Alex Ferguson: A Legacy Ignored
When Scot, Alex Ferguson, took over, as Manchester United’s manager, from ‘Big Ron’ Atkinson, on November 6th, 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 22nd, 2014. His team selection failed to reach the 2014 League Cup Final; losing the January 22nd 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 7th, 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 29th, 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 17th, 1990, FA Cup Final replay win against Crystal Palace, 1-0. Largely attributable to the 59th 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 12th, 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 113th 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 11th, 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 20th, 1983, against German Bundesliga club, Hamburger SV, over two legs. The first at Hamburger’s Volksparkstadion, on November 22nd , 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 18th, 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 110th 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 77th minute substitute for defender, Mike Duxbury, in an away win at the Goldstone Ground of Brighton & Hove Albion, 1-0, on April 24th, 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 6th, 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 5th, 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 8th at Old Trafford, but collapsed on May 14th 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 21st, 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 72nd 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 26th, 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 1st, 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 4th, 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 18th, 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 44th 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 62nd 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 17th, 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 29th, 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 15th, 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 67th 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 74th 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 20th, 1990, and right back Andersen, freed to Sheffield Wednesday on January 9th, 1991, signaled Alex’s belief in renewing a stale squad.
On November 19th, 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 67th 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 71st 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 26th, 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 12th, 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 19th 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 14th 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 23rd, 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 46th for Danny’s center forward brother, Rodney Wallace, in the match against Luton Town, at Elland Road, on February 27th, 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 14th, 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 89th minute, was Cantona’s third, after coming on in the 85th for Rod Wallace, against Chelsea, in the April 11th 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 8th, 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 2nd, 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 8th, 1992, scored another, on August 25th, in a home defeat of Spurs, 5-0.
On September 6th, 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 26th, 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 27th, 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 82nd minute, 1-2. Although the FA Cup, 4-0, against Chelsea, on May 14th, 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 60th minute, after Irwin was scythed down by midfielder, Eddie Newton, and Kanchelskis, deliberately tumbled over by Jamaican left back, Frank Sinclair, in the 66th. 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 69th 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 92nd 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 48th minute at Crystal Palace, on January 25th, 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 57th 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 16th 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 17th, 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 10th, 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 20th, 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 11th, 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 8th, 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 8th, 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 71st 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 72nd 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 92nd minute.
The first semi-final ending, 3-3, United won the Maine Road replay, 2-1 (1-1), a.e.t., on April 11th, 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 114th minute strike, by ‘fledgling’ center forward, Robins, on for Martin in the 100th 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 30th, 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 22nd, 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 26th, 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 20th, 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 78th 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 7th, 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 21st, 1999, United were down, 0-1, to a 6th 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 33rd 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 68th minute, yellow carded for a two-footed challenge on French central midfielder, Didier Deschamps, in the 76th, 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 83rd 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 27th, 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 30th, 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 21st, 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 10th 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 15th, 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 8th, 2001, and Cole left for B’burn for £8m on December 29th. 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 3rd, 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 24th, 2002.
A 30th 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 67th 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 28th minute, 1-0, but the second leg was drawn, 1-1, on April 30th, 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 15th , 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 22nd, 2002.
Although the 2003 League Cup Final was lost, 0-2, to Anfield club, Liverpool, held on March 2nd, at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, while London’s national Wembley Stadium, opened on April 28th, 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 74th 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 23rd, 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 3rd, the team won the 2004 FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium on May 20th, 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 44th, 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 81st. 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 21st, 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 3rd, with only Rooney making double figures, 24+5 (11), and the team lost to Arsenal in the May 21st, 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 4th, 2005, for £3m, and Keane, 4+1, released on November 18th, 2005. Ferguson, shoring up the defense, on December 25th, 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 6th, 2006, from Ligue 1 club, Monaco, ‘The Rock’, for £5.5m. The club finished 2nd, 8 points behind Chelsea, ‘The Blues’ of Stamford Bridge, on 91, but won the Final of the 2006 League Cup, on February 26th, in Cardiff against Wigan Athletic, 4-0.
Latics’ ‘keeper, Mike Pollitt, having incurred an early injury, Aussie ‘keeper, John Filan, came on as a 14th 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 55th 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 59th 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 61st 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 27th, the 2007 FA Cup Final was lost, 0-1, a.e.t., to a 116th 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 23rd, 2007, for £8m, while Solskjaer retired, on August 28th, 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 15th, 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 21st, 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 18th, 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 28th 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 74th 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 75th 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 79th. Gamba, awarded a penalty, after Gary Neville was adjudged to have handled a cross from the left, midfielder Yasuhito Endō converted the 85th 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 21st, 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 49th 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 20th, 2008, with Saha going to Everton for €7.50m. Two games into the campaign, on September 1st, 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 1st, 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 27th, 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 14th minute of the second leg of the 2008 semi-final at Old Trafford, on April 29th, after the first leg, away on April 23rd, 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 2nd 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 28th at Wembley, against Villa, 2-1. With goals from Owen in the 12th 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 74th. ‘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 5th 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 2nd, 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 17th, 2011, at Bramall Lane, and 4-1 on May 23rd, 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 110th 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 90th 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 5th, 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 28th, 2011, at Wembley Stadium, London, again losing to Barça, 1-3, despite Rooney’s 34th 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 26th, 2004, as a 67th minute replacement for O’Shea, in a 3-0 League Cup 3rd 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 6th, 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 31st, 2011, despite a Berbatov brace, in the 52nd, after an attempt from Rafael, drifting over the 6 yard box, headed in, and in the 62nd, inside ‘keeper Mark Bunn’s penalty area, stroking in the ball, bottom right corner, following Valencia’s cross, United lost away, on January 4th, 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 13th, 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 14th, and the club almost recovered to win the title, with Park’s concluding statistics, 10+7 (2). Finishing 2nd 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 26th at Wembley, and the 2017 Europa Cup Final, against Dutch Eredivisie club, Ajax of Amsterdam, ‘Sons of the Gods’, 2-0, on May 24th 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 31st, 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 1st, Alex’s 13th 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 18th, 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.