Football WI: No class of 92

[Tyr]

Last night I watched the (actually rather depressing) documentary, The Class of 92. It was about the famous Man Utd team of the late 90s and how they all came through the youth system together.

So WI for various reasons Man Utd doesn't quite invest in its youth scouting system in the same way it did IOTL.
Lets assume for the players

• Ryan Giggs stays with Manchester City
• Davind Beckham ends up with Spurs instead
• Paul Scholes becomes a cricket player
• Lee Sharpe suffers an early injury and remains at Torquay for another year or two. Let's say just for the hell of it Leeds eventually sign him.
• Nicky Butt is butterflied away from professional sport

Lets keep the Nevilles at Man Utd.

So. What happens?
Man Utd remain a very good team, they enjoyed a lot of success before the class of 92 came through afterall. They don't however rise to the heights of best English team ever, that they did in the otl late 90s.
As a result....English football remains far more competitive in the 90s...

 

[Bantamtim]

Just a quick thought - it's much more likely that Phil Neville becomes the cricketer, he was considered as good as Andrew Flintoff at youth level.

I think the easiest way to butterfly them away is to make Man Utd lose the Mark Robins game against Forest in the cup - Ferguson is sacked, and a succession of new managers focus on the short term rather than developing youngsters. Some of them do break through - it's too late to stop Giggs and Sharpe at that point, but Scholes gets kicked aside for the traditional English excuse of being "too small" and revives his career at Oldham as a later bloomer, while Beckham, also a late physical developer, goes somewhere else in the Premiership in a part-exchange deal. Butt still comes through as he always dominated youth level games, and is the long-term Robson replacement, while Gary Neville becomes a squad player, Wes Brown style. Phil Neville makes his England cricket debut in the 2001 Ashes and ends up as the long-term replacement for Michael Atherton, partnering Trescothick at the top of the order with Michael Vaughan at number 3.

Assuming we aren't butterflying anything else, Liverpool still have something of a post-Dalglish slump, so Aston Villa, Blackburn and a bit later Keegan's Newcastle fight for the earlier Premier League titles, while Wenger wins loads at Arsenal if and when he arrives (a weaker Man Utd may well end up butterflying him away as Arsenal might win more and keep their managers post-Graham). Roy Evans' "Spice Boys" may end up actually winning more as well and almost becoming this timeline's equivalent.

Finally, a young Bradford City midfielder called Tom Cleverley is not tempted by Man Utd's track record of developing youngsters and stays with the Bantams. He emerges as a first-team prospect late in the 2007-8 season and inspires Stuart McCall's side to back-to-back promotions to the Championship in 08-09 and 09-10. He is eventually sold to Everton for a club record sale in the summer of 2011.

 

[Mike D]

They don't however rise to the heights of best English team ever, that they did in the otl late 90s.

They've never done that in real life either, late 70s/early 80s Liverpool (for trophies won) or late 80s Liverpool (for sheer footballing class and having probably the best player who's ever graced English footbal - John Barnes)

If the United youngsters hadn't come through then Newcastle probably win at least one league title in the 90s, Liverpool possibly win one (we were close under Evans but never quite made the final step) and Arsenal win at least one more. United would still have picked up a couple of them too.

The biggest change would be that United would never have become the dominant financial power that they were in the early 2000s. Without the overwhelming success of the 90s the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal would have been able to keep pace with them.

United would still have been one of the biggest sides in the country (up until Agent Moyes ) but never as dominant as they were in the real life.

 

[Mike D]

Finally, a young Bradford City midfielder called Tom Cleverley is not tempted by Man Utd's track record of developing youngsters and stays with the Bantams.

He'd be staying at the level he belongs at then. He's up there with Bendtner and Ali Dia in the 'absolutely stealing a living' stakes.

 

[GeorgeUK]

If they still get Roman, Chelsea will win quite a few more titles, and maybe even an additional CL trophy. If they win a third title in 2007, Mourinho's departure is probably butterflied away...

 

[Tyr]

Just a quick thought - it's much more likely that Phil Neville becomes the cricketer, he was considered as good as Andrew Flintoff at youth level.

I've heard Scholes was very promising too though concentrated on football a bit early. I know absolutely nothing about cricket however. It just seemed fitting for me that Gary had to stay with Man Utd and Phil comes with him as a job lot.
Another interesting WI could be Giggs becoming a rugby player but...nah. We can't deprive the world of Giggs.

They've never done that in real life either, late 70s/early 80s Liverpool (for trophies won) or late 80s Liverpool (for sheer footballing class and having probably the best player who's ever graced English footbal - John Barnes)

The treble cemented it for Man Utd. Liverpool never managed that one.
That Liverpool team is in the top 5 but...yeah. To me it seems clear that Ferguson's peak was the best team the country has ever seen. But I'm pretty confident they'll be beaten before too long given how scientific football is getting. Though it may be hard to gauge given these changes are happening with most of Europe's top teams.
You could mean Englishman there but taking what you said as just meaning the English League- best player of recent times has to go to Giggs IMO.

 

[Mike D]

The treble cemented it for Man Utd. Liverpool never managed that one.

They did, just with the League Cup rather than FA Cup.

You could mean Englishman there but taking what you said as just meaning the English League- best player has to go to Giggs.

John Barnes remains the best player I've ever seen in the flesh. There wasn't a single thing he couldn't do with a football. I'd have him over Giggs any day of the week.

 

[Tyr]

They did, just with the League Cup rather than FA Cup. .

Which isn't THE treble.

You seem to be a Liverpool fan here, I'm neutral, I support a team that has nothing to do with Man Utd or Liverpool, and I say the Man Utd of the 90s is head and shoulders over anything before.

 

[Romantic Nihilist]

I wonder how this would affect the England team?

Missing Phil Neville won't do them any harm but missing Beckham and Scholes will have some ramifications... even if they do get picked (different training methods under different managers etc.).