You can't win anything with kids
On the opening day of the 1995/96 Premier League season, Manchester United lost their first game 3-1 at home to Aston Villa.
Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen was quick to write off Manchester United and criticised manager Sir Alex Ferguson with a comment that will long be remembered by Manchester United fans and many football fans alike.
You can't win anything with kids
He also commented on the fact Man United had made only two signings during the summer break and lacked strength in depth. Nick Culkin and Tony Coton were the two purchases, and neither made an appearance that year.
Following that statement, Manchester United went on to make Hansen eat his words, winning both the Premier League and FA Cup that season with a team whose average age was 26 years and 137 days.
Was Hansen Ultimately correct, and if so, what made that Manchester United team different from the trend?
Talented Youth
I remember that season well. After picking up the first two Premier League titles, Man United had suffered at the hands of Blackburn the previous year. Jack Walker had plowed tens of millions into Rovers, and picked up the leagues' most sought after striker Alan Shearer amongst other big names. Manchester United had something to prove, and Hansen's statement likely gave them even more encouragement.
The Red Devils won the league by four points, beating Newcastle United, and Liverpool who were another 7 points back in 3rd. Incidentally, it was also the season Manchester City were relegated, how things have changed.
In the title winning side of 95/96, Gary Neville, aged 20 and Phil Neville, aged 18 made 55 appearances between them. A twenty year old Nicky Butt appeared 32 times, Paul Scholes (aged 20) made 26 appearances, Ryan Giggs, 21 at the time, appeared 33 times. Future England captain David Beckham also made his breakthrough season, aged 20, making 33 appearances.
Together, the above players earned a total of 454 caps for their countries during their careers. The Neville's hold the record for brothers with the most caps for England, David Beckham is the player with the 3rd most England caps, and Ryan Giggs happens to be the most decorated player in the history of the Premier League, with 13 titles to his name.
I do not remember a season since, for any club, in which there has been such a fruitful crop of youth team players advancing into the senior set-up. (Southampton 2/3 seasons ago?) An exceptional influx of youth players certainly helped, but that was not the only reason for the clubs' success over this period.
Experience
Clearly Alan Hansen picked the wrong year and team to make that statement and even as 'just' a supporter of this historical team, it made winning the league that season even sweeter. However, since that season only one team have won the Premier League with a younger squad - Chelsea in 2005 with an average squad age of 25 years and 312 days under Jose Mourinho.
And looking back on other members present in the Man United squad in 1995/96, it is clear that experience also played a major part in their success. Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce, Dennis Irwin, and Paul Parker made up the back four for the vast part of the season, none of which were under 30 years old. Peter Schmeichel stood in goal, and was also in his early 30's. Then there was the likes of Andy Cole, Roy Keane, and the talisman Eric Cantona, all players with international experience and a proven record of scoring goals and/or winning competitions.
In my view, Alex Ferguson was extremely lucky to have both an array of outstanding youth players all appear at once, an aging but rock-solid defense, and a couple of truly outstanding Premier League talents in Eric Cantona and Roy Keane.
And Alex Ferguson would likely tell me to go fk myself explaining that he had put together a team with the perfect amount of experience and fearless youth - I'd have to agree with that.
source - pixabay
Cheers
Asher
Sources
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/33982195
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995%E2%80%9396_FA_Premier_League
https://www.quora.com/Who-is-the-youngest-team-to-win-the-premier-league
Really wanted to head the post up with this image owned by Getty:
Annoying that there are seemingly no free premiership photos available :(
Will remove the image tomorrow I guess.
As a family guy I love kids... And have several kids... But by the way we spent whole day in Amusement Center where there were all kind of sports for kids, but this post was down-voted by @von-doom and sometimes @leedsunited
https://www.sportstalksocial.com/palnet/@mushabbar/exploria-center-amusement-center-fittjavgen-22-145-53-norsborg-nhc92kxs
So I became agree and quickly wrote this
https://www.sportstalksocial.com/dlike/@mushabbar/our-cricket-match-for-swedish-national-cricket-league--svenska-cricketfrbundet
Well that's great!
Totally unrelated to the post but still great :D :D
Ha! That's an awesome photo though, keep it up for a day or two more! It's sourced!
:D
Sourced but costs to use so I don't think it matters. Top photo though!
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Ferguson had a magical combination of luck and skill. Probably more luck but he did pull off quite the winning stint.
And of course, he was one of the finest, a man born of superior flesh. A Scotsman!
Yeah he certainly had some luck, but I think the hairdryer flying boots were well timed as well.
He was almost sacked in 90/91, but the Scottish stubbornness prevailed! :P
Hehe, the hairdrying that went on in that dressing room, legendary. You can't sack a Scotsman!
Well, hopefully. LOL!
Best get your feet off the desk then, or have you left already!?
Sometimes I leave before I even get in! hehe
when you see who the kids were :D
Not a bad bunch right?
luck is something important...but at the time Fergusons's methods were innovations
It's however applaudable but have it in mind that the era of ferguson has gone and manchester united also needs to evolve in order to restore the glory back
Another thing I noticed is that Ferguson is a disciplinarian and won't accept laziness, it seems managers at united now respects some players and place some players over others
Such an unfortunate thing to say haha. Who could have known at the time what United had on their hands? Whoops.
I mean, if Norwich try it this season then I'd happily say it!
Yeah the timing was perfect :) Might not have done so well if it wasn't said, who knows?
Heading to Norwich for the weekend actually, I'll listen out in case I hear anyone uttering the famous words :)
Some team. Are you watching the Salford City documentary with some of them as owners? Its good
Anything is possible when Sir Alex Ferguson is involved. :) Cool writes up here.
Fergie was a great manager, as you mentioned he had young talent to pick from and had budgets to buy big players to help out where needed. It really was a stars aligning kinda thing, i doubt you'll ever see a reign like that with a manager ever again.
Totally agree. The stars aligned with luck, experience, and young talent. As a Man U fan, I expect never to see such achievement again in that short space of time - at least it happened during my school years where bragging rights were most essential :)
This is not first time. After plane crush on Munich airport majority of United players died, they were forced to play with young squad next year and got relegated but season after they came back and won league. "Busby babies" if I remember correct.