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When the
story of Manchester United’s golden era comes to be
written, it will focus on the glory nights at the Nou
Camp, the Luzhniki Stadium and on the countless
memorable afternoons on the Elysian fields of the
Premier League. Far less romantic, though equally
significant to the story, are the grim nights in the
late 1980s that Alex Ferguson (no knighthood in those
days) and his scouts would spend trawling the parks of
Greater Manchester in search of the players who would go
on to shape an era.
Ferguson had no idea back then that he would uncover a
generation of players who would not merely add to, but
help to rewrite the history of a great club that were
battling to emerge from the dark ages. But soon he was
alerted to the remarkable promise of a young slip of a
lad named Ryan Wilson, whom he would eventually persuade
to decamp from Manchester City, and a host of others,
which included Nicholas Butt, a tough lad from Gorton,
Paul Scholes, a diminutive goal machine from Oldham, and
Gary Neville, the elder of two promising brothers from
Bury.
Ferguson would not dare to claim the credit for
unearthing those gems — the credit for that would go to
unsung heroes such as Mike Coffey, Tom Corless, Joe
Brown, Les Kershaw and Brian Kidd, who would devote
hours to stopping the stampede of the best young local
talent to Manchester City.
But, as Neville followed Scholes and Ryan Giggs (né
Wilson) yesterday in happily pledging the rest of his
playing career to the Manchester United cause, Ferguson
could reflect on having been blessed by the presence of
some of the most loyal yet inspirational players that he
could ever wish to have found.
“That
wasn’t luck,” he said. “That was hard work. I brought in
Les Kershaw and we started trials at Albert Park every
Tuesday and Thursday night on the AstroTurf there. We
covered young players in Manchester, every one, and,
instead of three or four scouts, which I had when I
first came here, we were up to 20-odd. It was all hard
work: trial, trial and trial.”
Celtic famously won the European Cup in 1967 with a team
of players drawn from the surrounding area of Glasgow,
but United’s success with Giggs, Scholes, Butt and the
Neville brothers — David Beckham relocated from Essex
but was also a distinguished product of the Old Trafford
academy — is unparalleled in the modern era.
The conveyor belt of talent has slowed since then, but
it has produced Wes Brown, John O’Shea and Darren
Fletcher, another three players whose presence alongside
Giggs, Scholes and Neville ensures that, whatever the
personnel on the pitch these days, there remains an
understanding of United’s traditions. That is one reason
why Ferguson and David Gill, the chief executive, a man
who usually prides himself on parsimony, are prepared to
keep Giggs, Scholes and Neville at Old Trafford for as
long as they want to be there.
Neville, 34, had to wait longest to secure a one-year
extension to his contract, having had to prove that he
was over the injuries that effectively claimed 17 months
of his career, but there was always a desire to retain
his services. It is not a question of sentiment, more a
case of recognising that his value goes far beyond the
qualities that he offers as an alternative to Brown,
O’Shea and Rafael Da Silva at right back.
In Ferguson’s words, Giggs, Scholes and Neville are “the
spirit of Manchester United”, but, although he enthused
yesterday about the way they have looked after
themselves, giving themselves a chance of playing on for
years like Paolo Maldini at AC Milan, even they cannot
continue for ever. At the end of next season, when his
new contract expires, Neville will be 35, while the
other two will be 36. Intriguingly, Ferguson, who has
already set the clock ticking on his managerial career,
will be 68.
It is possible to imagine that the four of them will
ride into the sunset together, but, in another sense, it
is hard to imagine the place without them. In some
capacity, whether as bit-part player, coach, ambassador
or even, ultimately, as manager, the three players who
embody the spirit of United will be encouraged to stay
on and to impart the invaluable knowledge and experience
that they have gleaned since their glorious association
with the club began.
Reprinted without permission from TimesOnline.co.uk
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