Interesting Times article...

Apologies if posted before - Bout the 94 team vs this one (slightly)

Oliver Kay, Football Correspondent

There will always be a fondness for Nineties nostalgia in Manchester.

Walk around the city centre, transformed by the facelift that followed the IRA bomb of 1996, and you will see it is a place that was reshaped by that decade, whether in an architectural, cultural, musical or a spiritual sense.

That nostalgia is to be found everywhere you go in Manchester, not least at Old Trafford, where Manchester United, like the city itself, found their lost swagger. Ask any United supporter to name the club’s greatest moments in modern times and they came then: the 1992-93 league title, which ended a 26-year wait; the 1996 FA Cup Final, when Eric Cantona’s late goal vanquished Liverpool; the glorious night in Barcelona, where the crowning glory came with the most dramatic of victories over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final.

The most fascinating aspect of this Nineties nostalgia is that Sir Alex Ferguson basks in it like everybody else. Last May, with United on the brink of a third successive Barclays Premier League title and still the European and world champions, he was asked to name his favourite team and he opted, as he has always does, for the 1993-94 vintage, going dewy-eyed at the thought of such fearsome characters as Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce, Roy Keane, Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Eric Cantona in the same combustible dressing room.

For Ferguson, that remains the yardstick against which all other United teams fall short. Never mind that they were routinely embarrassed in the Champions League (hamstrung by the limitations on foreign players, yes, but also guilty of great naivety against more experienced European campaigners) or that the late-1990s team — in which Ryan Giggs was joined by Gary Neville, David Beckham and Paul Scholes — achieved more. The class of 1993-94, for Ferguson, remains the epitome of what a United team should be.

The modern United side do not seem to inspire anything like the same affection, whether from Ferguson or from those players who span the generations. When Scholes was asked last year to name the greatest XI of the players he had played alongside at Old Trafford, there was no Nemanja Vidic, no Patrice Evra, no Wayne Rooney and no Cristiano Ronaldo. In their places were Wes Brown, Denis Irwin, David Beckham and Teddy Sheringham. (Cantona, curiously, was not named in the XI or among the seven substitutes.) While Scholes’s choices were typically homespun, Giggs’s XI (again no Vidic, Evra or Ronaldo) was strikingly similar.

If the United of last season failed to inspire affection, while winning a third consecutive Premier League title and cruising to the Champions League final before losing to Barcelona, there seemed little hope for the class of 2009-10, who lost six league matches by mid-February and, with Ronaldo now at Real Madrid, have at times looked like a pale imitation of some of their more illustrious predecessors.

They are a team that lack the flair or the cavalier spirit that is more readily associated with the great United sides, yet they have managed to score 72 goals in 31 league matches, four more than they managed in the 38-game campaign last season. At times they have appeared to lack authority and steel, yet they have dug in to record victories in the biggest matches, when the stakes have been highest. Even their hunger has occasionally been called into question, but they, like all the great United sides, appear to be running into championship form at the right time.

This might not, on paper, be a great United team — and it is quite feasible, at this stage of the campaign, that they will end the season empty-handed — but in some ways this is beginning to look like the most admirable of all Ferguson’s sides. There are perhaps fewer world-class players than in any of his successful teams — Rooney certainly, Evra probably, Vidic and Rio Ferdinand theoretically but with question marks over their fitness — yet it is slowly proving to be greater than the sum of its parts, epitomised by Darren Fletcher, once an ugly duckling of a footballer, now beginning to fancy himself as the #@&%! of the North.

And even some of the more problematic parts, such as Nani and Dimitar Berbatov, have begun to fit into place; their combination for the third goal in the 4-0 victory away to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday was something to behold.

Three games in eight days — away to Bayern tomorrow, at home to Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday and at home to Bayern a week on Wednesday — will go a long way towards determining what kind of United team this is. In many ways they are the antithesis of the 1993-94 side so beloved of Ferguson — mild-mannered and at times lacking the character, as much as the physique, to stamp their authority on opponents — but the resolve that characterises all his teams has certainly been in evidence recently. It will never be anything like the 1990s again, but, in Manchester, it can often seem like nothing will.

Originally Posted by Mr_Ed

This might not, on paper, be a great United team — and it is quite feasible, at this stage of the campaign, that they will end the season empty-handed

Yeah, the league cup is a nothing trophy

Originally Posted by hopkins

Yeah, the league cup is a nothing trophy

it's one-third of a treble in liverpool

Never mind that they were routinely embarrassed in the Champions League (hamstrung by the limitations on foreign players, yes, but also guilty of great naivety against more experienced European campaigners)

They only played 10 matches, and unless you count Gothenburg (who we battered at OT anyway) the only "more experienced European campaigners" who even beat the the 94 team in the EC, let alone embarrassed them, were Barcelona. and we gave them a £#%&!ing good game at OT as well.

Rothlisburger was banned / sent home from the 94 world cup

and both koeman and abelardo were free to cheat with impunity for barcelona after that nasty english pig philip don caused them to be utterly humiliated 4-0 in the previous season's EC final.

Originally Posted by taff

it's one-third of a treble in liverpool

And it's the holy grail in stockport.

What is this, a preemptive strike in case United win 4 in a row...& get to another European Cup Final ...just incase that happens let's sow the seed that implys they're a poor side.
Tedious article.
Why does everything have to be a negative when it comes to Manchester United with these £#%&!ing hacks??

Ferguson is YET AGAIN proving that he's by far & away the greatest manager who ever £#%&!ing walked the earth - in a different League to media darlings like Wenger & Mourinho - they can't £#%&!ing stomach the fact he's delivering again..especially without Ronaldo.

Originally Posted by MJ Ramone

What is this, a preemptive strike in case United win 4 in a row...& get to another European Cup Final ...just incase that happens let's sow the seed that implys they're a poor side.
Tedious article.
Why does everything have to be a negative when it comes to Manchester United with these £#%&!ing hacks??

Ferguson is YET AGAIN proving that he's by far & away the greatest manager who ever £#%&!ing walked the earth - in a different League to media darlings like Wenger & Mourinho - they can't £#%&!ing stomach the fact he's delivering again..especially without Ronaldo.

What is interesting to note is we've already scored more goals this season than all of last? That's brilliant to note considering Ronnie got so many of them.

Originally Posted by MJ Ramone

What is this, a preemptive strike in case United win 4 in a row...& get to another European Cup Final ...just incase that happens let's sow the seed that implys they're a poor side.
Tedious article.
Why does everything have to be a negative when it comes to Manchester United with these £#%&!ing hacks??

Ferguson is YET AGAIN proving that he's by far & away the greatest manager who ever £#%&!ing walked the earth - in a different League to media darlings like Wenger & Mourinho - they can't £#%&!ing stomach the fact he's delivering again..especially without Ronaldo.

He *does* manage some grudging praise near the end - but yes, the hacks are really hating it, aren't they??

This was meant to be THE season when MUFC "Went Into Decline", remember

(oh, and so easy to forget it was going to be THEIR year!!)

Originally Posted by Mr_Ed

What is interesting to note is we've already scored more goals this season than all of last? That's brilliant to note considering Ronnie got so many of them.

Absolutely.
In some ways I understand the article, it hasn't felt like a vintage season in a lot of ways.

...but,

Rooney's form has been a joy to watch.
Evra & Fletcher have been equally outstanding.
At the start of the season I expected to see Anderson kick on & Nani become phased out, amazingly the opposite has happened. Fair £#%&!s to Nani. I thought he was a gonner, but the penny's dropped (as Phelan said) & he's turning in terrific displays & fully deserves his new contract.
& of course the 'Green & Gold' campaign has kinda defined the season too.

Honestly, I can't see us lifting both the 'big' pots come May. Football isn't that generous...we only achieved that feat 2 years ago & very nearly last year too.
I just pray we don't miss out on both. I don't really have a prefference either.
Toss of a coin.
19 would be great.....but the European Cup gives me chills just thinking about it.

I think Europe would be great... 3 finals in 3 seasons winning 2 (assuming we won if of course) - that would put Fergie's record up there as one of the greatest if not the greatest given the demands of the modern game. Not that it's up for scrutiny anyway...

However winning the 19th would be fantastic too...

Like you say, as long as we win one.

Can I be greedy and say I want both

Most of the article was spot on imho. Name your favourite team that have played under SAF and you too will probably throw in Cantona, Irwin, Schmeichel. Maybe Ince, Keane, Kanchelskis, Hughes. We have a team of highly talented professional footballers which is what is required now to win the trophies but I bet you'd rather be bessy mates with players from the 94 team.

Originally Posted by Spiffy

Most of the article was spot on imho. Name your favourite team that have played under SAF and you too will probably throw in Cantona, Irwin, Schmeichel. Maybe Ince, Keane, Kanchelskis, Hughes. We have a team of highly talented professional footballers which is what is required now to win the trophies but I bet you'd rather be bessy mates with players from the 94 team.

That 99 midfield though, who would you drop?

Originally Posted by Switching Off

That 99 midfield though, who would you drop?

How many of the current side who have matched any previous achievement get into the 94 or 99 side? None of the midfielders for starters. Rooney, Rio, Vidic. Evra on the bench. That's about it isn't it? How many match winners do we have? Not many but as I said, on paper they are every bit as good as any previous United under SAF. That's all he was saying I think, it wasn't a dig at United.

After UFW I'm thinking of UFP (Ultimate Fred Player) where we can vote certain positions or players and see who we come up with...

We can then vote our favourite 11 and send them all a T-Shirt with the FT logo on...

Originally Posted by red in cumbria

He *does* manage some grudging praise near the end - but yes, the hacks are really hating it, aren't they??

This was meant to be THE season when MUFC "Went Into Decline", remember

(oh, and so easy to forget it was going to be THEIR year!!)

And how many times has that happened?

It amazes me the enthusiasm with which they write Fergie off, despite him ramming it back down their throats with interest time after time. Admittedly there was more cause in that funny ish period when he went a little wonky (though still won the league in the middle of it ), but you'd think they'd learn.

It's either 'the current team isn't that great' or 'the team from *insert multiple trophy-winning season* wasn't that great'.

Originally Posted by Zorg

And how many times has that happened?

It amazes me the enthusiasm with which they write Fergie off, despite him ramming it back down their throats with interest time after time. Admittedly there was more cause in that funny ish period when he went a little wonky (though still won the league in the middle of it ), but you'd think they'd learn.

It's either 'the current team isn't that great' or 'the team from *insert multiple trophy-winning season* wasn't that great'.

Yep... I still remember Wenger's "Balance of power shifting to London %@#$&!s in 2004"

the 94 team was the epitome of what a Utd team should be, but I reckon 99 was one of the best teams ever, only the recent barca team would compete.

Played the best brand of football I've ever seen, I'd take the ruthless swashbuckling 99 side over passing triangles of barca/arsenal anyday.

That said Rooney and Ronaldo combo was as close as we've been to the Best/Law/Charlton days. Two players in the ballon d'or drawer, shame they were never on form at the same time. shame fergie and the coaching staff didn't snap up Torres as well. the class of 92 was immense but apart from becks they never quite got to that level.

wonder when united will ever have such a collection of players like that again.

Originally Posted by Luffy

the 94 team was the epitome of what a Utd team should be, but I reckon 99 was one of the best teams ever, only the recent barca team would compete.

Played the best brand of football I've ever seen, I'd take the ruthless swashbuckling 99 side over passing triangles of barca/arsenal anyday.

That said Rooney and Ronaldo combo was as close as we've been to the Best/Law/Charlton days. Two players in the ballon d'or drawer, shame they were never on form at the same time. shame fergie and the coaching staff didn't snap up Torres as well. the class of 92 was immense but apart from becks they never quite got to that level.

wonder when united will ever have such a collection of players like that again.

The game has moved on... Don't think that'll happen again...

Having followed United since 85 actually seeing the team turn up and batter the opponents was immense.

Originally Posted by Luffy

the 94 team was the epitome of what a Utd team should be, but I reckon 99 was one of the best teams ever, only the recent barca team would compete.

Played the best brand of football I've ever seen, I'd take the ruthless swashbuckling 99 side over passing triangles of barca/arsenal anyday.

That said Rooney and Ronaldo combo was as close as we've been to the Best/Law/Charlton days. Two players in the ballon d'or drawer, shame they were never on form at the same time. shame fergie and the coaching staff didn't snap up Torres as well. the class of 92 was immense but apart from becks they never quite got to that level.

wonder when united will ever have such a collection of players like that again.

Scholes and Giggs were better players than Beckham.