Bryan Robson, transferred on October 1^st, 1981, for £1.5m, increasing the distinction between defense and midfield, where Robson would excel as captain for England too. However, despite winning the FA Cup Finals of 1983, 4-0 against Brighton and Hove Albion in a replay, following a draw, 2-2 (2-2), a.e.t., and 1985, 1-0 (0-0), a.e.t., against Everton, and Eire center back, Kevin Moran, sent off in the 78^th minute, bringing down ‘Toffees’ captain, Peter Reid, through on goal, and the midfielder almost certain to score, with a 110^th minute curler in at the far left post from the left foot of Northern Ireland’s Norman Whiteside from right of the 20 yard box, after a run down the wing, 1-0, Ron alienated the supporters by selling to Spain’s Barcelona, for £2m, top scorer in successive seasons, 1984-85 (38) 16, and 1985-86 (40) 17, Wales’ Mark Hughes. In the final analysis that led to the appointment of Scot, Alex Ferguson, from Aberdeen on November 6^th, 1986, who promptly transferred Hughes back from Barça for the 1988-89 term for £1.8m.

 The ruling on substitutes being two from five from 1988, and in 1995 increased to three from seven on the bench, freed Ferguson from having to think only in terms of replacements for injured players, or those clearly out-of-sorts on the field, and perhaps out-of-their-depth also. Thoughts were now of a strategic and tactical sort, with a variety of change available for an attack-minded coach. The apotheosis was 1999’s European Champions Clubs’ Cup Final defeat of Germany’s Bundesliga side, Bayern Munich, at Barça’s Camp Nou stadium, on May 26^th, with Swedish left wing, Jesper Blomqvist, and center forward, Andy Cole, replaced late on by forwards, who scored both goals, Teddy Sheringham on 90+1 minutes, 1-1, and Norway’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on 90+3 minutes, 2-1.

 Ferguson’s 13 Premier League titles (1993-2013) were undoubtedly won on the basis of a solid back four, with twin center halves, that is, from Eire’s Kevin Moran (1978-88), Eire’s Paul McGrath (1982-9), Scot’s Graeme Hogg (1984-88), Steve Bruce (1987-96), Gary Pallister (1989-98), Mal Donaghy (1988-92), Paul Parker (1991-6), David May (1994-03), Norway’s Ronny Johnsen (1996-02), Norway’s Henning Berg (1997-2000), the Netherlands’ Jaap Stam (1998-01), Wes Brown (1996-2011), France’s Mikaël Silvestre (1999-08), France’s Laurent Blanc (2001-03), Rio Ferdinand (2002-14), Eire’s John O’Shea (1999-2011), Argentina’s Gabriel Heinze (2004-07), Spain’s Gerard Piqué (2004-08), Serbia’s Nemanja Vidić (2006-14), Eire’s Jonny Evans (2006-15), Chris Smalling (2010-20), and Phil Jones (2011-23). Twin strikers, together with an astute eye for a game-changing substitution, aligned with Alex’s approach to goal-getting; depending on service for the forwards in the six yard box: balls precisely delivered there from the left and right wingers. That Ferguson experimented with three-at-the-back was a sign of his interest in what Busby’s half back line did, whereas van Gaal, and his successors, deploying three center backs, were retrograde; given the possibilities for proactive intervention from the subs’ bench. Defensive; it required substitutions to mount an attack.

 From title challengers, the club degenerated, with van Gaal, winner of the FA Cup in 2016, replaced from London’s Chelsea by Portuguese José Mourinho, winner of the League Cup and Europa Cup in 2017, and after a spell from Molde of Norway’s ‘99 hero Ole, appointed December 19^th, 2018, which saw the team lose the May 26^th, 2021, Europa Cup Final at Stadion Gdańsk, Poland, 1-1 (1-1), a.e.t., and 10-11 on penalties, from April 21^st, 2022, Erik ten Hag of the Netherlands’ Ajax of Amsterdam; winning the 2023 League Cup, and 2024 FA Cup. Distrust of the three center backs’ system, increasingly favored by ten Hag and his predecessors, but representing a half back line that wasn’t any good, because central defenders aren’t half backs, greeted Portuguese Ruben Amorim’s appointing on November 1^st, 2024, from Lisbon’s CP Sporting. Defeat to Spurs, 0-1, on May 21^st in the 2025 Europa Cup Final, at Athletic Club of Spain’s stadium, Nuevo San Mamés, Bilbao, with France’s Leny Yoro at right center half, Harry Maguire at center half, and Luke Shaw, at left center half, concurred. Shaw, chesting on a right footed cross from the left by Senegal’s Pape Mate Sarr for Welsh right wing, Brennan Johnson, to poke it in by the left post in the 42^nd minute, agreed.

The Manchester United Christmas Tree

Much has been written about Manchester United’s Portuguese manager Ruben Amorim’s team formation, and its three-at-the back, together with wing backs; at left and right. Instead of what the Italians call the English sistema, with defending full backs at left and right, and central defenders, twinned in the center; in front of the ‘keeper, Belgium’s Senne Lammens, after his £18.1m September 1^st, 2025, transfer from Belgian club, Royal Antwerp, and behind the midfield. The importance of Harry Maguire, as a left sided central defender, is essential to understanding Amorim’s formation. That it’s crucial to have a left footed defender on the left of the three was underscored in Ruben’s having Ayden Heaven transferred from Arsenal for £1.5m on February 1^st, 2025, with the subsequent loss of left sided Argentine center back, Lisandro Martínez, to a cruciate ligament injury, after his colliding with Senegal winger, Ismaïla Sarr, during the home defeat to Crystal Palace, 0-2, on February 2^nd, 2025, and the score, 0-1, in the 82^nd minute.

 Although left back, Luke Shaw, and Noussair Mazraoui, left back at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for Morocco, and in their third place play off against Croatia, lost 1-2, on December 17^th at Khalifa International Stadium (KIS), Al-Rayyah, were given the role of left central defender on occasion, Shaw is a left full back, while Mazraoui, a ‘devout Moslem’, in accordance with Islamic belief about the haraam nature of the left, that is, it’s ‘forbidden’, remained adamant on his preference for his right foot, after his transfer from German Bundesliga club, FC Bayern Munich, on August 13^th, 2024, for €15m, which is problematic for a left back/left center back required to use the left foot against prejudice.

 Amorim’s system relies on defensive and attacking wing backs, where defensive wing backs are required to defend in the role of full backs, in the event of the flanks being threatened by a winger, for example, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, with too much pace, and ball control, for United’s Portuguese right full back, Diogo Dalot, to be able to deal with comfortably. If attacked down the right flank in Ruben’s United system, Dalot drops back from the right wing back position to assume the right full back role, which is according to his nature, as he’s a right full back by trade, and Maguire shifts over into the left full back position on the left flank, while the other two central defenders of the three-at-the-back system take up the familiar role of twinned center halves, flanked by left and right full backs.

 With Denmark’s Patrick Dorgu, as the left wing back, Amorim’s system is to have Dorgu drop back to defend, in the event of an attack down the left flank, which means Maguire moving into the center, twinned with Holland’s Matthijs de Ligt, for example, while French center back, Leny Yoro, for example, moves into the full back position on the right. However, if Ruben selects attacking wing backs, either from the start, or from the substitutes available during the course of a game, the team shapes up as a ‘Christmas tree’, with inverted wing backs, and inverted inside forwards, funneling the ball towards the opposition goalmouth. Ivory Coast’s Amad Diallo, as a left footed inverted right wing back, or inside right, is crucial to this aspect of the system, while Brazil’s Matheus Cunha, as a right footed inverted inside left, and Moroccan Bryan Mbeumo, as a left footed inside right, with Slovenia’s Benjamin Šeško at center forward, defines the funnel.

 The logic of selecting Diogo Dalot, as a right footed left wing back, in the absence of a genuine inverted attacking left wing back, is due to the requirements of the funnel system of inversion. Although the ‘Christmas tree’ will often appear ‘lopsided’, and function in a way seemingly ‘unbalanced’, with the left, or right side, preferred as the attacking option, Amorim’s is a systematic formation, with the ball funneled down either flank, assisted by the midfield pairing of ‘playmaker’ and captain, Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes, with either a defensive midfielder, for example, Brazilian Casemiro, Uruguayan Manuel Ugarte, or Kobbie Mainoo; or inverted left, right footed Mason Mount; the available attacking midfielder.

 Apart from center forward Marcus Rashford’s season-long loan to Spain’s FC Barcelona, the decision to transfer Argentine out-and-out right winger, Alejandro Garnacho to Chelsea on August 30^th, 2025, for £40m, and not to retain Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen, reduced Fernandes’ midfield support options in attack for 2025-26. An attribute of the ‘Christmas tree’ is that the presents to be opened can usually be discerned by December 25^th.

 Losing the 2025 Europa Cup Final, 0-1 to Spurs, on May 21^st, 2025, at the stadium of Athletic Club, Nuevo San Mamés, Bilbao, Spain, and failing to qualify for European competition, through league standing, the club finishing the 2024-25 season 15^th, or by success in the EFL or FA Cup, meant only the EFL Cup, FA Cup, and Premier League title were achievable in 2025-26, and the club went out of the EFL Cup at the second round, 2-2, and 11-12 on penalties, at fourth tier Grimsby Town’s Blundell Park on August 27^th, 2025. With the FA Cup beginning for the Premier League clubs at the third round stage on January 10^th, 2026, if Amorim couldn’t improve the side, and its league position, that would be all there’d be to play for.

 Comparisons are useful. In manager Ernest Mangnall’s successful sides of the 1900s, the half back line, with full backs, meant five-at-the-back, with five across the park, in what was called the ‘forward line’. The three-at-the back were Dick Duckworth, Charlie Roberts, and Scot, Alex Bell, with the formation winning the league title in 1908 and 1911, and the FA Cup in 1909. Essentially the team contained no midfield players, but lined up as left and right wingers, left and right inside forwards, and a center forward, with the half back line flanked by left and right full backs.

 Scot, Matt Busby’s 1948 FA Cup winning team’s half backs were John Anderson, Allenby Chilton, and Henry Cockburn, and the manager’s preference for a half-back line would win him the 1968 European Champions Clubs’ Cup on May 29^th at London’s national Wembley stadium, 4-1 (1-1), a.e.t., against Portuguese club, Benfica of Lisbon.

 Not until the 1969-70 season, when reserve team coach, former left half back, Wilf McGuinness, and ‘Busby Babe’, the collective name of players coached by Busby, inherited the squad as manager, did the half back line disappear from the match program. Where fans were used to seeing the names of Scot, right half Paddy Crerand, center half Bill Foulkes, and left half Nobby Stiles, as a threesome between the full backs, Foulkes and Stiles were made distinct as a defensive partnership in the center, with Paddy’s role, as a central midfielder, being indicated on the team sheet, alongside deep-lying, ‘false center forward’, Bobby Charlton, formerly part of the forward line.

 Amorim’s three-at-the-back signaled a return to the half-back line, flanked by left and right wing backs, though not a renewal of the forward line, with Cunha, Šeško, and Mbeumo a front three, and Fernandes and Mount in central midfield. An improved half-back line would mean finding a center back, who could augment the midfield and attack, in the style of Harry Maguire’s April 10^th, 2025, winning header, on 120+1 minutes, in the Europa Cup quarter-final, second leg, at Old Trafford against French club, Lyon, 5-4 (2-2), a.e.t., aggregate 7-6, or using the two half backs, usually found alongside the center half as defenders only, in midfield, with the two wing backs able to drop back, as full backs, and the center half between, to maintain the three-at-the-back formation. Although changes to the playing staff would be required.

 The late 20^th century demanded differentiation in terms of position. The abandonment of five-at-the-back, and five-up-front, was a logical concomitant of the rise of the utility midfielder, but 21^st century soccer, demanding a further degree of specialization, meant a return to the back five and the front five, with players able to move more easily between defence, midfield, and attack.

 Less restricted in their role, requiring more flexibility, ability became more important than identifying with the position in which it was nominally exercised. Though defending and attacking are distinct concepts, that’s soccer. The distinction isn’t so rigorous as to deny ability to the back line. It’s the key to forward movement.

Noussair Mazraoui’s Starting Right Back Again

Manchester United’s then Dutch manager, Eric ten Hag, appointed April 21^st, 2022, signing international left back, Noussair Mazraoui, on August 13^th, 2024, for €15m from German Bundesliga club, FC Bayern Munich, caused the Moroccan to reiterate unprompted, ‘I prefer my right foot.’1 However, with devout Moslems of the nations of Islam, for whom handedness and sidedness is an issue, left footed players are under a lot of pressure to say the same, because it’s the tradition that the left hand is ‘unclean’,2 so food is eaten only with the right.

 It’s an issue for Moslems that left footed and left sided full backs and wingers are prevalent, as are left sided midfield players, and left footed center forwards. In the modern game of soccer, tactical movement has been towards left footed wingers, inside forwards, and wing backs on the right side of the pitch, and vice versa, which can be impacted upon by the Moslem desire to hide their sidedness and/or foot preference.

 The current trend is for players to declare that they have no preference in terms of foot or sidedness, but that they’re ‘two-footed’, and therefore can play anywhere along the back line, forward line, or midfield; if required. Apart from hubris, such declarations are Islamic influenced, where converting ‘others’ is a basic tenet of the Moslem religion, deriving from the teaching of their Prophet Mohamed and the Koran (610-30 C.E.), dictated to him by the angels, and according to their beliefs about handedness.

 Islam devolved from Ishmael, the second son of Abraham, whose first was Isaac, from whom Judaism devolved, although the Jews’ injunctions about cleanliness include no prohibitions against the left hand, or left sidedness. In fact God’s ‘strong arm’ (Ex: 13. 9) is the left, according to the Torah and Talmud, which is the Old Testament to the Christians, containing the law of the Jews and early history of their battle with slavery.

 Apart from the populist understanding of ‘sinister’, as associated with ‘the left hand path’, or ‘witchcraft’, and that politically ‘left wing’ people are socialists, Christianity, which arose from the teaching of the rabbi, Jesus, during the period of the Roman occupation of Jewish Palestine, in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius Augustus (14-37 C.E.), recorded as the New Testament, has no negative opinions with regard to those who can’t demonstrate right sided dexterousness only, ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ (Matt: 12. 31) That Jesus was killed, like a sacrificial animal, after Judas told him that a woman’s perfume was ‘too expensive’ for him, constituted an attack on God’s supportive strength; the left.

 Mazraoui won the Dutch Eredivisie and KNVB Cup double at Stadion Feijenoord, De Kuip, Rotterdam, against Willem II, 4-0, on May 5^th, in center midfield with AFC Ajax of Amsterdam in 2018-19, and as an unused substitute, the Johann Cruyff Shield XXIV. A match-up usually between Eredivisie champions and Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond (Royal Dutch Football Association) KNVB Cup winners. However, as Ajax had won both league and cup, PSV Eindhoven, runner-up in the title race, were the opposition, beaten 2-0, on July 27^th, at Ajax’s home stadium, the Johann Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam, named for their legendary three times (1971, ‘72, and ‘73) European Champion Clubs’ Cup winning captain, and center forward; as indeed was the Johan Cruijff Schall, inaugurated in 1991.

 Noussair won the double of Eredivisie and KNVB Cup with Ajax again at Feyenoord Rotterdam’s stadium, De Kuip, versus Vitesse Arnhem, 2-1, in 2019-20, on April 18^th, at right back, and the Eredivisie again in 2021-22, before being freed to join Bayern for the 2022-23 season, where the München club then won, 5-3, the DFL-Supercup, a match-up on July 30^th, 2022, at Red Bull Arena, Leipzig, between the winners of the Bundesliga, that is, Bayern in 2021-22, and RB Leipzig, winners of that season’s German cup, the DFB-Pokal, with Mazraoui substituting on 78 minutes, when the score was 4-1, for French center back, Dayot Upamecano. Before winning the 2022-23 Bundesliga, Mazraoui, praised for his performances at left back for Morocco, in the 2022 World Cup Finals in Qatar, again stated clearly his preference for the right full back position; or the less contentious, from the perspective of an Islamic culture obsessed with the left side as haraam, ‘forbidden’, right center back role.

 Harry Maguire, left sided center half at Manchester United, since his signing by former reds’ center forward (1996-2007), then manager, Norwegian Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on 5^th August 2019, from Leicester City for £80m; 2019-20, 38 starts, and 2020-21, 34, whose doom after Solskjaer, replaced by former RB Leipzig manager, Ralf Rangnick, from December 3^rd, 2022, until season’s end, seemed as a ‘sub’; 2021-22, 28 and 2 appearances; 2022-23, 8 (8); 2023-24, 18 (4), and 2024-25, 19 (8), was revealed by statistical analysis to touch the ball with his right 86% of the time,3 which is highly approvable to Moslem perceptions, and indeed might explain the origins of the emphatic statistic. Given the fact that ten Hag’s replacement, Manchester United’s Portuguese manager, from November 11^th, 2024, Ruben Amorim, was used to fielding three center backs, along with left and right wing backs, Maguire’s and Mazraoui’s sidedness was important for the side.

 A type righter, Ruben’s 3-4-3 system requires a left footed center back at the left of the three, and a left wing back, for example, Denmark’s Patrick Dorgu, bought by Amorim from Italian Serie A club US Lecce for £25m, on February 2^nd, 2025, dropping back to defend; in the event of pressure being applied down the flank by the opposing team. When that happens, the result is equivalent to the RETURN key being pressed in the middle of a paragraph, that is, Dorgu assumes the left full back position, whereas the objective is to finish the paragraph, that is, score, when the referee then blows the whistle and the teams RETURN to their starting positions on the pitch: new paragraph. If the RETURN occurs, after the opposing team score, that is, the referee indicates a restart, then Manchester United’s left wing back has essentially contributed to the side’s failure to write a successful paragraph, broken, but written in the club’s history.

 Of course the same is true of the other side of the field, where it’s the role of Portuguese right wing back, Diogo Dalot, for example, to cover for the right sided central defender as a right full back, in the event of an attack down that flank, while the three central defenders SHIFT across the field; until the left sided central defender, for example, Maguire, is in the left full back position.

 United’s obsession with right sided left wingers, and left inside right forwards, could extend to left wing backs, and left full backs. After all, bought from, then second tier, Oldham Athletic, by Scot’s manager Alex Ferguson, for £650,000, Eire’s Denis Irwin (1990-2002), perhaps the greatest of all the left backs ever to put on the ‘red devils’ strip, was right footed, and also excelled in the right back role.

 However, such a preoccupation with inversion at left, as well as right sides of the field, is significantly Islamic. When everyone is right sided, and the left sacrificed, it’s a successful Moslem conversion. Despite Mazraoui’s ability as a defender, 34 (3) games for United in 2024-25, the club finished 15^th out of 20 in the Premier League, losing 14 games, and score-drawing all but one of 6 draws, after Amorim’s appointment, before defeat in the Final of the Europa Cup, 0-1, on May 21^st to England’s ‘Lilywhites’, North London’s Tottenham Hotspur, at the stadium of Athletic Club, Nuevo San Mamés, Bilbao, Spain, with Noussair at right wing back. Not a good season defensively, the danger of a successful conversion for Islam being dependent upon having sacrificed the left hand of God (Ex: 13. 16), leaving an empty trophy cabinet, and looming unrecognized as a shadow upon minds unconcerned.

 Mazraoui was at left back for Morocco, in their December 17^th third place play off defeat to Croatia, 1-2, at Khalifa International Stadium (KIS), Al-Rayyah, in the World Cup Finals of 2022, while turning out at right back, left back, and center back, for Ajax and Bayern, but Islam has a hidden agenda, which is that converting others to Islam is an obligation, and sidedness is an aspect of that process.

 Although for the secular being right, linguistically, is about correctness, for Moslems it’s also about handedness, which is called chirality, that is, sidedness, as basic to morality, for example, the left hand, unclean per se, is immoral, whereas for Christians it’s a part of human nature; acceptingly: as what it means to be human.

 With regard to the population globally, 10% are left sided,4 and approximately 3% of those, as age-qualified, could choose soccer as a profession; amounting to less than 0.1%. Though the ratio of left to right at clubs is usually high, as left footed players are highly sought after for the balance of the team, the Moslem desire, that the left be right, has become strong, and influential enough to reintroduce the idea of the defending/attacking left wing back, as a ‘whipping boy’ for managers’ unhappiness over a team’s goal difference. Citing a need to improve ‘work rate’, the Islamic solution is slavery down the left side.

 Although Denis Irwin was a great right footed left back, selecting right footed left backs shades into inhumanity, when left footed left backs are rationally what’s available and needed, and Denis was duly replaced by left footed French left back, bought by Ferguson from Italian Serie A club, Inter Milan, for £4m, Mikaël Silvestre (2000-08).

 Ivory Coast’s Amad Diallo, selected as an attacking left footed Moslem right wing back, poses a dilemma, as defending at right back, which is what a defensive right wing back is expected to do, is less feasible for a left footed right wing back. Dalot, as a right full back, and a right wing back, who’s right footed, is naturally a defender of the right side, whereas Diallo, as a left sided attacking right wing back, can’t to be expected to be able to defend as well as a right footed, right full back, which weakens the team.

 The usual solution is increased workload, where the wing back has to both attack and defend, that is, a demand that one becomes two, which amounts to sacrificing the best for the inadequate. Dalot, right footed, loaned to AC Milan of Italy’s Serie A for 2020-21, 10+11, by Solskjaer, after being used but sporadically, subsequent to his predecessor, Portuguese manager, José Mourinho, signing fellow countryman Diogo from FC Porto of Portugal, for £19m, on June 6^th, 2018; 2018-19, 12+4, 2019-20, 1+3, became indispensable to ten Hag, 2021-22, 19+5, 2022-23, 24+2, 2023-24, 35+1, but selected as a left wing back by Amorim, 2024-25, 31+2, represented another team weakness.

 Artificially created, perhaps, by an unwary Amorim, but attributable to Islamic influence. Being selected on the right, as a left footed forward, is Islamic, as much as being selected on the left, as a right footed left back. Having one do the work of two is a form of human sacrifice; resulting in slavery and pointless degeneration.

 Losing at home, in the first game of the 2025-26 season, to Arsenal, on August 17^th, 2025, Moslem Turkish ‘keeper, Altay Bayindir, trying, left-handed, to push away, and behind him, a viciously in-swinging 13^th minute corner from the left, failed. As the left hand is forbidden in Islam, that is, God’s, so Altay’s attempt was weak, because it’s irreligious to use it, whereas ‘Allah’, the Islamic equivalent of the name of God, is served; if the weakness of the left hand is demonstrable to unbelievers. When asked if soccer was a religion, Liverpool FC manager (1959-74), Bill Shankly, was used to saying, ‘No, it’s more important than that.’5 Italian left back, Riccardo Calafiori, headed in at the back post, 0-1.

1 FCRatings, https://www.fcratings.com/noussair-mazraoui .

2 Alba, Jessica ‘Why Is The Left Hand Considered Unclean?’, 23/07/23, https://learnmethods.com/why-is-the-left-hand-considered-unclean/ .

3 O’Neill, David ‘Why Switching Sides is the Best Thing for Harry Maguire’, The People’s Person, 15/07/22, https://thepeoplesperson.com/2022/07/15/why-switching-sides-is-the-best-thing-for-harry-maguire-249375/ .

4 Nield, David Science Alert, 09/08/20, ‘Why Are Only 10% Of People Left Handed?’, https://www.sciencealert.com/why-are-only-10-of-people-left-handed-here-s-what-scientists-know-so-far .

5 Mirror Football, ‘Some people believe football is a matter of life and death ... The wit and wisdom of Bill Shankly’, 02/09/2010, https://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Liverpool-legend-Bill-Shankly-Football-more-important-than-life-and-death-plus-his-other-great-quotes-article570339.html .

Mbeumo’s Bar

The informed opinion, amongst soccer experts, seems to have been that Manchester United manager, Ruben Amorim, former right midfielder for Portugal (14 caps) and Benfica (2008-17), had a system, but didn’t have the players. Despite obtaining, for around £200m, from Germany’s Bundesliga club, RB Leipzig, Slovenia’s right footed center forward, Benjamin Šeško; Wolves’ right footed Brazilian center forward, or inverted left wing/inside left, Matheus Cunha, and Brentford Town’s left footed winger; often inverted right winger/inside right, Cameroon’s Bryan Mbeumo: before the commencement of the 2025-26 season.

 On August 27^th, 2025, on its south bank, where the Humber river estuary joins the North Sea, the Trafford club, looking to build New Trafford Stadium for the 2030-31 season, at a cost of £2 billion for 100,000 fans, were summarily dumped out of the League Cup, 2^nd round, by fourth tier Grimsby Town, ‘The Mariners’, at their North East Lincolnshire ‘fishing hole’, Blundell Park, Cleethorpes, with a squad valued at £3.6m in toto,1 watched by a near capacity, 8,647(9,546), crowd.

 The team had gone behind, 0-2, at half-time, with eyebrows already having risen at Amorim’s inability to win his first league game of the season, on August 17^th at ‘the theater of dreams’ stadium, Old Trafford. Losing at home to Arsenal of London’s Islington, after Turkish ‘keeper, Altay Bayindir, in for Cameroon’s injured, and also at times hapless, André Onana, trying left-handed to push away, and behind him, midfielder Declan Rice’s right-footed, viciously in-swinging 13^th minute corner from the left, failed. Italian left back, Riccardo Calafiori, headed in at the back post, 0-1.

 United had just a single point out of a possible six, following upon the side’s second match, on 24^th August, away, at London’s Fulham, 1-0, after an own goal credited to Brazilian center forward, Rodrigo Muniz, on 58 minutes, giving United the lead, although central defender Yoro looked to have headed home the corner on the right from Fernandes. It’d be a start to the league campaign as ignominious for the forward line as the end to the previous term’s had been. Losing 6 out of 8, and failing to score in 5, before defeat to London’s Tottenham Hotspur, 0-1, in the Europa Cup Final on May 21^st, 2025, at the stadium of Athletic Club, Nuevo San Mamés, Bilbao, Spain.

 The defence, caught square by a left wing cross on the left, right-footed, from Nigerian midfielder, Alex Iwobi, with Yoro and de Light ball-watching, as attacking midfielder, Emile Smith Rowe, on for central midfielder, Joshua King, on 71 minutes, ran in at the near post, ahead of his opponent, left footed Luke Shaw, left side of the United defence; square, watching Emile level, right-footed to ‘keeper Bayindir’s right, 1-1.

 In that first home game against Arsenal, Shaw, left back by trade, had begun on the left of the three-at-the-back defensive formation, favored by Amorim, with Portugal’s Diogo Dalot, as a right wing back, which made tactical sense; though emphasizing the loss of left sided Argentine center back, Lisandro Martínez, ‘The Butcher’, to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) damage, after colliding with Senegal winger, Ismaïla Sarr, during the home defeat to Crystal Palace, 0-2, on February 2^nd, 2025. Martínez, replaced by de Light on 82 minutes, with the score 0-1, was the defender United needed, with Shaw as the alternative wing back to Denmark’s Patrick Dorgu.

 A defensive wing back, like Shaw on the left, in the event of a fit Martínez, as a left sided central defender, Dalot could function as a right full back; in the face of pressure being applied down the flank there. Without Martínez, selecting a defensive right wing back, Dalot, and a left full back, that is, Shaw, permitted of four at the back, as required, while having the option to attack down the right, or left side, from the wing back position. Ruben’s 1-3-4-3 system depended on the selection of either a left back with two central defenders, or a right back with the same, where Martínez, or similar (Ayden Heaven, for example), was central and left sided; together with complimenting defensive/attacking left/right wing backs.

 However, Amorim’s invariable selection was of three center backs, whose sidedness often seemed largely incidental; though reminiscent of a half-back line: most familiar to supporters from the 1968 European Cup Winning side that beat Benfica, 4-1, (1-1), a.e.t., at London’s national Wembley stadium on May 29^th. Scot, Pat Crerand, right half; Bill Foulkes, center half, and ‘Nobby’ Stiles, left half. As good left and right half backs are generally the equivalent of ball-playing midfielders, only the central back (in that ‘68 team, ex-right full back, Bill Foulkes), is an out-and-out defender; flanked by no-nonsense, strong-tackling, full backs to left and right. Without that ball-playing ability, as what are essentially half-backs, Amorim’s three, out-and-out center backs, were redundant; without even being anachronistic. Twin center backs, and a left or right sided central defender/full back, with a defensive wing back, and perhaps an attacking wing back on the other flank, were the manageable system; unless the central defensive trio had enough skill, which wasn’t in evidence.

 With substitutes being of paramount significance within such a system, Amorim’s bear examination. Leaving aside Amorim’s replacing top-scorer, Marcus Rashford, at inverted inside left, with right-footed attacking midfielder, Mason Mount, which older fans have seen before. In the summer of ‘78, manager Dave Sexton similarly replaced top-scorer, left wing, Gordon Hill, with the ultimately unproductive industry of Wales’ Mickey Thomas from Wrexham. Similarly indicative of Ruben as a defensive personality was his discarding of goalscoring Argentine right winger, Alejandro Garnacho, in preference for Ivory Coast’s left footed, inverted right winger, Amad Diallo, as a right wing back.

 The selecting of inverted winger, Amad, joint top-scorer with Portugal midfielder, Bruno Fernandes, on 8 for 2024-25, as a left wing full back, on the right side of the pitch, seemed a punishment on Diallo, by a sadistic pervert, rather than team strategy. Amorim’s first change on 55 minutes against Arsenal, 0-1 after 13 minutes, was to bring on Diallo, an attacking wing back, for Dalot, a defensive wing back. The other change in the back line was to take off Shaw, after 80 minutes, for left sided center back, Harry Maguire, alongside France’s Leny Yoro, and the Netherlands’ Matthijs de Ligt, which gave the side three out-and-out central defenders, designed to compensate the incorporation of Amad on the right, while the covering left back/left wing back was Dorgu.

 The technical description for Manchester United’s problem was, ‘square’, that is, central defenders, positioned in a straight line across the field, parallel to the goal-line, are easily beaten by through balls, because they’re ‘too square’, whereas particularly left, and naturally right sided, full backs, or left sided central defenders, like Martínez, Maguire, and Heaven, aren’t ‘square on’, but designedly ‘zonal’.

 Amorim began against Fulham at Craven Cottage, with Diallo as an attacking right wing back, although the side were ahead after 58 minutes, through Muniz’s own goal, albeit subsequent to defensive right wing back Dalot’s replacing Amad on 52 minutes. However, United couldn’t recover from the defensive change, designed to achieve a draw, and drew, 1-1. Center halves, Tyler Fredricson, age 20, Maguire, age 32, and left sided Heaven, age 18, started as a ‘flat back three’ at Blundell Park, with Dalot as the right wing back, and Diallo as inverted inside right. United were down, 0-2, after half an hour, because of a largely inexperienced back three, and the propensity of such a formation to be ‘caught square’.

 In the 22^nd minute, Ayden had gone across to counter Irish right winger, Darragh Burns. Crossing, left-footed, right side of the 20 yard box, and in front of it, over and beyond Maguire in the center, and Fredricson on the right. The defenders, caught square, forced to turn, look for the ball, and run. Arriving, inside the 20 yard box, left corner of Onana’s penalty area, left winger, Charles Vernam, fiercely shoots; striking low, right-footed. Inside ‘keeper André’s right post, 0-1, with United’s right wing back, Dalot, significantly absent. In the 30^th minute, Onana faps ineffectually at a right-footed Vernam cross, left corner of the 20 yard box, following a short corner; leaving right back, Tyrell Warren, a simple task: footing the ball over the line with his right boot. Behind the mistake-prone African, 0-2.

 With a Premier League squad, comprised of rare talent from Europe, Africa, South America, and the British Isles, United unsurprisingly recovered, 2-2, late on. Inside right, Mbeumo, coming on for left wing back, Dorgu, in the 46^th minute, curling a low, left-footed ball, from the right of the ‘D’, on the edge of the 20 yard box, into the bottom left corner of Christy Pym’s net, 1-2, on 75 minutes, before Maguire’s equalizing header, inside the far post right, following an 89^th minute corner, on the left, right-footed, from Mount, coming on for Heaven in the 64^th minute, 2-2.

 Cunha could have won the tie, 5-3, on penalties, but fourth tier, Second Division Town ‘keeper Pym saved; low to his left. The penalty decider went on, 4-4. With penalties at 11-12, Mbeumo hit the bar; ‘sudden death’ and humiliating defeat for the first tier outfit.

1 Transfermarkt, https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/grimsby-town/kader/verein/1034 .

Amorim’s Plan?

No one can really doubt that Manchester United manager Eric ten Hag’s sale, for a risible £25.7m, of Scots’ midfielder, Scot McTominay, starting 18+14 substitute appearances, for 7 goals, in season 2023-24, to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli of Italy, on August 30^th, 2024, as the 2024-25 season began, was a straightforward professional suicide, on a par with manager Ron Atkinson’s decision to sell Welsh top-scorer, Mark Hughes, for £2m to FC Barcelona of Spain’s La Liga, for the 1986-87 season, after Mark had top-scored in 1984-85, 38 (16) and 1985-86, 40 (17), precipitating the dismissal of ‘Big Ron’, and the arrival on November 6^th, 1986, from Aberdeen, ‘The Dons’, of Scots’ manager, Alex Ferguson, where the former ‘Gers center forward (1967-69) won for the ‘Granite City’ the 1982-83 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final, 2-1 (1-1), a.e.t., on May 11^th, at Nya Ullevi, stadium of GAIS, IFK Göteborg and Örgryte IS; Gothenburg, Sweden, against Spain’s Real Madrid CF, while breaking the stranglehold Scotland’s Glasgow clubs, Celtic and Rangers, had on winning trophies there.

 The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) confusingly describe both its cup competitions as leagues, UCL being an acronym for UEFA Champions League, whereas the European Champions’ Clubs Cup, inaugurated in 1955, and abbreviated as European Cup, is what UCL actually is, a cup competition, that is no longer competed for by the champions of each country, but through qualifying stages that, in the case of the Premier League, extends to those clubs finishing fourth.

 French manager, Arsène Wenger, winning Ligue 1,1978-79, as a ‘sweeper’, with Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, in 2012 said to Arsenal chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, and the board there, who’d appointed him from Japan’s Nagoya Grampus Eight, guiding them to the 1995 Emperor’s Cup, 3-0, against Sanfrecce Hiroshima, on January 1^st at the National Stadium, Tokyo, and the Super Cup there on March 9^th, 1996, against Yokohama Marinos, 2-0, ‘For me there are five trophies every season: Premier League, Champions League, the third is to qualify for the Champions League ..’.1 Fourth and fifth, of course, are FA Cup, and League Cup, in Wenger’s estimation, which was financially astute, and Arsenal achieved UCL qualification from 1997-98, Wenger’s first season in charge, to 2016-17, while Arsène retired, after the 2017-18 season, despite Arsenal’s qualifying for that season’s similarly lucrative Europa League.

 The Europa League, replacing the UEFA Cup, conceived as a cup competition for those clubs that had finished second, or lower, in their country’s respective leagues, is also not a league, which is the reason for it being known as the Europa Cup.

 The cup competition, UEFA’s Cup Winners’ Cup, was competed for by the cup winners in each country, as their equivalent of the FA Cup winners, that is, it was actually a cup, but UEFA’s ‘legal egals’ abolished it in 1999, replacing it with their more egalitarian league cups. The European Conference League, inaugurated in 2021, for ‘lower ranked UEFA member countries’, as a cup, jeered, speaking volumes, but at a level high enough for supporters to stand still for it.

 With asperity allied to alacrity, Alex re-bought the failing Hughes, 28 starts for 4 goals, and nicknamed ‘El Toro’ by the Barça fans, because of his bullish inability to deal with the Spaniards’ offside trap, known as matador, so re-loaned by Barcelona’s manager, Londoner Terry Venables. Born in Dagenham, January 6^th, 1943, winning the League Cup, as a midfielder, with West London’s Chelsea in 1965, and the FA Cup with ‘Spurs, North London’s Tottenham Hotspur, in 1967, ‘El Tel’, as he was nicknamed by the media, had managed Barça to the European Cup Final of 1986; then that club’s first European Champions’ Clubs Cup Final since May 31^st 1961, losing, 2-3, to Sport Lisboa e Benfica, at Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland.

 The 1986 Final took place at the stadium of Sevilla FC, Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, Seville, Spain, on May 7^th, with Venables’ team losing to Romania’s CSA Steaua București, 0-0, a.e.t., 0-2 on penalties. Hughes’ difficulties, re-loaned to Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. of the German Bundesliga, for 1987-88, remained. Chasing the ball, while defenders tauntingly passed it back and forth between them, along the back four, and back again, if the refereeing match official didn’t intervene, and show the yellow card for time-wasting. Hughes, given 17 starts +1 substitute appearance by legendary FC Bayern manager, Jupp Heynckes, returned 6 goals.

 Heynckes, at center forward, won the Bundesliga with Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1970-71, 1974-75, 1975-76, and 1976-77; losing to Liverpool in the 1977 European Cup Final, 1-3, on 25^th May, at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy. As manager, Jupp saw Real Madrid to the European Cup in 1998, 1-0 against Juventus of Italy, at Amsterdam Arena, the Netherlands, on May 20^th, and on May 25^th, 2013, oversaw Bayern Munich’s victory, 2-1, against Borussia Dortmund, also of the German Bundesliga, at London’s national Stadium, Wembley.

 Back for United’s 1988-89 season, Ferguson paid Barcelona £1.8m, and Hughes’ first reward to Alex was the May 12^th 1990 FA Cup Final, won in the May 17^th replay, 1-0, against ‘The Eagles’ of Crystal Palace, with Mark giving United the lead in the initial encounter, 2-1, after central midfielder, Neil Webb, charged down center back Andy Thorn’s attempted clearance. The ball, finding Hughes slightly off balance, left corner of the six yard box, standing on his left leg, volleying right-footed, top right corner of the net, at London’s Wembley, on 62 minutes, and on 113 minutes the goal that forced a Wembley replay, left winger, center midfield, Danny Wallace’s through ball to Hughes, inside the 20 yard box, right edge of the ‘D’, right-footed, driven low, inside onrushing ‘keeper Nigel Martyn’s post to Mark’s left, 3-3.

 In the May 15^th 1991 Cup Winners’ Cup Final, Hughes scored in the 67^th minute, after a free kick half way inside the Barça half, center, left-footed from Robson, finding the head of center half, Steve Bruce, right of center of the 20 yard box, with Mark running in to tap the ball, left-footed, into the net inside the left post, as it fell there, 1-0, and again in the 74^th minute, rounding the Spanish ‘keeper, Carles Busquets, well outside the 20 yard box, but Hughes being forced out wide, to its center right edge, angling the ball low, right-footed inside the post, far left, 2-0, before Dutch defensive midfielder, Ronald Koeman’s free-kick on 79 minutes, 2-1, at Stadion Feijenoord, ‘De Kuip’ (‘The Tub’), Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

 In the 1991 Super Cup Final, scheduled to take place over two legs, home and away, but played in a single game at Old Trafford, as at that time the break-up of the former ‘super state’ of Yugoslavia, into several independent entities, for example, Belgrade became the capital of Serbia, resulted in conflicts producing an environment unsafe for visitors, United having qualified as European Cup Winners’ Cup Winners, contesting the trophy, against European Cup Winners, Red Star Belgrade, ‘The Star’, on November 7^th, Webb’s strike in the 67^th minute, rebounding from midway up the right post, finding Scots’ center forward, Brian McClair, edge and center of the 6 yard box, right-footed, left corner, low, 1-0, was enough.

 Mark was also in the side for the 1992 League Cup Final, won after Welsh left wing, Ryan Giggs, left of center edge of the 20 yard box, squared a ball inside to McClair, center edge, who ran in and scored with a ball hit low, into the right corner of the net, left-footed, close by the penalty spot, in the 14^th minute, 1-0, against Nottingham Forest, ‘The Garibaldis’, on April 12^th.

 In 1992-93 the Premier League was won, and in 1993-94 the League and Cup double; Mark getting the third in the May 14^th, 1994, FA Cup Final at Wembley on 69 minutes, after two penalties from French center forward, Eric Cantona. Dispossessing left back, Frank Sinclair, right edge of the 20 yard box ‘D’, Hughes angled the ball past onrushing Russian ‘keeper, Dmitri Kharine, into the left corner, low, 3-0, and United eventually ran out victors over ‘The Blues’, Chelsea, 4-0. However, as Mark’s goal tally went below double figures in 1994-95, 33+1 for 8, Alex sold him for £1.5m to Chelsea, for the 1995-96 season at their Stamford Bridge ground in the borough of Fulham and Hammersmith.

 ‘Those who repeat the mistakes of history are doomed’,2 to paraphrase Spanish philosopher, George Santayana. Ron Atkinson’s treatment of Hughes merely aped the rude savvy of his predecessors. The intelligence and wisdom of Dave Sexton, however, replacement for former Scotland boss, Tommy Docherty, United manager since December 22^nd, 1972, who hadn’t been able to keep his hands off physiotherapist Laurie Brown’s wife, Mary, before the team won the May 21^st, 1977, Wembley FA Cup Final, 2-1, against Liverpool, had been much vaunted by soccer’s cogniscenti.

 ‘Barmy’ Dave sold left wing, Gordon Hill, top-scorer for consecutive seasons, 1976-77, 38+1 for 15 goals, and 1977-78, 36 appearances for 17 goals, to ‘The Rams’, Derby County for £250,000, buying instead for 1978-79, from Wales’ Wrexham, Y Dreigiau, ‘The Dragons’, for £300,000, industrious Mickey Thomas, 25 appearances for 1 goal, and a May 12^th losing appearance in the Wembley 1979 FA Cup Final to ‘The Gooners’ of Arsenal, 2-3.

 Dave, unknowingly, owed his appointment, in the summer of 1977, to the fact that England captain, Gerry Francis (1974-76), was captain of ‘The Hoops’ at Sexton’s previous Shepherd’s Bush club, West London’s Queens Park Rangers (QPR) of Loftus Road, whereas Ron Atkinson, labeled ‘Bojangles’ by the media, because of the amount of chunky gold jewelry he wore, which reputedly clanked, replacing Dave in the summer of 1981, knowingly knew, and on October 1^st, 1981, paid £1.5m for England captain (1980-91), ‘Captain Marvel’ Bryan Robson, to his former club, ‘The Baggies’ of Hawthorn Road, West Bromwich Albion (WBA).

 McTominay had been instrumental in United’s winning the May 24^th 2024 FA Cup Final, during which campaign he’d featured strongly, with opening goals, on 10 minutes in the quarter-final, 4-3, at home to Liverpool, with Eire ‘keeper, Caoimhín Kelleher, only able to parry South America’s Argentine right winger Alejandro Garnacho’s shot, left, near the corner of the six yard box, leaving the onrushing Scot the relatively simple task of putting the ball over the goal line with his upraised right boot, 1-0, and on 23 minutes against Coventry City, ‘The Sky Blues’, in the semi-final at Wembley, 3-3 (3-3), a.e.t., 4-2 on penalties, after Portuguese right back, Diogo Dalot, driving in a low cross, hard, center right edge of the 20 yard box, found Scot, almost on the goal line, running in, left-footed, high into the net, 1-0.

 Deployed tactically, in the role of ‘false center forward’, Scot’s lying deep in midfield, drawing defenders away from the defensive line, and linking up with those making forward runs, led to defensive midfielder Kobbie Mainoo’s passing the ball into the net on 39 minutes against Manchester City, ‘The Citizens’, in the 2024 Final at Wembley; the team’s second, 2-0, before a late right-footed shot, inside Central Africa’s Cameroon ‘keeper André Onana’s right hand post, from the edge of the penalty area on 87 minutes, from Belgian winger, Jérémy Doku, on for Croatia’s central midfielder, Mateo Kovačić, on 46 minutes, made the final score, 2-1.

 Scot, 33+1 appearances for 12 goals, alongside Belgian center forward, Romelu Lukaku, 35+1, and 14 goals, went on to win the 2024-25 scudetto with SSC Napoli, at home in their Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, as well as away; the trophy being the Coppa Campioni d'Italia, awarded to the successful club in the Italian Serie A league title race, with the players entitled thereafter to wear ‘the small shield’, the scudetto, with the green, white, and red tricolor of Italy’s national emblem on their shirts for the following season.

 For a club used to being also rans to Internazionale of Milan, A.C. Milan, Il Diavolo, ‘The Devil’, and Juventus, of Turin, Piedmont, McTominay’s highly attuned football brain and athleticism compensated for what was lacking in vision and skill. Scot couldn’t compare with legendary irrepressible forward, Diego Maradona, Argentina’s 1986 World Cup winning captain, 3-2 against Germany, on June 29^th at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, and who’d been their ‘best in the world’ striker for Naples in 1986-87’s title win, with 29 appearances for 10 goals, and again in 1989-90, with 26+2 appearances for 16 goals.

 However, wrestling the 2024-25 championship away from the Milan giants of Lombardy, and the ‘Old Lady’ of Turin, Scot did contribute goals and driving inspiration; another attacking midfield presence seemingly unable to be denied. That ten Hag let Scot leave, on the understanding that Manchester United couldn’t afford him, was a sideswipe at the club; indicative of a flawed character. A lame excuse, jeering at the disabled, was the unannounced reason for ten Hag’s contract termination.

 That ten Hag looked to be constructing the nucleus of a team that could challenge for the Premier League title, with Kobbie as the central defensive midfielder; Scot as a deep lying center forward, or ‘false 9’; Alejandro on the right wing; Marcus Rashford at center forward, or on the left wing, Amad Diallo of West Africa’s Côte d'Ivoire, on the left or right wing, or in the wing back role, and Diogo at right back/right wing back, or anywhere along the back line, saw the Dutch manager’s usually self-absorbed mien transformed to that of a tragic actor. Loss # 4, from 9 league games, left the club in 14^th position. Eric was sacked on October 28^th, 2024, following defeat, 1-2, at West Ham’s, ‘The Hammers’, London Stadium; the team officially deemed to have been performing poorly: consequent to Scot’s departure.

 McTominay’s end-of-season delight was in high contrast to ‘The Red Devils’ losing in the Basque region of Spain to Spurs, ‘The Lilywhites’, in the Final of the Europa Cup, 0-1, on May 21^st, 2025, at the stadium of Athletic Club, Nuevo San Mamés, Bilbao, with a 42 minute goal from close-in by Welsh right wing, Brennan Johnson, subsequent to a right-footed cross on the left from Senegal’s West African central midfielder, Pape Matar Sarr.

 Ill-starred left-back, Luke Shaw, chesting the ball, willing it past ‘keeper Onana’s right hand post, as if he had telekinesis, instead found he’d laid it on for the Spurs’ winger, as Johnson ran on. Carefully side footing neatly, low down, with his right boot, though falling leftwards onto the pitch, away from the upright, Brennan’s stretch was careful; guiding the ball inside the post, with Onana despairingly trying to push it out.

 Ten Hag’s soccer suicide meant that he wasn’t there, but rather Portuguese manager, Ruben Amorim, winning, as a manager, the Portuguese title, in 2020-21, and 2021-24, with Sporting CP’s Leões, ‘Lions’. At right midfield, he was runner-up, with S. L. Benfica, in the Europa Cup Final of 2014, to Spain’s Sevilla, 0-0, a.e.t., and 2-4 on penalties, in Juventus Stadium, Turin. But won the Primiera Liga for Benfica, O Glorioso, ‘The Glorious One’, at home in Estádio da Luz, ‘The Stadium of Light’, in 2009-10, 2013-14, and 2014-15, while representing his country 14 times.

 Ruben appeared for Portugal on June 15^th at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, replacing central midfielder, Raul Meireles, of Futebol Clube do Porto against Ivory Coast, on 85 minutes, in the opening Group G match, 0-0, at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth, though Portugal lost, 0-1, to Spain in the round of 16, and in the last Group G match at South America’s 2014 World Cup in Brazil on June 26^th, Amorim featured in all 90 minutes against Ghana, 2-1, at Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, Brasilia, though Portugal were eliminated on a goal difference of -3, while the United States of [North] America, ‘The Stars and Stripes’, progressed to the round of 16.

 Losing another 14 games, over and above ten Hag’s 4, with United being described as a ‘pub team’, Amorim’s appointment looked more disastrous to some. Introducing his strategy, and tactical system used at Sporting CP, with its three center backs, and two wing backs, left many of United’s soccer fans baffled. They were wary of what to hope for, after Ruben’s taking over team selection from November 11^th, 2024, following a brief successful interlude from former reds’ Dutch striker, trainer of the forward line, Ruud van Nistelrooy, as caretaker manager, who’d effectively saved the side’s season by coaching the players to victory, 2-0, at Old Trafford, over Greece’s Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans (A.C. PAOK), ‘Double-Headed Eagle’, on November 7^th, 2024, during the league phase of the Europa Cup.

 Mononymously known as ‘Amad’, the left-footed inside/outside right struck twice against PAOK. Much favored by Amorim, after loan periods during ten Hag’s tenure at Scots’ club Glasgow Rangers of Ibrox Stadium, 2021-22, 4+6 appearances for 3 goals, and Championship club, Sunderland, ‘The Black Cats’, 2022-23, 34 starts for 13 goals, Diallo was a tricky winger, brought from Italy’s Atalanta BC, ‘The Goddess’, La Dea, Bergamo, Lombardy, where he won, in successive 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, the U-19 youth championship, Campionato Primavera. Signing for United on 7^th January, 2021, after scoring on his full debut, as a 79^th minute substitute for Atalanta at home to Udinese, ‘The Little Zebras’, 7-1, on October 27^th, 2019-20, Amad made 0+3 appearances for that goal, and 0+1 in 2020-21, before going to ‘the Theater of Dreams’ for €21.3m. Capable of making the wing back position his own too, he made 3+6 appearances for ten Hag in 2023-24; scoring 1 goal, but 20+6 appearances for Ruben, ousting by turns, Rashford, whose declared favored position was the left wing; winger, Jadon Sancho, returning to his native land, bought for £73m, on July 1^st, 2021, from Borussia Dortmund, ‘The Prussians’; Brazil’s winger, Antony, bought from Dutch club AFC Ajax, ‘Sons of the Gods’, on September 1^st, 2022, for £82m, and Netherlands’ winger, and center forward, Joshua Zirkzee, bought from Italy’s Bologna FC 1919, ‘The Greyhounds’, 24^th July, 2024, for £36.5m. Amad was joint top-scorer for the 2024-25 campaign; 8 alongside Portugal’s midfield goal-getting, ball-playing, creative genius, Bruno Fernandes.

 However, the fact that no player reached double figures was symptomatic of a true malaise. It was the lowest overall total of goals (44), with a goal difference of -10, chalked up by a United squad since the club’s relegation season of 1973-74 (38), again with a goal difference of -10. Then Northern Ireland’s Sammy McIlroy, similarly deployed as a ‘false 9’ at times by Scots’ manager Tommy Docherty, and as Paul Scholes would be by his manager, Ferguson, top-scored, with 6.

 Diallo’s strikes, in the second half against PAOK, were typical of his playing style. Running onto an infield cross, behind him, and then in front of him, from Bruno, left, center midfield, to the right corner of the penalty box, Amad rose on 50 minutes to loop a header over Croatia’s Dominik Kotarski, the ball falling inside the ‘keeper’s right hand post, 1-0, and after winning a midfield tussle deep in the PAOK half, with West Africa’s Ghanaian left-back, Baba, Diallo curled a left foot shot on 77 minutes at the right edge of the 20 yard ‘D’, low into the bottom left corner of the net, 2-0.

 After Rashford and Zirkzee got two apiece against Everton, ‘The Toffees’, on December 1^st, 2024, it left United in 9^th place in the Premier League, with Marcus top-scoring on 4 goals for the season. Striking a right-footed corner from Fernandes, right-footed, side-footed, low along the turf, right side of the ‘D’, inside the 20 yard box; the ball deflecting into the net from Everton center back Jarrad Branthwaite’s outstretched left boot, on 34 minutes, 1-0, and Amad, right of Marcus, inside the center circle, running from inside the United half, collecting a through ball from Zirkzee, to his right; Joshua, right-footed, back to goal, left edge of the United half of the center circle. Rashford, keeping pace, right of Amad, tearing down the right side of the field. Darting between Everton defenders, center back, James Tarkowski, and Ukraine left back, Vitally Mikolenko, inside the 20 yard box, Marcus receives the ball forward from Diallo, left-footed, along the turf, right edge of the ‘D’, from behind, the ball delivered to the right of Mikolenko, with Tarkowski to Vitally’s left, and Marcus’ dart between them, through on ‘keeper Jordan Pickford, by his post, near right, narrowing the angle, but unable to prevent the right-footed strike, on 46 minutes, at the right corner of the six yard box; the ball hitting the back of the net: squeezed inside the right post, 3-0.

 His first home game in charge, Amorim’s first win, Rashford had got the 2^nd minute goal in the previous game, drawn at Portman Road, 1-1, against Ipswich Town’s ‘Tractor Boys’, on November 24^th, 2024. Amad, steaming down the right flank, bursting into the 20 yard box at the right corner, firing a dipping ball, with Swiss ‘keeper, Arijanet Muric, looking to collect, but Marcus, nipping in to bundle the ball past him, 1-0, in Ruben’s first ever game in charge, going on as he had under previous managerial regimes.

 Beginning with Holland’s Louis van Gaal, under whose direction Rashford was a part of the team that won the 2016 FA Cup Final on May 21^st, 2-1 (1-1), a.e.t., against Crystal Palace at Wembley, before the appointment of Portugal’s José Mourinho, who coached Marcus to be a winner in the sides that won the League Cup, 3-2 on February 26^th against Southampton, ‘The Saints’, at Wembley, and the Europa Cup in 2017, 2-0 against Ajax of Amsterdam at Friends Arena, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden, on May 24^th.

 Under the stewardship of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Rashford reached the Final of the 2021 Europa Cup against Spain’s Villarreal CF, ‘The Yellow Submarine’, 1-1 (1-1), a.e.t., before losing 10-11 on penalties, # 4 converted by Marcus, after Uruguay center forward, Edinson Cavani, had given United hope, close-in on 55 minutes from 5 yards; having the ball laid into his path by McTominay, center edge of the six yard box, right-footed, 1-1, after a 20 yard Rashford effort, deflecting off left back, Alfonso Pedraza, and center back, Pau Torres’ lunging, right leg outstretched to dispossess Edinson, unavailingly; Scot directing a short ball forward, and Cavani’s strike, low, direct, making sure it hit the back of Argentine ‘keeper Gerónimo Rulli’s net.

 Legendary Norwegian striker for United, Solskjaer doubtless didn’t see Spanish ‘keeper David de Gea’s missing of his spot kick, at Stadion Gdańsk, Poland, on May 26^th, as tragicomic. As an 81^st minute substitute for center forward, Andy Cole, to win the 1999 European Cup Final, 2-1, against FC Bayern Munich, on May 26^th at Barcelona’s stadium, Camp Nou, Ole had raised his right boot to connect with the ball, sending it high into the net, almost on the goal line, at the far post, on 90+3 minutes, following an in-swinging corner by right wing, David Beckham, that found center forward, Teddy Sheringham, who’d already re-directed a Giggs effort into the Bayern net on 90+1 minutes, to equalize right midfielder Mario Basler’s 6^th minute direct free-kick, from outside the 20 yard box, awarded by Italian referee, Pierluigi Collina, after center forward, Carsten Jancker, was deemed to have been impeded by United’s Norwegian center back, Ronny Johnsen; low, bending around the United wall, 1-1. But Sheringham, on as a substitute on 67 minutes for Sweden’s left winger, Jesper Blomqvist, headed the ball from Beckham’s cross down, across the goalmouth, where Solskjaer, known as ‘the baby faced assassin’, stuck out his foot, 2-1.

 Marcus went on to win the 2023 League Cup with ten Hag, 2-0 against Newcastle United, ‘The Magpies’, on February 26^th, with Netherlands’ center forward, Wout Weghorst, on a season’s loan from Burnley, since January 13^th, starting. Wout, left and front of the 20 yard box, ball along the ground to Rashford; running on, left corner of the six yard box, lofting the ball, left-footed, over advancing German ‘keeper, Loris Karius, high into the top of the net: United’s second on 39 minutes.

 Marcus would win the FA Cup again, this time against near neighbor, Manchester City, a year later; turning inside at the left touchline, crossing a high ball, right-footed, over to Garnacho on the right wing, bearing down on the right corner of the 20 yard box, finding Fernandes to his left, edge and center; a ball all along the ground. Bruno, similarly, slipping a first-time pass along the pitch, through to Mainoo, left of the six yard box. Kobbie, outside City ‘keeper Stefan Ortega’s penalty area, opposite the left post; passing, the ball to the German’s right: into the net, 2-0, on 39 minutes.

 However, after the team lost at the Emirates Stadium of Islington’s Arsenal, ‘The Gunners’, 0-2, on December 4^th, and at home to Nottingham Forest, 2-3, on December 7^th, with Rashford coming on only for the last 30 minutes in each game, and the club having slipped to 13^th place, before ultimately finishing 15^th, on 42 points, Amorim summarily dropped him from the squad, citing ‘work rate’ as the issue; sending Marcus on loan to Aston Villa, ‘The Lions’, on February 2^nd, 2025, until season’s end.

 That backfired, with Marcus remaining joint top-scoring center forward, with Dane, Rasmus Højlund, also finishing on 4, despite the fact that the last of Rashford’s goals, (2) in 2024-25, were against Everton at home on December 1^st, 4-0, while Rasmus had until May 25^th, 2025, to get his 4, and a 27^th April, 2025, goal at Bournemouth, ‘The Poppies’, 1-1, on 90+6 minutes, obviously representing a lot more effort, was it. That draw at Victoria Park was the second in 8 games; the other being goalless at home to Manchester City, on April 6^th, 2025, with United losing 6, 4 without reply, before the Europa Cup Final, taking place after the last match of the regular season, at home to Villa, on May 25^th, 2025, won 2-0. Losing 6 out of 8, and failing to score in 5, wasn’t adequate preparation.

 Zirkzee finished the term on 3, his last league goals (2) of the season taken alongside strike-partner Rashford in that December 1^st win over Everton, 4-0. Seemingly only a pulled hamstring, during training, keeping Marcus out of Villa’s losing FA Cup semi-final on April 26^th, 2025, at Wembley, 0-3, to eventual winners, Crystal Palace, on May 17^th, 2025, 1-0, against Manchester City, prevented a hero’s return, after Rashford’s 58^th minute opening goal in the quarter final. Latching on to a fast grass-cutter, from French left back, Lucas Digne, across the 20 yard box, following a through ball from Belgian central midfielder, Youri Tielemans, that found Digne at its left corner, Marcus side-footed, right-footed, close to the penalty spot, along the turf, into the right corner of the net. It had the decisive impact in the March 30^th, 2025, win over Preston North End (PNE), ‘The Northenders’, away at Deepdale, 3-0, with a Rashford penalty on 63 minutes, bottom right corner, low, sending ‘keeper, David Cornell, the wrong way, 2-0, pursuant to Preston’s Welsh left back, Andrew Hughes, back-heeling a kick at left wing, Morgan Rogers, at the right corner of the 20 yard box. However, injury left Marcus unable to face Spurs, or play in the latter stages of the Europa Cup; even if Ruben had relented, and recalled him to restore bite to the forward line, which he couldn’t.

 Having seen ten Hag’s managerial suicide bid fulfilled, after his sale of McTominay to Naples, speculation at the Stretford End was that Marcus’ departure to Villa Park was Ruben’s own version of turning the gun upon himself. What was clear from ten Hag’s tenure was a move away from twin center forwards to inside forwards, with left sided players, or wingers, being deployed on the right, and vice versa; as it were a turning inwards upon the strikers’ ambition. The modern method was to use a lone center forward, supported by an inside left and right, in a way that resembled a spear thrust at goal.

 Whereas previous United squads had been successful with left footed wingers on the left, and right footed wingers on the right, which widening of the pitch afforded twin strikers opportunities for plundering in the goalmouth from the crosses that came in, the modern model was inversion, with inverted wingers, like Amad, left footed, on the right, or Rashford, right footed, on the left, as inside forwards. That the left winger was right footed, and vice versa, might have looked curious to old-fashioned punters going through the turnstiles, but such inversions as inside forwards were spear-heading the future.

 Ten Hag and Amorim envisioned wing backs in support of the strike force, a midfield of two, and three central defenders; effectively abandoning the full back concept in favor of center halves at left and right, and with a further central defender between them. The repercussions and ramifications were singular. Despite the old-fashioned ‘never say die’ efforts of center half, Harry Maguire, scorer of the equalizing headed goal, center of the six yard box, on 90+1 minutes, from Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen’s corner on the right, away in Portugal at FC Porto’s Estádio do Dragão, ‘the stadium of dragons’, 3-3, in the league stage of the Europa Cup, on October 3^rd, 2024, and another winning headed goal, center right of the six yard box, on 120+1 minutes, from a ball stroked forward by Brazilian Casemiro, left of center midfield, half way inside the Lyon half, 5-4 (2-2), a.e.t., in the April 10^th, 2025, Europa Cup quarter-final, second leg, at home to the French Ligue 1 club, aggregate 7-6, it was evident that United didn’t have the personnel, and not excluding center half Maguire, to keep the ball out of Onana’s net.

 Tactically there’d been significant issues since Louis van Gaal, the Netherlands’ 2014 World Cup manager in Brazil, attempted to deploy the 1-3-4-3 formation at United, after his being appointed to replace failed former Everton manager, David Moyes, effectively inviting the sack, as Ferguson’s replacement for 2013-14, after losing on January 22^nd, 2014, at home on penalties in the semi-final second leg of the League Cup to Sunderland, 2-1 (1-0), a.e.t., 3-3 aggregate, with central midfielder for Scotland, Darren Fletcher, the only successful spot kicker, 1-2.

 Van Gaal’s appointment, following the Netherlands’ defeat of Canarinho, ’Little Canary’, Brazil, 3-0, at Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, Brasilia, in the July 12^th play off for third place overall, while Germany won the 13^th July Final, 1-0, at Estádio Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, against Argentina, began the introduction and implementation of a system fraught with choosing the requirements of defensive adaptivity; mobile or static center backs: attacking or defensive wing backs.

 Matteo Darmian, full back for Italy’s Azzurri, ‘The Blues’, and on June 14^th, 2014, World Cup debuting at right back, in a defeat of England, 2-1, at Arena da Amazônia, Manaus, substituted for Argentine left back, Marcos Rojo, on 66 minutes, in van Gaal’s FA Cup winning team of 2016, after arriving for ₤12.7m on July 11^th, 2015, from Torino FC, Turin, and later returned to Italy at Inter Milan, La Beneamata ‘The Well-Cherished One’, where he’d be a part of the squad that won Serie A in 2020-21, alongside ex-United greats; Armenia’s right wing and captain, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, winner of the League Cup and Europa Cup of 2017 with Mourinho; left wing and/or full back, Ashley Young, who’d been in the squad that won the 2012-13 title for Ferguson, # 13 in his retirement season; South America’s Chilean forward, Alexis Sánchez, who’d had what looked like a perfectly good equalizing goal ruled out for offside in the May 19^th 2018 FA Cup Final, lost 0-1 to Chelsea, and Romelu Lukaku, who’d also played in that game for José.

 Most notably, in the case of center back Chris Smalling’s sending off on 105 minutes for wrestling to the pitch Congo’s left wing, Yannick Bolasie, in the 2016 FA Cup Final, Darmian, on occasion, was deployed by van Gaal as a libero or ‘sweeper’, which is a possibility for a defensive wing back, called by the Italians terzino volante (or vagante); patrolling the rear. Either from the left wing back, or right wing back position, called vianema, the Italian sweeper system was named for Giuseppe Viani, manager in the 1940s of Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, ‘The Maroons’, Salerno, Campania, winners of Serie B in 1946-47.

 If Amorim had the ‘door bolt’ system in mind, it’d been initially developed in the 1930s and 40s by Karl Rappan, Austrian manager of Swiss club, Servette FC, Geneva, and Switzerland’s national team; called catenaccio by the Italians’ smaller clubs. Using the withdrawn center back of three half backs between the full backs; leaving two in midfield: right and left halves. Primarily, ‘the ‘chain’ was a means of protecting younger players from injury in the brutal rigors of competition; as UEFA’s 2 regulation substitutes weren’t adopted by all members of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) until 1967-68. The future of wing backs at Manchester United was of a high degree of technical virtuosity unavailable to most defenders; of the type of full/wing back: or of the type of their center backs/wing halves.

 Apart from the fact that the side would have to have a player of the quality of Sergio Ramos at Real Madrid, four European Cups and four World Club Cup doubles, in 2014, ‘16, ‘17, and ‘18, and the World Cup with Spain, La Furia Roja, ‘The Red Fury’, in 2010, 1-0 in the July 11^th Final at Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa, against the Netherlands’ Oranje, at the center of their three at the back, they’d also need a variety of wing full backs, who could attack and/or defend, and fulfill the role of sweeper, as Darmian could; if that role wasn’t being fulfilled by the central back of the three.

 If that was in the mind of Amorim, that’s what the club needed. A libero of the caliber of Ramos, or even better, Germany’s ‘Kaiser’, Franz Beckenbauer, captain of the Bundesliga’s three-time European Cup winners (1974, ‘75, and ‘76), Bayern Munich, ‘Star of the South’, and of the national side at their successful World Cup campaign of 1974, beating the Netherlands, 2-1, in the July 7^th Final at Olympiastadion, Munich, while Jupp Hynckes, an unused substitute, watched the match from the bench.

 A consummate defender, as well as a box-to-box midfield-striker, with the ‘free man’, centromediano metodista, ball winner, and deep lying playmaker, attacking, as Juvé manager Felice Borel (1942-46) used center back, Carlo Parola, after winning possession. The wing back, for example, Dalot, taking the sweeper’s role, center, and back, while the ‘free man’ roams upfield, presupposes a reconfiguration of sistema; team rotation: the Italian method. A further assault on the opposition goal, through the newly revised center; or re-entrenchment after scoring.

 What’s presented is often a falsehood; three central defenders at the back: whereas they’re a half back line, which devotees of the United team of the 1960s that won the European Cup on May 29^th 1968 against Benfica, 4-1 (1-1), a.e.t., at Wembley on May 29^th, would appreciate. Bill Foulkes, at center half, was capped for England on October 2^nd 1954 against Northern Ireland, 2-0, at Windsor Park, Belfast, County Antrim, as a right back, whereas Nobby Stiles, in the England team that beat Germany in the World Cup Final, 4-2 (2-2), a.e.t., on July 30^th at Wembley in 1966, with Leeds United’s Jack Charlton, and captain Bobby Moore of West Ham as center backs, was a left half, as Scot, Paddy Crerand, was a right half in United’s ‘68 team, and is what’s expected in a sweeper system.

 If left half and right half move up into midfield, as wing halves/inside forwards, left and right wing full backs remain with the center half; left back, center back, and right back. If the center half moves up, as a threatening ‘loose cannon’, the left, or right wing full back, moves up with him, and the other remains; three at the back; left half, right half, and full back/sweeper, which Foulkes’ position as center half, in the ‘68 side, presupposes, as United’s right back, in the 1950s.

 The confusion amongst English coaches is the inability to recognize the fluidity of sistema, which is the Italians’ term for the English system, that is, the three at the back mutate from being left half, right half, and center half, to left back, right back, and center back, with variants; for example, five at the back, where the full backs are zonal defenders, and the half back line is similarly static.

 Backs and halves have to be well coached to be adequate to their roles’ demands; if there’s a rotation of halves and backs. Although ‘three-at-the-back’ is usually presented as three center backs, it’s composed of a rotation of left and right wing full backs, half backs/inside forwards, and a deep lying center forward, like Leeds United’s Welshman John Charles, who enjoyed this center back/center forward role at Juventus, as Il Gigante Buono, ‘The Gentle Giant’, transferring for £65,000 for 1957-58, winning the scudetto with 29 goals, and again in 1959-60, with 11 goals, and 1960-61, with 16.

 Amorim signaled his intentions with the purchase of ‘Dynamite’ Denmark’s left wing back/left back, Patrick Dorgu, on February 2^nd, 2025, from Italian Serie A club Unione Sportiva Lecce, ‘The Wolves’, for £25m, which signal was reinforced, post-season, by the arrival from South America of left wing back/left back, Diego León, and Paraguay’s Primero División club, Cerro Porteño, ‘The Cyclone’, for £3m, on July 5^th, 2025.

 Although ten Hag’s trio with Rashford, and Garnacho, didn’t succeed with Amorim, Højlund and Zirkzee were worse. Ruben’s solution was to spend big on improving his spear head, and Amad’s place in the team, despite his emergence as a left footed force to be reckoned with on the right, wasn’t guaranteed. Inside left, Brazilian Matheus Cunha, on June 12^th, 2025, for £62.5m from Wolverhampton Wanderers, ‘Wolves’, where he netted 15 times in 2024-25; inside right, Cameroon’s Bryan Mbeumo, on July 21^st, 2025, for £65m from West London club, Brentford, ‘The Bees’, Hounslow borough, ‘stinging’ 20 times in 2024-25, and Slovenia’s center forward, Benjamin Šeško, on August 9^th, 2025, for £74m from German Bundesliga club, RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V., ‘The Red Bulls’, finding the net 13 times in 2024-25, duly arrived.

 As an attacking wing back, Amad had reflected climate change. Ruben’s squad, with seven or more substitutes available for each outing, was beginning to look like those of American football in the United States, where ‘special teams’ played a large part in a coach’s thinking in getting to their season’s culminating Super Bowl. Amorim’s bringing on a defensive wing back for an attacking wing back, and moving the central defensive coordinator at the back, that is, the center half, up into midfield, was an option amongst several, with the fluidity afforded by insertions from the bench, and that future was now.

 When United beat Merseysider’s Everton, 4-0, at home, on December 1^st, 2024, with Rashford scoring twice, and the team at 9^th place in the table, it was Amorim’s inexplicable decision to bench him that had resulted in subsequent successive defeats away to North London’s Arsenal, 0-2, on December 4^th, 2025, and at home to Forest, 2-3, on December 7^th, 2025, that saw the club slip to 13^th, and eventually finish 15^th. Over £200m, with add-on clauses, based on performance, was an awful lot of money to spend for someone whose judgment seemed that shaky, but only time could tell.

 The majority of die-hard United fans felt that Alejandro’s scintillating zest as a winger should have starred against Spurs in the 2025 Europa Cup Final. Ruben preferred the midfield industry and guile of injury prone, Mason Mount, 5+9 appearances in 2023-24, and 8+9 in 2024-25, after being bought from Chelsea for 55m on July 5^th, 2023, but then lately recovered from his most recent sojourn to the treatment room; though winger Alejandro finished the season with the second best total of league goals, 6, behind top scorers Bruno and Amad, with 8 apiece. As 6 wasn’t enough from McIlroy to prevent United’s relegation in 1973-74, with a total of 38 goals (-10), it’s arguable that Garnacho’s 6, creditable for a winger, was the difference between staying up and being relegated in 2024-25, with a total of 44 goals (-10).

 Mount netted twice in the May 8^th semi-final second leg defeat of Bilbao, Lehoiak, ‘The Lions’, 4-1, at Old Trafford, but the team had already done the job in Bilbao, winning there on May 1^st, 3-0, with Garnacho starting, 23+13 league appearances that term; replaced only after 84 minutes by defensive midfielder Mainoo, as the players from the bench consolidated the win.

 In the 72^nd minute of the home leg, back to goal, turning a ball from French center back, Leny Yoro, inside the Bilbao penalty area, onto his left foot from his right, Mason holds it there. Spinning near the penalty spot, right-footed, finding the bottom right corner. Then again, the fourth of the night, on 90+1 minutes, aggregate 7-1. A long range shot, left-footed, from out on the left flank, catching Spanish ‘keeper, Julen Agirrezabala, off his line, pushing up, with Athletic Club seeking an impossible comeback. Ruben’s eye caught; and Alejandro’s out. Rejected, along with the other winners; McTominay and Rashford.

1 Mannion, Damian, ‘Arsenal’s Trophy Cabinet’, Talksport, Friday, October 26^th, 2012, https://talksport.com/magazine/virals/121026/picture-arsenals-trophy-cabinet-redesigned-include-new-fourth-place-trop-183898 .

2 Santayana, George The Life of Reason, Vol. 1, Reason in Common Sense, 1905, p. 284.

Crerand in Midfield

Scot, Patrick ‘Paddy' Crerand, was the central midfield general that broke the half back line at Manchester United, but who played alongside him in midfield often defies analysis. A center half, flanked by a right half, and a left half, was how teams shaped up until the end of the Matt Busby era at United. The earliest successful variant being that of Dick Duckworth, Charlie Roberts, and Scot, Alex Bell, in the Ernest Mangnall managed side that won the league title in 1908 and 1911, as well as the 1909 F.A. Cup Final, 1-0, against Bristol City; (GK) Harry Moger, (RB)  George Stacey, (LB) Vince Hayes, (RH) Dick Duckworth, (CH) Charlie Roberts (c), (LH) Alex Bell, (RW) Billy Meredith, (IR) Harold Halse, (CF) Jimmy Turnbull, (IL) Sandy Turnbull (1), (LW) George Wall.

 The line held throughout the First and Second World Wars, with John Anderson, Allenby Chilton, and Henry Cockburn, of the team that won the 1948 F.A. Cup Final, 4-2, against Blackpool; (GK) Jack Crompton, (RB) Johnny Carey (c), (LB) John Aston, (RH) John Anderson, (CH) Allenby Chilton, (LH) Henry Cockburn, (RW) Jimmy Delaney, (IR) Johnny Morris, (CF) Jack Rowley, (IL) Stan Pearson, (LW) Charlie Mitten. Scot, Busby, began to field the youngsters known as ‘The Busby Babes’, with Eddie Colman, Mark Jones, and Duncan Edwards, the half back line that won the championship in 1955-56 and 1956-57, after the class of ‘48 had finally become champions in 1951-52, although with Don Gibson at right half, after being runners up in 1946-47, 1947-48, 1948-49, and 1950-51.

 Though Edwards replaced Jackie Blanchflower at left half, Busby’s selecting him at center half, before the emergence of Mark Jones, and afterwards as an inside forward, demonstrated the versatility needed by a player in the period when there weren’t any substitutes, and flexibility had to be demonstrated by the eleven pitchside. Blanchflower’s pricelessness was as a left sided defender who could be deployed successfully as an attacking midfielder. In 27 starts in 1953-54 he scored 13 goals, 10 in 29 games in 1954-55, 3 in 18 in 1955-56, and with a further 11 starts in 1956-57, barely missing out on a title winners’ medal.

While United looked like winning the championship again in 1957-58, with Blanchflower on 18 starts for the season’s campaign, the club was devastated by an aircrash at Munich airport, Germany, as the squad returned from qualifying for a European Champions Cup semi-final against Real Madrid, drawing 3-3 with Red Star Belgrade. 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 'Billy' Whelan, all lost their lives, while right winger, Johnny Berry, and Northern Irish inside forward, Blanchflower, were too badly injured ever to play again.

 After the single outfield substitute was introduced in 1965-66, and additionally the substitute ‘keeper in 1987, the onus was upon the flexible utility of the player on the bench, whereas before the spotlight had been on those fielded, irrespective of injury, that is, the quality of the players selected had to allow for flexibility, epitomized by Blanchflower, and also Edwards, who could play at center half, as he did in the lost 1957 F.A. Cup Final, 1-2, to Aston Villa, when injury to ‘keeper Ray Wood resulted in Jackie’s taking over between the goalposts, as well as at center forward. (GK) Ray Wood, (RB) Bill Foulkes, (LB) Roger Byrne (c), (RH) Eddie Colman, (CH) Jackie Blanchflower, (LH) Duncan Edwards, (RW) Johnny Berry, (IR) Liam Whelan, (CF) Tommy Taylor, (IL) Bobby Charlton, (LW) David Pegg. Roger Byrne, left back, as a left winger in 1951-52, scored 7 times. 

What this meant for tactics and strategy was important, especially as what the Italians called sistema, that is, the English system, was changing from a half back line to twin central defenders, and a hard man in midfield. While the European teams adopted the libero, or 'free back', after the fashion of the Italian catenaccio, with the ‘sweeper’ playing behind the back four of twin center backs and two full backs, having freedom to move into midfield, or support the attack, soccer in England came to be based on a holding player in midfield, ahead of two central defenders, and the right and left full backs.

The role of sweeper was exemplified by Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer, captain in their 1974 World Cup Final defeat of Holland, 2-1, with center forward, Gerd Müller, Bomber der Nation, the decisive goal, on 43 minutes, at Olympiastadion, Munich. Central midfielder, Rainer Bonhof, released by right winger, Jürgen Grabowski, pass right footed, close by the touchline, inside his own half. Bonhof racing down the right, past sweeper, Arie Haan, right footed cross-pass, right of the 18 yard box, to Müller at the right corner of the penalty area. Gerd knocking the ball behind him, while the Dutch defenders surge ahead of him, stepping back for the ball, swiveling, and left back, Ruud Krol, turning back also, stretching his left leg to block, but Gerd’s right boot, striking the ball low, along the ground, into the left corner of the net, in an otherwise game of clumsy defending and two penalties.

 What remained of the United squad, bolstered by Stan Crowther for £18,000, right half for Villa in the ‘57 F.A. Cup Final, and inside right from Blackpool, Ernie Taylor, for £6,000, lost the F.A. Cup Final of 1958 to Bolton Wanderers, 0-2, with a half back line of Goodwin, Cope, and Crowther, after defeat to Real Madrid in the semi-final of the European Cup, 1-3 away in the first leg and 2-2 at Old Trafford, 3-5 on aggregate; (GK) Harry Gregg, (RB) Bill Foulkes (c), (LB) Ian Greaves, (RH) Freddie Goodwin, (CH) Ron Cope, (LH) Stan Crowther, (RW) Alex Dawson, (IR) Ernie Taylor, (CF) Bobby Charlton, (IL) Dennis Viollet, (LW) Colin Webster.

 The inaugural F.A. Youth Cup was won in 1952-53 by United against Wolves, 7-1 at home and 2-2 in the second leg away, 9-3 on aggregate, with Cope at center half as captain, alongside right half Coleman and left half Edwards. The Youth Academy won again against West Ham in 1956-57, 3-2 at Upton Park, 5-0 at home, 8-2 on aggregate, giving the club the first five F.A. Youth Cups, and enough young talent to carry the club to the ’58 F.A. Cup Final and runners up in the 1958-59 championship; (GK) David Gaskell, (RB) Barry Smith, (LB) Ray Maddison, (RH) Bob English, (CH) Reg Holland, (LH) Harold Bratt, (RW) Kenny Morgans (1), (IR) Nobby Lawton (1), (CF) Alex Dawson (3), (IL) Mark Pearson (2), (LW) Reg Hunter (1).

 Wales’ Morgans, captain of the 1957 F.A. Youth Cup Final winning side, made 13 starts in 1957-58, and Pearson 8,  while Scot, Dawson, 5 goals in 12 starts was at outside right in the '58 F.A. Cup Final, and scored 4 times in 11 starts in '58-59, while Pearson would net 3 times in 10 starts in 59-60, to Dawson’s 15 in 22, who’d tally 16 in 28 to Pearson’s 7 in 27 in 1960-61. Lawton would notch 6 in 20 starts to Pearson’s 1 in 17 and Dawson’s 2 in 4 in 1961-62, and would make another 12 starts in 1962-63 as ‘the Busby Babes' continued to carry the torch for their fallen predecessors.

The club  wouldn’t win the F.A. Youth Cup again until 1964, with the first leg away, 1-1, at Swindon Town’s County Ground, followed by the home leg at ‘the Theater of Dreams’, 4-1, 5-2 on aggregate; (GK) Jimmy Rimmer, (RB) Alan Duff, (LB) Bobby Noble (c), (RH) Peter McBride, (CH) David Farrar, (LH) John Fitzpatrick, (RW) Willie Anderson, (IR) George Best (1), (CF) David Sadler (3), (IL) Albert Kinsey, (LW) John Aston (1).

 Wilf would go on to be part of Busby’s coaching staff in charge of the reserve team, after a career ending leg break, causing Maurice Setters’ transfer from West Brom in January 1960 for £30,000, who’d score 12 goals in 159 league appearances, before transferred to Stoke City for £30,000, with his final game against Villa at home, 7-0, on October 24th, 1964. By then the team were on their way to winning the league title of 1964-65, with Nobby Stiles at left half. Although the permanence of the half back line seemed unchallengeable, especially after a glance at the program sheet, where names and positions invariably indicated the full backs as wing backs, and left and right halves as wing halves, the winning of the 1966 World Cup at London’s national Wembley Stadium, by Alf Ramsey’s ‘wingless wonders’, 2-2, and 4-2 a.e.t., against Germany, with a 4-4-2 formation, clarified the issue; (GK) Gordon Banks, (RB) George Cohen, (LB) Ray Wilson, (DM) Nobby Stiles, (CB) Jack Charlton, (CB) Bobby Moore (c), (RM) Alan Ball, (CF) Roger Hunt, (AM) Bobby Charlton, (SS) Geoff Hurst (3), (LM) Martin Peters (1).

Before his demise at Munich, Duncan Edwards was widely held to be the greatest of his generation. At left half he was amongst the top 33% of 10% left sided people in the population as a whole. Of the 3000 eligible to be selected at left half, left back, or left wing, in every million, Duncan was viewed as the best in his position, that is, one of a thousand in a million, or one in a million. As left sided players are at a premium, it makes no sense to confine them to defensive duties, while psychological studies show the left sided use the right side of their brain, that is, the creative side, which underscores the value of the left half as a creative midfielder, rather than a stopper center back. The advent of the utility midfield player, as substitute from 1965-66, gave further impetus to the freeing of the left half into midfield, as coaches experimented, with an inside forward dropping back to make a midfield pair.

In United’s case Bobby Charlton, former left wing, categorized as a deep-lying center forward, behind twin strikers, renowned for his long-range shooting. Brother Jack at Leeds United, and captain, Bobby Moore of West Ham, were the center backs in England’s World Cup win, with Bobby Charlton in the same role he had with United, while myopic Nobby Stiles was the rugged tackling ball distributor in midfield, whose loss of a contact lens was often cited as the reason for some rather horrendous lunges at moving objects on the pitch identifiable by shirt color alone. Nobby would continue at left half for the 1966-67 league title success, and the 1968 European Cup Final defeat of Benfica, 1-1, and 4-1 a.e.t., at Wembley; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) Shay Brennan, (LB) Tony Dunne, (RH) Pat Crerand, (CH) Bill Foulkes, (LH) Nobby Stiles, (RW) George Best (1), (CB) David Sadler, (AM) Bobby Charlton (2), (CF) Brian Kidd (1), (LW) John Aston.

The most telling observation is of David Sadler, who like Jackie Blanchflower could play center back, or center forward, as well as anywhere across the midfield, indicated on the program sheet as being a center back, tacitly accepting that Crerand and Stiles, as right half and left half, were central midfielders, rather than defenders alongside center back, Bill Foulkes, former right back, pressed into service there after the Munich aircrash. However, as Sadler could play in midfield, or at center forward, labels were misleading. United could play a half back line of Crerand, Foulkes and Stiles, or a center back pairing of Foulkes and Sadler, with Stiles in midfield, or Sadler and Stiles, or Sadler as a second striker (SS), or as a midfielder, even during a game, underlining the cleverness of manager, Sir Matt Busby, knighted by queen Elizabeth II after the European Cup win, as Sir Alf Ramsey was knighted, subsequent to his managing England to the World Cup, utilizing the players on the field fluidly, and without recourse to substitutions.

 If Sadler played in midfield, it’d be alongside Crerand, with center back duties devolving upon Stiles, presupposing the flexibility of the half back line, and similarly if David played as a second striker, Crerand and Charlton would be the midfield, or Crerand, Charlton and Stiles, if Foulkes wasn’t under any pressure. Busby’s formula made for a fluid pattern of play, owing a lot to his experience with Blanchflower and Edwards in the left half role, as either could play in central defence, run the midfield, and attack as a second striker. Busby retired after the 1968-69 term, which was disappointing in that the side failed to beat South America’s champions, Estudiantes de La Plata of Argentina, in the 1968 Intercontinental Cup Final, held between the winners of the Copa Libertadores and the European Cup, defeated in the first away leg, 0-1, and drawing the home leg, 1-1, despite a Crerand right footed free kick, on 90 minutes, right midfield, just inside the Estudiantes' half, finding right winger, Willie Morgan, edge of the left corner of the penalty area, right footed shot to ‘keeper, Alberto José Poletti’s left, bottom right corner of the net, losing, 1-2 on aggregate; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) Shay Brennan, (LB) Tony Dunne, (RH) Pat Crerand, (CH) Bill Foulkes, (LH) David Sadler, (RW) Willie Morgan (1), (SS) Brian Kidd, (AM) Bobby Charlton (c), (CF) Denis Law (C. Sartori, 44 mins), (LW) George Best. Also failing to progress beyond the semi-final stage of that season’s European Cup, the team lost to Italian Serie A club A.C. Milan at the San Siro stadium, 0-2, before winning at home, 1-0; (GK) Jimmy Rimmer, (RB) Shay Brennan, (LB) Francis Burns, (RH) Pat Crerand, (CH) Bill Foulkes, (LH) Nobby Stiles, (RW) Willie Morgan, (SS) Denis Law, (AM) Bobby Charlton (1), (CF) Brian Kidd, (LW) George Best..

 Best, wriggling past two Milan defenders on the right of the ‘D’, edging the ball past them with the outside of his right boot, inside the 18 yard box, prodding it wider right and forward to Charlton, running in, elevating his shot, narrow angle, right of the penalty area, close to the goal line, back of the net, 70 minutes, followed by a Law goal, disallowed, a yard out, right of the goalmouth, turning in a similar low cross shot, from the right side of the 18 yard box, ball yards over the line, ‘keeper Fabio Cudicini beaten, back in play, back heeled, by Cudicini, French referee Machin turning, a blind eye, 1-2 on aggregate.

 Busby was replaced by Wilf McGuinness for 1969-70, and Scot, Ian Ure, arrived from Arsenal to replace Bill Foulkes as a partner for Sadler in central defence for £80,000, effectively signaling the end of the half back line, as more than a nominative concept, relating to right sided defensive midfielders, and left sided creative midfielders, in favor of twinned center halves. Foulkes appeared on only three occasions for Wilf, and his last before retirement, age 37, was in a defeat, 1-4, to Southampton at Old Trafford on August 16th, 1969. McGuinness, in fact, revolutionized the sistema at United, where wingers were henceforth understood to be midfield players, as distinct from defenders, that is, center backs and full backs, and forwards. 

 Success on the field didn’t transpire, with the team failing to progress beyond the semi-final stage in the League Cup, losing to Manchester City, 1-2 at Maine Road; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) Paul Edwards, (LB) Tony Dunne, (RH) Francis Burns, (CH) Ian Ure, (LH) David Sadler, (RW) George Best, (CF) Brian Kidd, (AM) Bobby Charlton (1), (DM) Nobby Stiles, (LW) John Aston. Although Charlton leveled the score, after Kidd, wide and deep on the right, inside the City half, lofted a ball with his left boot that right back, Tony Book, center of the 18 yard box, tried to trap, but inadvertently played into the path of Bobby instead, running in right of the penalty area, left foot strike, 1-1, on 66 minutes, the team drew 2-2 at home; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) Paul Edwards (1), (LB) Tony Dunne, (RH) Nobby Stiles, (CH) Ian Ure, (LH) David Sadler, (RW) Willie Morgan, (CM) Pat Crerand, (AM) Bobby Charlton (1), (CF) Denis Law (1), (LW) George Best.

Ure, inside his own half, center circle, left footed pass forward to Crerand, left of center midfield, outside of his right boot, between Alan Oakes, nearer, in a central position, relative to the ‘D’ of the City 18 yard box, and center back, Mike Doyle, further off, in positional terms, relative to the right edge of the 'D', finds Paul Edwards, nudges the ball past left back, Glyn Pardoe, runs on into the 18 yard box, right of the 'D', level with the right edge of the penalty area, ball struck, right footed, top right corner of the net, on 23 minutes, 1-1. Ure, again inside his own half, left of the center circle, left foot pass to Best, inside the center circle. Best surges forward into the City half, shrugs off pursuing striker, Ian Bowyer, wins the ball off his right boot in a tackle with midfielder, Alan Oakes, shoots right footed from outside the 18 yard box, left of its right corner, ‘keeper Joe Corrigan parries, can’t hold. Law, inside the penalty area, pounces on 60 minutes, left footed strike, 2-1, but 3-4 on aggregate. Similarly, in the F.A. cup semi-final, the team lost a third replay, 0-1, with ‘The King’, as goal scoring legend, Law, was known to the die hard terraced fans at the Stretford End, benched for the single goal affair; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) Paul Edwards, (LB) Tony Dunne, (RH) Pat Crerand, (CH) David Sadler, (LH) Nobby Stiles, (RW) Willie Morgan, (CF) Brian Kidd, (AM) Bobby Charlton, (CM) Carlo Sartori (D. Law, 61 mins), (LW) George Best.

 There was a chance of silverware for the Old Trafford trophy cabinet straightaway in 1970-71, with the club reaching the Final of the Watney Mann Invitation Cup, contested four times from 1970-73, pre-season, before discontinued, sponsored by the brewery, and known as the Watney Cup, held for teams scoring most goals in each of the four divisions of the Football League the previous season, who had not been promoted, or admitted to a European competition.

 Two teams from each division took part, that is, eight participants, in a knockout format, each match a one-off, with no replays. The final took place at the home ground of one of the finalists, rather than a neutral venue. In the August 5th, 1970, semi-final, United defeated Second Division, Hull City, on penalties, 4-3, a.e.t., 1-1, the first ever penalty shoot out in English soccer, with Denis Law equalizing on 78 minutes an 11th minute headed opener from Chris Chilton, later substituted by Stuart Pearson, who’d be United’s center forward during their Second Division championship winning season of 1974-75, bought for £200,000 by then Scots’ manager, Tommy Docherty, after the club were relegated in 1973-74, and scoring 17 goals, as the team returned to the First Division; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) Paul Edwards, (LB) Tony Dunne, (CM) Pat Crerand, (CB) Ian Ure, (CB) David Sadler, (RW) Willie Morgan, (SS) Denis Law (1), (AM) Bobby Charlton, (CF) Brian Kidd, (LW) George Best. City goalkeeper, Ian McKechnie, turned from hero to villain in front of Bunkers Hill at Boothferry Road, saving from fellow Scot, Law,  but hitting Stepney’s bar as ‘The Tigers’ outfield players bottled it and Ian was forced to step up. Best, Kidd, and Charlton completed their spot kicks successfully, 3-3, before Denis’ failure, but Hull striker, Ken Wagstaffe, also failed, leaving Morgan to ensure that McKechnie had no one to talk to in the dressing room afterwards.

 The Final took place on August 8th, 1970, at The Baseball Ground; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) Paul Edwards, (LB) Tony Dunne, (CM) Pat Crerand, (CB) Ian Ure, (CB) David Sadler, (RW) Willie Morgan (N. Stiles, 57 mins), (SS) Denis Law (J. Fitzpatrick, 25 mins), (AM) Bobby Charlton, (CF) Brian Kidd, (LW) George Best (1). Fitzpatrick, winning a tackle, left footed, with Wales’ midfielder Alan Durban, edge of the ‘D’, center, ball breaks to Best, on 32 minutes, a yard or so in front of the penalty spot, left footed strike, despite left back John Robson’s attempt at a block, low into the bottom left corner of the net, 1-2, but not enough. Derby manager, Brian Clough, secured his first trophy, 4-1.

 The club 18th in the league, failed to beat Aston Villa in the 1970-71 League Cup semi-final at home, despite a 44th minute equalizer from Kidd, beginning the move on the right, a pass through the legs of Stonehouse referee, David Smith, to Stiles, Kidd runs on into the 18 yard box. Stiles to Sartori, right touchline, a high ball from Carlo, left footed, header at the edge of the 18 yard box, Scots' right back, Charlie Aitken, towards Brian, rather than cleared upfield, leapt at by the striker, right corner of the penalty area, struck off the ground, left footed scissors-kick, screamer, 1-1, far left corner of the net; (GK) Jimmy Rimmer, (RB) John Fitzpatrick, (LB) Tony Dunne, (RH) Pat Crerand, (CH) Ian Ure, (LH) David Sadler, (RW) Willie Morgan, (CF) Brian Kidd (1), (AM) Bobby Charlton, (SS) Denis Law, (LW) George Best.
It was 1-2 at Villa Park, despite taking a 14th minute lead through Kidd; (GK) Jimmy Rimmer, (RB) John Fitzpatrick, (LB) Tony Dunne, (RH) Pat Crerand, (CH) Ian Ure, (LH) David Sadler, (RW) Willie Morgan, (CF) Brian Kidd (1), (AM) Bobby Charlton, (SS) Denis Law, (LW) George Best.

 A long, hoofed ball, from the right full back position, by the United 18 yard box, bouncing ahead of Brian, deep inside the Villa half, between central defenders, Fred Turnbull and Brian Tiler. Kidd gets ahead of the ball, shielding it, back to the Villa goal. Tiler kicks at the ball, hits Kidd in the chest, appeals for a handball. Kidd shapes to go out wider on the right, ball on his right boot, instead turns inside Turnbull, ball on his left boot, right corner of the 18 yard box, easing the ball past Fred, with the outside of his left boot, allowing the ball to run on, then passing the ball back, with his right boot, again onto his left, pushing the ball ahead of him, past the lunging form of Tiler, racing on, nudges the ball, left of diving ‘keeper, John Dunn, by the penalty spot, left footed strike low, along the turf, left side of the net, 1-0. Losing 2-3 on aggregate meant a brief return to the manager’s reins for Busby from December 29th, 1970, before the appointment of Leicester City’s Frank O’ Farrell for 1971-72.

  McGuinness had begun the 1970-71 season’s campaign with a defeat, 0-1, to Leeds United, fielding a side containing seven defenders, including the ‘keeper, which was indication enough that there’d be problems ahead; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) Paul Edwards, (LB) Tony Dunne (CM) Pat Crerand, (CB) Ian Ure, (CB) David Sadler, (DM) John Fitzpatrick, (DM) Nobby Stiles (A. Gowling, 46 mins), (AM) Bobby Charlton, (CF) Brian Kidd, (SS) George Best. Only Northern Ireland's Best, Charlton, and Kidd weren’t recognizably concerned with defence, and in the following 0-0 home draw with Chelsea, center forward Kidd was replaced by Scots’ right wing, Morgan, brought for £110,000 from Burnley for 1968-69, after John Aston, son of John Aston, left back in the ‘48 F.A. Cup Final winning team, was carried off before half time by coach, Wilf McGuinness, and trainer, Jack Crompton, in the course of a 0-0 draw at Manchester City’s Maine Road, on August 17th, 1968, suffering from a leg break; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) Frank Kopel, (LB) Tony Dunne (RH) John Fitzpatrick, (CH) David Sadler, (LH) Nobby Stiles, (RW) George Best, (SS) Alan Gowling, (AM) Bobby Charlton (c), (CF) Brian Kidd (LW) John Aston (F. Burns, 45 mins.). 

 Crerand was initially replaced by Scot, Fitzpatrick, as invariably the first seven players on Wilf’s team sheet were defensive, while his disciplining of legendary contributors, Charlton, for example, made to do 10 press ups, and his inclusion of try outs, for example, Scots' right back Willie Watson, in preference to seasoned campaigners, didn’t serve his cause. Although Scot, Francis Burns, who’d featured in six of the European games, as the club progressed to the '68 Final, was restored to favor, defeat at St James’ Park, Newcastle, 0-1, on October 31st, 1970, suggested Wilf’s teams were too defensive to create anything for the forward line;  (GK) Jimmy Rimmer, (RB) Paul Edwards, (LB) Tony Dunne, (DM) John Fitzpatrick, (CB) Steve James, (CB) David Sadler, (RW) George Best, (DM) Francis Burns, (AM) Bobby Charlton, (CF) Brian Kidd, (LW) John Aston.

What seemed to have obsessively attracted McGuinness was the idea that the right back, for example, Paul, together with a defensive half back line, for example, Sadler, Foulkes, and Stiles, where Stiles, or whoever was selected at left half, in fact had the left back role, leaving Dunne, for example, or Fitzpatrick, nominally at left back, as sweeper. Whereas Busby had thought of it as an option, within the fluid interchangeability he’d conceived, for example, Sadler moving from center back to center forward, with Paul moving to center back, while Fitzpatrick, and/or Burns, in the side selected to play Newcastle, that is, moving to full back/sweeper, Wilf’s selecting of upwards of seven defensive outfield players suggested the libero as basic to his thinking as a coach.

For a while Watson replaced Paul Edwards at right back, while Italian inside forward, Carlo Sartori, and Gowling were given their chance. Crerand was restored to the team for the game on December 19th, 1970, at home to Arsenal; (GK) Jimmy Rimmer, (RB) Willie Watson, (LB) Tony Dunne, (CM) Pat Crerand, (CB) Steve James, (CB) John Fitzpatrick, (RW) Willie Morgan, (CM) Carlo Sartori, (AM) Bobby Charlton, (CF) Brian Kidd, (SS) George Best.

A crossfield move begun by Charlton, right, deep in his own half, long ball, right footed to Sartori, left wing, moving out of the United half up the left touchline, level with the left corner of the 18 yard box, cross right footed, Kidd back-heading the ball on, left edge of the penalty area, left winger George Armstrong trying to hoof the ball clear, rebounds to Best off the legs of center back, Peter Simpson. Best stabs the ball towards the goalmouth, stifled by the defenders, trying to control the ball again, kicked away by right back, Pat Rice, not far enough. Sartori, running in right of the penalty area, before left back, Bob McNab to Carlo's left can react; left foot, on 41 minutes, high into the right side of the net, 1-3.

 It was mene tekel upharsin for McGuinness, with the club 18th, following a draw, 4-4 against Derby County at their Baseball ground, on  December 26th, 1970; (GK) Jimmy Rimmer, (RB) John Fitzpatrick, (LB) Tony Dunne, (CM) Pat Crerand, (CB) Ian Ure, (CB) David Sadler, (RW) Willie Morgan, (SS) Denis Law (2), (AM) Bobby Charlton, (CF) Brian Kidd (1),  (LW) George Best (1).

.  At 0-2 Law headed a goal, on 55 minutes, into the top left corner of the net from a Morgan cross, to the right of the 18 yard box, and outside of it, that found Law, center of the 18 yard box, by the penalty spot, 1-2. Charlton, corner on the right, taken right footed, back-header by central defender, David Sadler, right corner of the penalty area, parried by ‘keeper, Les Green, falls to Best, a yard from the goal line, on 57 minutes, swept in right footed, 2-2. Charlton, corner on the left, taken right footed, diving header from Law, right of center of the penalty area, bottom of the net, 3-2 up on 59 minutes, and 4-3 down, Charlton corner on the right, taken right footed, Kidd header just outside the penalty area, left of center, top left corner of the net, 4-4, on 75 minutes, guaranteeing Busby’s return.

 Until the end of season 1970-71 the ghost of the half back line returned to haunt, beginning with a win at Chelsea, 2-1, on January 9th, 1971; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) John Fitzpatrick, (LB) Tony Dunne, (RH) Pat Crerand, (CH) Paul Edwards, (LH) Nobby Stiles, (RW) Willie Morgan (1), (SS) Alan Gowling (1), (AM) Bobby Charlton, (CF) Denis Law, (LW) John Aston. Although Paul Edwards had impressed as a full back, scoring from long range against City in the 1969-70 season's League Cup semi-final, in 1970-71 he was often deployed as a center back, while Gowling, in the team for Best against the Stamford Bridge club, and who’d later be second striker alongside Malcolm Macdonald at Newcastle, in the side for Aston against Southampton, netted four for Busby alongside Best, at The Dell, in a home defeat of ‘The Saints’, on February 20th, 1971, 5-1; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) John Fitzpatrick, (LB) Francis Burns, (CM) Pat Crerand, (CB) Paul Edwards, (CB) David Sadler, (RW) Willie Morgan (1), (SS) George Best, (AM) Bobby Charlton, (CF) Alan Gowling (4), (LW) John Aston. Stiles played what proved to be his last game away at Coventry, 1-2, on April 13th, 1971, with Sadler preferred thereafter, as Nobby was transferred to Middlesboro for £20,000; (GK) Alex Stepney, (RB) Tony Dunne, (LB) Francis Burns, (CM) Pat Crerand, (CB) Paul Edwards, (CB) Nobby Stiles, (RW) Willie Morgan, (SS) Alan Gowling, (AM) Bobby Charlton, (CF) Brian Kidd, (LW) George Best (1). Half backs to begin with, and center backs to the end, Foulkes and Stiles were gone, while Sir Matt had engineered a recovery to 8th primarily by limiting the number of defensive players to the back four.