Manchester United legend Nicky Butt was quoted this week that he believes a class of 92 repeat could happen. The former midfielder is now the director of the club’s academy. He pointed out that, despite all the continental talent in their academy, United are still looking to recruit local lads.
The much-celebrated 1992 Youth Cup-winning side gave so many players the platform to launch their careers. The likes of Butt, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers became legends after graduating from that team. As great as it would be seeing any English club replicate that success, lightning is unlikely to strike twice.
Hunger
It’s rare these days that football is discussed without the money being mentioned. The game has evolved so much since Butt and his team-mates graduated to the first team. Back in the early 1990’s, the average first team player at Old Trafford earned around £8000 per week. These were players who had several years of service behind them, like Mark Hughes and Steve Bruce. When Beckham and Scholes signed their first deals, it’s likely they would have earned a fraction of that.
Marcus Rashford recently signed a contract worth a reported £25,000 weekly wage. This was in spite of the fact that he hasn’t yet played 25 games for the club. In the current climate, nobody doubts that it will be money well spent. So far he looks like a player born to play at Old Trafford, and has all the attributes to be a big star.
When you compare the two situations you start to see why history is unlikely to repeat itself. When those players got their first team chance, they knew they had to work to keep it. They weren’t signing contracts that would set them up for life. Failure to prove their worth to the team would most likely result in no further contract being offered. This happened to many players from that team, such as Simon Davies and Kevin Pilkington. Their careers were spent mainly in the lower leagues.
The contract Rashford signed will have come with a huge signing on fee. Should he lose form, he could run down that deal in the reserves and still never have to work again. And even then you would bet that, due to his reputation, another club will offer him a contract. None of the class of 92 team had this type of safety net.
There is nothing to suggest that the young Mancunian is resting on his laurels since signing. So far he looks as good as ever, but there have been plenty of players who previously have. A good example would be Adnan Januzaj, who was given a huge contract following a few good games. Since then, he has become a forgotten man at Old Trafford as his performances dipped.
Back in the mid 1990’s, the hunger those players had to succeed was incredible. They cared about the shirt, no doubt about that. But they also knew that, despite earning great wages at United, they weren’t financially secure either. Very few youngsters who make an impact in the first team these day will have that problem. With that in mind, it’s only natural that some won’t possess the same desire to succeed as their predecessors.
Listen to Sweet FA discussing the money problem with English youngsters here.
Desire for instant success
The other main factor in why a class of 92 repeat is unlikely is what the clubs have at stake. By the time all six players had become regulars, the landscape was completely different. The Champions League, in the format we now know it, was still in its infancy. It was starting to step out of the shadows of the old European Cup, but was a much smaller competition. Only the champions of each country would qualify for it.
Despite Manchester United recording record profits this week, not being in Europe’s top competition will hurt them. The deal they have with Adidas and Chevrolet is rumoured to be based on it. The payments they receive from these sponsor are reportedly decreased if they fail to finish in the top four.
Once again you can compare the two situations and see a very clear contrast. In the summer of 1995 United sold Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis, three important first team players.
The players who came in were almost direct replacements. Scholes, a striker at that time, replaced Hughes. Butt had already proved he was up to filling the void left by Ince. Beckham was actually a central midfielder, but took Kanchelskis’ place on the right wing. Earlier that year, Gary Neville had already ousted Paul Parker at right-back. Phil Neville had proved a useful squad player, although not exactly a replacement for anyone. Ryan Giggs had already been a first team player for around four years by this point.
Imagine if United sold three first choice players now. It is highly unlikely that they would dip into the academy to replace them. Even if the talent is there, the club would still spend big money to fill these positions. The board would expect it, so would the sponsors and the fans, just like they did back then, would too. With the financial rewards that come with Champions League football, the risk would be too great. Louis van Gaal spent around £150 million in his first season just to get back into it.
The Paul Pogba situation is a prime example of this. United have paid a world record transfer fee for the France midfielder. Had they placed their trust in him in 2012, they wouldn’t have had to have done so. Despite this, the club didn’t flinch at the fee, the only sticking point was his agent’s fee.
When they let him go he was a promising, but unproven, youngster. To get him back they have paid approximately a hundred times the fee they received from Juventus. But for that money, they are receiving an international player. Whether Pogba is a success in his second spell at Old Trafford is irrelevant. If he isn’t, they’ll sell him and probably break the transfer record again.
In 2012, Ferguson decided to bring Scholes out of retirement, rather than trust Pogba. United don’t even seem concerned that their own mistake cost them tens of millions of pounds. They’ll probably claw it back in shirt and ticket sales, anyway, even though most of the shirt sales will go to Adidas.
In 1995, Alex Ferguson placed his trust in youth. Although it was a risk, there was not as much to lose. If you finished second, third or fourth you went into the UEFA Cup. There was no real financial incentive for doing so.
Back then, if you weren’t a team competing for the title, a good run in the domestic cups was important. Many fans, who love to see their side win silverware would disagree. But they aren’t the ones who make the decisions. It’s unlikely that Ed Woodward was as happy with last season’s F.A. Cup victory as he would have been with a Champions League place.
Conclusion
Since the days of Sir Matt Busby, Manchester United have always had a big emphasis on youth players. They have featured at least one academy-nurtured player in every matchday squad for almost 80 years. Given some of the players that have come through lately, the well doesn’t seem in any danger of drying up.
The likes of Rashford, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson look like having big futures. Even if they don’t make the grade at Old Trafford, the evidence suggests they will somewhere else. If and when that happens, you can guarantee they will be handsomely compensated.
Nicky Butt’s belief that a class of 92 repeat can happen seems based mainly on optimism. It’s unlikely that any of Europe’s top clubs will build a team around that many youth players ever again, let alone that they will be local lads. However talented the crop of youngsters may be, there’s just too much at stake.
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