 |
| Manchester United FA Youth Cup winners 1992 |
Manchester United All-Time Team
Manchester United Greatest All-Time Team under Sir Alex.
Manchester United Greatest All-Time Team under Sir Busby
Manchester United All-Time team for British isles (excluding England)
Manchester United All-Time Team for English Players
Manchester United All-Time Team for Foreign Players
Barcelona "La Masia" Academy Greatest All-Time team
Real Madrid Castilla Academy All-Time Team
Sporting CP Academy All-Time Team
Manchester United F.C. Reserves and Academy is also known as Manchester United Football Club Under-23s. Over the years, youth football in England has been reorganised. Many names have been used for the academy's team due to rule changes. For this blog, I would call it the "reserve" or "youth" team.
Manchester United's academy is one of the best in Europe. Over the years, it has produced all-timers such as Duncan Edwards, Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best, Nobby Stiles, Mark Hughes, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Johnny Giles. Manchester United won the European Cup in 1968 with a team consisted with members of Busby Bables and George Best. They again won the 1999 Champions' League, including players from the 1992 FA Youth Cup winners.
 |
| Busby Babes 1957 |
GK: Mark Bosnich (Australia)
Bosnich was voted as Oceania Goalkeeper of the Century. He was known for his career with Aston Villa. He earned himself a transfer back to Manchester United in 1999, but his career started to fall apart over there. He also played for Chelsea. He also played in Australia for Sydney United, Central Coast Mariners and Sydney Olympic. For the national team, he only earned 17 caps due to club's commitment.
GK: Jimmy Rimmer (England)
Rimmer is considered to be the greatest Aston Villa goalkeeper. He won two European Cup medals: 1968 with Manchester United and 1982 with Aston Villa. He was Alex Stepney's understudy in the 1968 Final. In 1982, he only played 9 minutes before getting an injury. He played 3 seasons with Arsenal, where he was their player of the year in 1975. He was capped once in 1976.
GK: Jack Crompton (England)
Jack Crompton was born in 1921 in Manchester. He was a goalkeeper for Manchester United between 1944 and 1956. He was part of the team that won the FA Cup in 1948. It was Sir Matt Busby's first trophy at Old Trafford. He also won the league title in 1952. During the Second World War, he played as a guest for Stockport County. He was also a long time coach at Manchester United.
RB: Gary Neville (England)
Along with his brother Philip, David Beckham, Paul Scoles, Ryan Giggs, and Nicky Butt, Gary Neville captained the Manchester United academy team that won the FA Youth Cup in 1991. They all became fixtures for the senior team throughout the 1990's. Gary Neville remained the team until 2011 and was the second, longest serving player. For England, he was the most capped rightback in history.
 |
| Phil and Gary Neville |
He was also a dual internationalist, playing for and captaining both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI. In 1949, he was voted the FWA Footballer of the Year and in the same year captained the FAI XI that defeated England, becoming the first non-UK team to beat England at home. As a player Carey spent most of his career at Manchester United, where he was team captain from 1946 until he retired as a player in 1953.
CB: Gerard Piqué (Spain)
Gerard Pique left the youth team of Barcelona to join Manchester United's academy in 2004. He made his debut with the senior side in the same year. He returned to Barcelona in 2008. From 2008 to 2018, he earned 102 caps for Spain. He was a part of the Golden Generation that won the 2010 World Cup and two European Champions.
CB: Phil Neville (England)
After 10 years as a professional with Manchester United, during which time he won six Premier League titles, three FA Cups, three FA Charity Shields, the Intercontinental Cup and the Champions League, he joined Everton in 2005, where he spent the final eight years of his playing career. Neville also played for England 59 times between 1996 and 2007, representing the nation at three European Championships.
CB: Jackie Blanchflower (Northern Ireland)
Along with his brother Danny, Jackie Blanchflower helped Northern Ireland to qualify for the World Cup Finals in 1958. He was a member of Manchester United's "Busby Babes". He helped the club win the league title in 1956 and again in 1957. He survived the Munich Air Disaster, but his career was cut short. He retired in 1959 at the age of 24. He only had 12 caps between 1954 and 1958. He missed the 1958 World Cup Finals because of Munich.
CB: Bill Foulkes (England)
Bill Foulkes was a one club man. played for Manchester United in the Busby Babes teams of the 1950s, and also in the 1960s. His favoured position was centre-half. For Manchester United, he played 688 games which places him at number 4 on the all-time list of appearances. He was a part of the 1968 European Cup winning team. He was capped once by England.
 |
| Bill Foulkes |
Roger Byrne was the captain of the Busby Babes from the 1955–56 season onwards. With Manchester United, he won the league title in 1952, 1956 and 1957. He earned 33 caps with England while playing in every England's fixtures in that period, a record for England. This remains a record. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 28 in the Munich Air Disaster.
LB: John Aston Sr (England)
John Aston Sr's made his debut for Manchester United in 1946. He was a one club player. He played in the 1948 FA Cup Final triumph over Blackpool at Wembley Stadium. He left the club in 1954 after scoring 30 goals in 284 appearances.He won 17 England caps between 1948 and 1950, all at left-back, and featured in the 1950 FIFA World Cup. His son John Aston Jr also played for Manchester United.
CM: Duncan Edwards (England)
Duncan Edwards was one of the Busby Babes of Manchester United. He made his professional debut at the age of 16. He was the youngest player to play in the Football League First Division. He died in 1958 during the Munich Air Disaster at the age of 21. Many people considered him to be England's greatest player. He was a dominating central midfielder of his time. For the English national team, he was capped 18 times between 1955 and 1957, scoring 5 goals.
 |
| Duncan Edwards |
Stiles played for England for five years, winning 28 caps and scoring 1 goal. He played every minute of England's victorious 1966 FIFA World Cup campaign. Stiles played the majority of his club career for Manchester United, spending eleven years at Old Trafford. He won the European Cup in 1968. After retirement, he was famously known for the youth coach for Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholas, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt.
DM: Nicky Butt (England)
Butt spent 12 years with Manchester United, before moving to Newcastle United in 2004. He spent one season on loan to Birmingham City in 2005–06. He finished his career abroad, playing for South China where he won the Hong Kong League Cup. Butt earned 39 caps for England between 1997 and 2004. He was chosen for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2004.
CM: Paul Pogba (France)
Pogba began his senior career with Manchester United, but after only 3 appearance in a season and half, he moved to Juventus. In Turin, he became a megastar. He won the Golden Boy Award for the best player under-21 playing in Europe. He also led Juventus to the Final of the 2015 Champions' League Final. In the summer of 2016, Manchester United broke the all-time transfer fees to sign Pogba. At the time of writing, he was capped 43 times. He led France to reach the Final of Euro 2016 and to win the World Cupo in 2018.
 |
| Paul Pogba |
Giles started with Manchester United in 1957. After winning an FA Cup winner's medal under Matt Busby, he moved to Leeds United in 1963 where he played in midfield alongside Billy Bremner under Manager Don Revie. He also played for West Bromwich Albion, where he was the player-manager. He was voted as Ireland's greatest player at the UEFA Jubilee Awards in 2004. He was capped 59 times. From 1973 onward, he served as their player-manager.
AM/CM: Paul Scholas (England)
Scholas was a member of Manchester United's Class of 1992. He spent 20 years with Manchester United's first team. He won 11 Premier League, three FA Cup and two UEFA Champions League winners medals. He earned 66 caps for England before he retired from the Three Lions in 2004. His cap total was limited because of playing the same generation with Frank Lampard and Steve Gerrard.
AM: Sir Bobby Charlton (England)
Sir Bobby was considered one of the greatest midfielders of all-time. He was capped 106 times by England and led England to World Cup victory in 1966. He is also England's all-time leading scorer and all-time cap leader at the time of his retirement. He was selected for four World Cups (1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970). For club career, he almost played his entire career with Manchester United. He was the hero of Manchester United's the first ever European Cup trophy in 1968. He won the Ballon D'Or in 1966.
 |
| Bobby Charlton |
Beckham is the greatest ever icon to play the game. He started his career with Manchester United where he was a part of the famous team that won the 1992 FA Youth Cup. For the senior side, he won 6 Premiership titles and the 1999 Champions' League. In 2003, he joined Real Madrid for the well-publicized "Galacticos" signing. In 2007, he moved to LA Galaxy, where he kickstarted a soccer fever in the United States. For England, he earned 115 caps and was a key part of the national team throughout his career.
 |
| David Beckham |
Sammy McIlroy joined Manchester United in 1969, becoming Matt Busby's last signing at the club. He stayed there until 1982. At one point, Manchester United dropped to the 2nd divsion, where he helped them to grain promotion. He joined Stoke as their record signing. He played in both Spain 1982 and Mexico 1986. He was the captain of the 1986 World Cup side.
FW/CM Norman Whiteside (North Ireland)
In 1982, Norman Whiteside became the youngest player ever played in a World Cup Finals. He also played in the 1986 World Cup Finals. For his club career, he made his debut with Manchester United as a 16 years old in 1982. He became a starter in the 1982-1983 season as a teenager. However, his career was marked with injury problems. He moved to Everton in 1989, which was then a more successful club than Manchester United at the time. He retired in 1991.
LW: Ryan Giggs (Wales)
Giggs was Sir Alex's longest serving player at Manchester United, where he played from 1990 to 2014. He also holds the club record for competitive appearances. During
his time at United, he won 13 Premier League winner's medals, four FA
Cup winner's medals, three League Cup winner's medals and two Champions
League winner's medals. He is widely considered one of the greatest
British wingers in modern history. He played 64 times for Wales. He led
Great Britain at the London Olypmpics in 2012.
LW/RW: George Best (N.Ireland)
George
Best was considered
to be one of the greatest players ever played the game. He was voted
#19 as the greatest European player by the UEFA Jublilee Poll. He was
known for his "pop star" lifestyle. He was one of
the "United's Trinity" that helped Manchester United to their first (and
also first ever for an English club) European Cup in 1968. He won the
PWA PLayer of the Year award and the Ballon d'Or that year. |
| Ryan Giggs |
ST: Mark Hughes (Wales)
Mark Hughes was best remembered for his spells with Manchester United. He won two Premier League title medals, four FA Cups, three League Cups and two European Cup Winners' Cups. He was the first player to win the PFA Players' Player of the Year award twice, in 1989 and 1991. Hughes also played for Barcelona, Chelsea, Southampton, Everton and Blackburn Rovers. He had 72 caps for Wales.
ST: Dennis Viollet (England)
Dennis Viollet came through the junior ranks at Manchester United and turned professional in 1950. His first game for the club came against arch-rivals Newcastle United on 11 April 1953. He was a striker, along with Tommy Taylor for the Busby Babes of the 1950s. He was a survivor of the Munich air disaster. He played twice for England, debuting in 1960 against Hungary.
 |
| Dennis Viollet, Bobby Charlton and Johnny Giles |
Honorable Mention
John O' Shea, Lee Sharpe, Danny Drinkwater, Keith Gillespie, Adnan Januzaj, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Wes Brown, Wilf McGuinness, Giuseppe Rossi, Robbie Savage, Darren Fletcher, Eddie Colman, Geoff Bent, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Billy Whelan.
Squad Explanation
-- Ryan Giggs, George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton are considered to be Manchester United's greatest youth product. David Beckham, Gary Neville, Johnny Giles and Mark Hughes should belong to the list too.
--The criteria is based upon the senior careers of the players. Their performance as a player for Manchester United is not a main factor, but I do look into individual player for their contributions to Manchester United as a minor factor. For example, David Platt only managed a honorable mention because he never played for Manchester United's senior team.
-- Busby Babe was the name given to a group of young players in the 1960's. Unfortunately, many of them died in the Munich Air Disaster. I honoured all of the decreased on the honourable mention. Bobby Charlton, Duncan Edwards, Bill Foulkes, Riger Byrne, Jackie Blanchflower and Dennis Viollet made this all-time team.
-- Fergie's Fledglings were a group of youth players trained under Brian Kidd and Eric Harrison who progressed to the first team to play for Sir Alex.
-- Manchester United won the FA Youth Cup in 1992. The team is known as the Class of 1992. David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes are selected onto the team.
-- Robbie Savage also played on the 1992 Youth team. He was a striker on that team. He never played for Manchester United's senior side, but he had a wonderful career in the Premiership with Leicester, Blackburn Rovers, etc. Keith Gillespie also had a decent career in the Preimership after playing in the senior side with Manchester United.
-- I wanted to take John O'Shea because he could play in multi-position. The same applied to Darren Fletcher.
-- People forgot that David Platt started with Manchester United. He joined Crewe Alexandra FC for free and began his professional career there. Basically, he was not selected for this all-time team because Manchester United had many good midfielders. He got Duncan Edwards, Paul Pogba, Paul Scholas, Bobby Charlton, Nobby Stiles, etc ahead of him. I also factored that he never played for Manchester United senior team. Nobby Stiles is more defensive than Platt and the team needs an extra defensive midfielder. He was also famously known for the youth coach for Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholas, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt. Did Stiles' career as a youth coach affect his status on this team? Probably not, but my heart did tell me to consider his relationship with the academy even through it should not be a factor.
-- Paul Pogba's career has stalled with Manchester United. His relationship with the club has been poor. As mentioned, the main criteria is not about the senior career with Manchester United. It is about the overall career of the players involved. Pogba was selected because he had won a World Cup for France as a key player. At the time of writing, only Bobby Charlton could claim to have won the World Cup as a key player. Nobby Stiles and Pique are the other World Cup winners.
-- Both Mark Bosnich and Jimmy Rimmer made their names with Aston Villa. Bosnich's senior career with Manchester United was not as strong, but the criteria here for this team is the overall career. Bosnich had done well elsewhere.
-- Rightback Johnny Carey edged out Mike Duxbury.
-- Gerad Pique only played briefly with the academy, but he is still a graduate of the academy. He achieved many things with Spain and Barcelona.
-- Tommy Taylor was not from Manchester United's academy.
-- Norman Whiteside made his debut as a 17 years old. With only a handful of appearance at the senior side, he was called up for North Ireland in the 1982 World Cup Finals.
Formation
Paul Scholas played in the deep role at the end of his career, but he was more effective up front. However, Bobby Charlton occupied that position. David Beckham probably should start, but I have George Best on the right.
No comments:
Post a Comment