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FA PREMIERSHIP - MANCHESTER UNITED | |
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FA PREMIERSHIP - MANCHESTER UNITED | |
10 Aug Tottenham Hotspur A W 2-0 (0-0) 82' Butt 83' Vega(og) 26,359 13 Aug Southampton H W 1-0 (0-0) 78' Beckham 55,008 23 Aug Leicester City A D 0-0 (0-0) 21,221 27 Aug Everton A W 2-0 (1-0) 29' Beckham 51' Sheringham 40,079 30 Aug Coventry City H W 3-0 (1-0) 2' Cole 72' Keane 90' Poborsky 55,074 13 Sep West Ham Utd H W 2-1 (1-1) 21' Keane 76' Scholes 55,068 20 Sep Bolton Wanderers A D 0-0 (0-0) 25,000 24 Sep Chelsea H D 2-2 (1-1) 36' Scholes 86' Solskjaer 55,163 27 Sep Leeds Utd A L 0-1 (0-1) 39,952 4 Oct Crystal Palace H W 2-0 (2-0) 17' Sheringham 30' Hreidarsson (og) 55,143
In: Henning Berg (defence) From Blackburn Rovers (£5.00 million) Teddy Sheringham (forward) From Tottenham Hotspur (£3.50 million) Erik Nevland (forward) From Viking Stavanger (NOR)(£1.50 million) Out: Patrick McGibbon (defence) To Wigan Athletic (£0.25 million) Jonathan Macken (forward) To Preston North End (£0.25 million) Simon Davies (midfield) To Luton Town (£0.15 million)
1. Peter Schmeichel (Danish international goalkeeper) 2. Gary Neville (England international right back) 3. Dennis Irwin (Irish international full back) 4. David May (centre half groomed as Bruce's replacement) 6. Gary Pallister (England international centre half) 7. David Beckham (England international midfielder) 8. Nicky Butt (midfield workhorse) 9. Andy Cole (England international striker and record signing) 10. Teddy Sheringham (England international forward, Cantona's replacement) 11. Ryan Giggs (Welsh international winger) 12. Philip Neville (England international left back, brother of Gary) 13. Brian McClair (Scottish international midfielder, now veteran) 14. Jordi Cruyff (Dutch international winger, son of Johan) 15. Karel Poborsky (Czech international midfielder, one of the stars of Euro 96) 16. Roy Keane (Irish international combative midfielder) 17. Raimond van der Gouw (reserve goalkeeper signed from Holland) 18. Paul Scholes (highly rated young striker) 19. Ronny Johnsen (Norwegian international defender) 20. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer (Norwegian striker signed in the summer) 21. Henning Berg (Norwegian international defender signed from Blackburn) 23. Ben Thornley (young left winger, spent most of last season out on loan) 24. John O'Kane (Neville brothers beat him a long time ago, will leave soon) Erik Nevland (yet another young Norwegian striker) Henning Berg (Norwegian international defender)
OPTIMISM
During the summer of 1987, Frank Stapleton and John Sivebeck
left. In their place came Viv Anderson and Brian McClair. For the start
of the season, McGrath and Moran formed the heart of the defence, Moses,
Strachan, Robson and Olsen formed the midfield, while Whiteside and McClair
were the forwards. McClair would go on to score over 20 league goals, the
first player since George Best to do so. An injury to Paul McGrath during
December resulted in the purchase of Steve Bruce. During the 1987-88 season
a trip to Bermuda was arranged and United hit the headlines for the wrong
reasons when Clayton 'Sunbed' Blackmore was arrested regarding an 'incident'
with an American holiday maker. United eventually finished the 1987-88
season with 81 points which could have won the championship in any other
season. However, they secured second place nine points behind Liverpool.
EVERYTHING CHANGES
June 1988 heralded the return of Old Trafford hero Mark
Hughes and Jim Leighton. Peter Davenport and Jesper Olsen were sold. In
their place came Mal Donaghy and a young 17 year old called Lee Sharpe.
Towards the end of 1988, United's form dipped and the team were drawing
too many matches. Most fans were looking forward to a good cup run as the
year ended. The New Year's Day match against Liverpool raised hopes. United
won 3-1 with young players Lee Martin and Russell Beardsmore stealing the
show. Soon, the headlines, 'Fergies Fledglings' would appear. As the FA
Cup run started, more youngsters were drafted into the side - Mark Robins,
Lee Sharpe, Deiniol Graham, David Wilson and Tony Gill. United eventually
reached the quarter finals of the cup, but, lost at home to Nottingham
Forest. This effectively ended the season, Gordon Strachan was sold and
as the season ended there was unrest and murmurings on the terraces. United
finished 11th in the league.
THE FIRST OF MANY
During the summer of 1989, Paul McGrath and Norman Whiteside
were sold. Neil Webb and Mike Phelan were bought. Before the first match
of the 1989-90 season, it emerged that buisnessman Michael Knighton was
to buy the majority of shares in the club. Knighton performed a ball juggling
act for the media before the match against Arsenal. A 4-1 victory against
the new champions signalled hope amongst the faithful. By the end of September,
Ferguson purchased Gary Pallister, Paul Ince and Danny Wallace. The takeover
for United eventually turned into a media circus as Robert Maxwell waged
a personal campaign against Knighton. Eventually Knighton pulled out and
United were heading towards the relegation zone by the end of 1989. The
'Sack Ferguson' campaign was gaining momentum as January approached. A
1-0 win against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup 3rd round gave Ferguson
a lifeline. They reached the semi-final without playing a match at Old
Trafford, and a pulsating semi-final against Oldham resulted in a 3-3 draw.
Eventually United won through 2-1 in the replay. The final was a see-saw
affair which ended in a 3-3 draw after extra-time. Leighton was blamed
for two of the goals and dropped for the replay which was a rough and untidy
affair. Eventually United won 1-0 through a Lee Martin goal in the 60th
minute. At long last Fergie had won his first trophy - the first of many.
ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE
There was much optimism as the 1990-91 season commenced.
Denis Irwin was bought from Oldham and they made a steady start in the
league. October heralded an unsavoury incident at Old Trafford against
Arsenal when a brawl between the players resulted in deduction of points
for both Arsenal and United. The cups were again to provide the main excitement
as Utd reached the fifth round of the FA Cup, but the League Cup provided
some outstanding results including a 3-1 victory against Liverpool and
an amazing 6-2 victory at Highbury where Sharpe collected a hat-trick.
They won both legs in the semi- finals against Leeds. However in the final
against Sheffield Wednesday they were very disappointing and lost 1-0 but
this disappointment was overcome by the European Campaign.
When UEFA lifted the ban on English clubs in 1990, United were again the ambassadors for England as they were back in the fifties. The first match was away to Pecsi Munkas. Brian McClair scored the only goal and on the terraces, the small contingent of United supporters were singing Monty Python's `Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'. This would be sung all the way to the final. On their way, United managed to win every match away from home, the most memorable, against Montpellier. The final was against Barcelona, Hughes' former club. United completely outplayed Barcelona and Hughes put them 2-0 up by the 75th minute, Koeman scored a late free-kick, but, it was too late. United won the second European trophy in their history.
GRABBING DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY
The first half of the season saw United play the best
football in the country, and were advancing well in both domestic Cup competitions;
only a defeat at Atletico Madrid spoilt the picture. But despite winning
the League Cup, 1992 will always be remembered as the year the Championship
was lost. A 4-1 defeat at home against QPR on New Years Day seemed to knock
the confidence out of United. They continued to draw and scrape narrow
victories up to Easter but Leeds' nerves held up better to the strain and
helped by the arrival of a certain Frenchman at Elland Road, Man United
ended up runners-up once more. The consolation trophy in 1992 was the European
Super Cup victory over Red Star Belgrade at Old Trafford.
THE END OF THE HOLY GRAIL
The loss in '92 may have left the club and its fans in
despair, but the players had to forget all about it in the new FA Premier
League, as United kept up a solid challenge to Aston Villa and Norwich
through the early season. Eric Cantona had crossed the Pennines to join
United and from that time in late November, United were a different team.
His sparkling skills and arrogance brought out the best in Mark Hughes,
with Welsh youngster Ryan Giggs emerging as a world class player and Ukrainian
Andrei Kanchelskis flying down the other wing - United were playing the
way United should.
With the experience from the previous year, there was no way this Championship was going to get away! As Norwich and Villa fell away United finished strongly to win their first League title since 1967 - and in style.
KINGS OF ENGLAND
Season 93/94 brought a couple of challenges - defend
the Premier League title and an entry into the European Champions Cup leagues.
The latter was not to be a success as a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford meant
United had to win at Turkey's Galatasary. A bad-tempered and hostile environment
saw a 0-0 draw end United's hopes and Eric Cantona receive a 4-match European
ban after being sent off. The progress on the home front was better, with
all three competitions within United's grasp. The league was almost won
by January, nearly lost to Blackburn in March, but then eventually fairly
comfortably retained - Champions again! But the talk was of the Treble
- the League, the FA Cup and the League Cup. Never had an English team
won all three domestic trophies; United almost did last year. A loss to
Aston Villa in the League Cup final finished the dream, but a 4-0 FA Cup
victory gave Manchester United it's first Double. Alex Ferguson had finally
put together a team capable of dominating English club competitions.
A good start was surrended with 3 incredible hiccups, 5-0 and 6-3 away defeats followed by a Chelsea home loss left us chasing Arsenal. Fortunately we took 3 points at the meeting in December and hit our usual spring high, losing only to Sunderland and Derby in the run-in.
Our luckiest win of the season came against Liverpool at Anfield. The 3-1 win could have easily been doubled such was the disparity of the once-feared Liverpool defence. This was perhaps the beginning of the end for Cantona, so bad was his display. Nothing came off and he resorted to acts of petulance.
The fans would be for the 4th time denied the opportunity of seeing the team win the title on it's own merits. Liverpool's draw to West Ham and Arsenal's loss to Coventry clinching the title. Before the game against Newcastle, the toon formed a line of honour - Either showing their class or Scottish kidology in action.
In Europe, we stumbled once again. We had a 3-3 record in the group stages, and unforgivingly, lost our unbeaten home record. Obscure Fenerbache of Turkey were the slayers of the last link to the Busby Babes when Bolic scored a ridiculous deflection to ensure the most remarkable of European marks was lost.
Juventus were next up, also at home. Butt loses his head, Del Piero puts it away. Committed time and again to finding the goal, we pepper Peruzzi to no avail. Not for the last time, Cantona is missing. Boksic is no Boniek, as he proves to our relief.
Beating Vienna 2-0 on a freezing night near the Alps, combined with Juve's victory over Fenerbache, sent us through to face Porto in the quarter finals.
Not Porto, we prayed. Destroying Milan (before it became fashionable), the 6'4" Jardel wreaking havoc, supported by the class midfield of the autumn and commanded at the back by the ruthless Costa summed up what we'd have to overcome.
After 20 minutes, David May heads down, Hilarious drops it, May knocks in the rebound. Shortly afterwards, Cantona exposes a mistake in the defence and slams it home.
The two goals after the break really took the icing though. Cantona wins it on the edge of the box, plays a 30 yarder to Cole on the halfway line, who dribbles up the box before an inside pass to the storming Giggs made it 3-0. Cole sealed it with a neat chip to make it 4. 4-0 against Porto? No worries. Then it was off to Dortmund.
Dortmund had accounted for a neat Auxerre side and looked quite useful. They were ravaged by injury though, Sammer, Kohler and Cesar would be missing. The experienced Riedle and Chapuisat led the line and were assisted by Euro 96 winner Moller.
The first game ended with a 1-0 win to the Germans, Butt and Beckham squandering excellent defence-breaking passes from Cantona. Tretschok scored the Dortmunder's goal, a double deflection into the net.
The equation was simple for the return match at Old Trafford. 2 goals without reply would see us through. Concede 1, and we'd have to score 3. We scored 1 goal quickly alright, Solksjaer putting it in only for it to be disallowed.
Ricken then broke our hearts. Quick work from Moller saw a sly pass into the box where Ricken bested Pallister and shot before May could close down. The ball was wide of Schmeichel but not wide enough.
We never gave up, 20 shots on goal, but we couldn't score. It became a joke in the end. Portently, Cantona was off-key, squandering two of the easiest chances he would not have bothered with years ago.
Dortmund would go onto surprising Juventus in the final, scoring with their 2 attacks of the first half and winning 3-1 in Munich.
Aug 17 Wimbledon A W 3-0 (1-0) 25' Cantona 58' Irwin 90' Beckham 25,786 Aug 21 Everton H D 2-2 (0-2) 70' Cruyff 82' Unsworth (og) 54,943 Aug 26 Blackburn Rovers H D 2-2 (1-1) 39' Cruyff 70' Solskjaer 54,178 Sep 4 Derby County A D 1-1 (1-1) 38' Beckham 18,026 Sep 7 Leeds Utd A W 4-0 (1-0) 3' Martyn (og) 49' Butt 39,694 77' Poborsky 90' Cantona Sep 14 Nottingham Forest H W 4-1 (2-1) 22' Solskjaer 43' Giggs 82' Cantona 54,984 90' Cantona (pen) Sep 21 Aston Villa A D 0-0 (0-0) 39,339 Sep 29 Tottenham Hotspur H W 2-0 (1-0) 38' Solskjaer 58' Solskjaer 54,943 Oct 12 Liverpool H W 1-0 (1-0) 23' Beckham 55,128 Oct 20 Newcastle Utd A L 0-5 (0-2) 36,579 Oct 26 Southampton A L 3-6 (1-3) 41' Beckham 56' May 89' Scholes 15,253 Nov 2 Chelsea H L 1-2 (0-1) 81' May 55,198 Nov 16 Arsenal H W 1-0 (0-0) 63' Winterburn (og) 55,210 Nov 23 Middlesbrough A D 2-2 (1-1) 17' Keane 72' May 30,063 Nov 30 Leicester City H W 3-1 (0-0) 75' Butt 85' Solskjaer 87' Butt 55,196 Dec 8 West Ham Utd A D 2-2 (0-0) 54' Solskjaer 75' Beckham 25,045 Dec 18 Sheffield Wed A D 1-1 (0-0) 61' Scholes 37,671 Dec 21 Sunderland H W 5-0 (2-0) 35' Solskjaer 43' Cantona (pen) 55,081 48' Solskjaer 59' Butt 80' Cantona Dec 26 Nottingham Forest A W 4-0 (2-0) 25' Beckham 44' Butt 67' Solskjaer 29,032 76' Cole Dec 28 Leeds Utd H W 1-0 (1-0) 9' Cantona (pen) 55,256 Jan 1 Aston Villa H D 0-0 (0-0) Jan 12 Tottenham Hotspur A W 2-1 (1-1) 23' Solskjaer 76' Beckham 33,026 Jan 18 Coventry City A W 2-0 (0-0) 60' Giggs 79' Solskjaer 23,085 Jan 29 Wimbledon H W 2-1 (0-0) 76' Giggs 83' Cole 55,314 Feb 1 Southampton H W 2-1 (1-1) 19' Pallister 80' Cantona 55,269 Feb 19 Arsenal A W 2-1 (2-0) 18' Cole 32' Solskjaer 38,172 Feb 22 Chelsea A D 1-1 (0-1) 68' Beckham 28,336 Mar 1 Coventry City H W 3-1 (2-0) 4' Breen (og) 5' Jess (og) 55,230 47' Poborsky Mar 8 Sunderland A L 1-2 (0-0) 78' Melville (og) 22,225 Mar 15 Sheffield Wed H W 2-0 (1-0) 19' Cole 61' Poborsky 55,267 Mar 22 Everton A W 2-0 (1-0) 35' Solskjaer 79' Cantona 40,079 Apr 5 Derby County H L 2-3 (0-2) 47' Cantona 76' Solskjaer 55,243 Apr 12 Blackburn Rovers A W 3-2 (2-1) 32' Cole 43' Scholes 80' Cantona 30,476 Apr 19 Liverpool A W 3-1 (2-1) 13' Pallister 42' Pallister 63' Cole 40,892 May 3 Leicester City A D 2-2 (1-2) 45' Solskjaer 51' Solskjaer 21,068 May 5 Middlesbrough H D 3-3 (2-3) 34' Keane 42' G Neville 67' Solskjaer54,489 May 8 Newcastle Utd H D 0-0 (0-0) 55,236 May 11 West Ham Utd H W 2-0 (1-0) 11' Solskjaer 84' Cruyff 55,249 A G A G Eric Cantona 36 11 Paul Scholes 16(8) 3 Peter Schmeichel 36 0 Karel Poborsky 15(7) 4 David Beckham 33(3) 8 Philip Neville 15(3) 0 Gary Neville 30(1) 1 Jordi Cruyff 11(5) 3 Dennis Irwin 29(2) 1 Andy Cole 10(10) 7 David May 28(1) 2 Brian McClair 4(15) 0 Gary Pallister 27 3 Clegg 3(1) 0 Ronny Johnsen 26(5) 0 Raimond van der Gouw 2 0 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 25(7) 18 Ben Thornley 1(1) 0 Ryan Giggs 25(1) 3 John O'Kane 1 0 Nicky Butt 24(2) 5 Chris Casper 0(2) 0 Roy Keane 21 2
The most obvious weakness of the current United team is up front. 4 scoreless encounters with Juventus and Dortmund indicate defensive frailities in England. A toughened and experienced European striker is needed before we can make our mark upon Europe. Candidates like Ravanelli, Batistuta and Vialli have been mentioned, but to no avail.
Step forward then, Edward Sherringham. An experienced player, at international and domestic level, he has limited European experience. And is he good enough? Fast enough?
When Fergie makes a move in the transfer market, he will buy young and talented. The acquisition of Sherringham signals a change in that policy.
We still lack that cutting edge compared to top European teams - Madrid with Suker/Raul, Juventus with Del Piero/Vieri/Boksic, Parma with Crespo and Chiesa.
He will amost certainly assume the captaincy, and in that event, this will be the season of Roy Keane. With the retirement of Cantona, only Schmeichel, Irwin, Pallister, Giggs and Keane remain from the first double winning team in 1994 - just 3 years ago.
No longer the team of Cantona, Utd are now the team of Keane.
RYAN GIGGS
It is to be hoped he will enjoy an injury-free preseason
- He hasn't had one since 1994. He has managed his game much more efficiently
owing to these injuries, no longer risking his groin on those back-breaking
dribbles. The end result is a player who complements Keane's weakness in
ball-control, passing, and to a lesser extent, speed.
He uses his brain, and barring injury, will have his best season at Old Trafford.
PAUL SCHOLES
A dimunitive 'mezzapunta' player with wonderful vision
and touch. An eye for goal and the hustling qualities of a defensive midfielder.
No problems with the old brain as well. One of the few young players who seems to go colder as the fire gets hotter - as Italy found out.
Ole Solksjaer was obviously the pick of the bunch. Excellent Premiership form but disappointing in Europe. 25 goals with 8 in Europe will do us for the European Cup.
It is difficult to pick an unknown to watch - the obvious candidates have established stars in their roles. The 2 most likely candidates would be Northern Ireland's international Mulryne, and England U-20 captain John Curtis.
Mulryne has the daunting task of taking on Giggs, Cruyff, Thornley and the strikers, whilst Curtis has to get past the Neville bros and Irwin.
So take your pick, I can't.
Considering the events of the season just past, I don't
feel it's appropriate to recommend pubs per se. Old Trafford has an excellent
reputation for a lack of 'aggro'. Indeed, home and away fans (wearing colours)
generally leave the ground together with no problems. But I would like
to point out that walking into any Stretford or Old Trafford boozers with
your (away) colours on might not be a great career move. There are numerous
decent hostelries in the City centre (nr Deansgate and Albert Sq.) and
near many of the Metrolink stations. If you see a Holts' pub, dive in and
try a cracking pint (strictly for the discerning palate and at only 1 pound
a pint!)