Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed the young players he nurtured during his time as Manchester United manager as “the spirit” of the club, recalling the time he put them up against the United first team at one point.
The legendary former boss oversaw the breakthrough of ‘The Class of ‘92’, which contained the likes of Gary Neville, David Beckham and Paul Scholes, in the mid-to-late 1990s. The group are famed for helping United become the dominant force in the Premier League, winning an historic Treble in 1999.
Speaking at an event with club sponsor KOHLER this week, Ferguson has recounted their development from youngsters to first teamers and the time he got them to play to United first team. “They all had the same drive, they loved each other, the played about with each other,” he said.
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“My problem was, ‘how am I going to get them into the first team?’ They had won the Youth Cup and I said to Bryan Robson, my captain at the time, ‘I think the youth team could beat the first team’.
“We were playing at Littleton Road, one of our training grounds and it was a really horrible day. The first team are out with their tracksuits on and they’re doing their normal bit of warming up.
“I said: ‘Eric (Harrison, youth coach) get the first team strips out, their pants, their socks and they’re going to play the first team’. He said ‘it’s freezing’, I said ‘Listen, they don’t know that they’re different class these boys. It was a fantastic game, the first team won obviously but it was an example of what they had.”
Ferguson went on praise the youngsters that came through the ranks during his tenure, reminiscing the time he proved Alan Hansen wrong in his criticism of his young United team.
He added: “People talk about the great players was had in my time; Bryan Robson, Ronaldo, Cantona, Scholes, Giggs. But honestly, those young players created the spirit of Manchester United in my time, absolutely no doubt about that. They were a breath of fresh air.”
Ferguson continued: "Eventually I made a decision to let two players go. We got £14m for them and we brought in the young players in and we lost the first game 3-1 and Alan Hansen on the television that night said ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ — we won the double. They were a special bunch.”
Ferguson lifted 13 league titles, two Champions Leagues and five FA Cups over his 26-year reign at Old Trafford.
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