Disabled United
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 8th, 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, 21st 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 29th, 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 29th 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 8th 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 6th, 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 7th, 1972, ₤200,000 transfer of right winger, Ian Storey-Moore from Nottingham Forest, 5 in 11, while again the club finished 8th. 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 22nd, 1972, by Scotland national team manager, Scot’s Tommy Docherty, the club barely avoiding relegation, after finishing that 1972-73 season 18th, 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 6th 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 12th, 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 10th, 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 29th, 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 1st, 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 78th minute, bringing down ‘Toffees’ captain, Peter Reid, through on goal, and the midfielder almost certain to score, with a 110th 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 6th, 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 26th, 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 19th, 2018, which saw the team lose the May 26th, 2021, Europa Cup Final at Stadion Gdańsk, Poland, 1-1 (1-1), a.e.t., and 10-11 on penalties, from April 21st, 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 1st, 2024, from Lisbon’s CP Sporting. Defeat to Spurs, 0-1, on May 21st 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 42nd minute, agreed.