On This Day – 19th August
It was on this day back in 1995 that Alan Hansen uttered the immortal line of “You’ll win nothing with kids” on Match of the Day after Manchester United lost 3-1 to Aston Villa on the opening day of the 1995/96 season.
Alex Ferguson’s young charges would go on and make Hansen eat his words (and then some!) as United stormed to a League and FA Cup Double, proving to the Liverpool legend that the kids are alright!
Manchester United had won the Double in the 1993/94 season but were unable to retain their either trophy, although they would have won the League if they had won their final game of the 1994/95 season. This was followed by an surprise 1-0 defeat to Everton in the FA Cup Final a week later.
Ferguson decided that he would
United went 3-0 down before the break at Villa Park, giving Alex Ferguson real concern that his Project Youth would backfire miserably.
The line up that day included 18 year old Phil Neville and his 20 year old brother Gary in defence. Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes were part of the United midfield at were both 20 years old. John O’Kane and David Beckham both came off the bench as substitutes and were 20 years old as well.
David Beckham replaced Phil Neville at half time and scored a consolation effort for United six minutes before the end. He has been the most successful of the six youngsters who played in the defeat at Villa Park, moving to Real Madrid in 2003 and becoming a global brand in his own right.
Fellow substitute John O’Kane was the least successful of the youngsters as the Villa match was his last appearance in a United shirt. Various loan moves to lower league clubs followed despite signing for Everton in 1998, his career never took off in the same way as the others.
Manchester United ended the season by winning League and FA Cup Double. At one stage they were 12 points behind Newcastle United but kept the pressure on and as Newcastle’s lead gradually fell away, United carried on winning. After losing to Tottenham on New Year’s Day, they would only lose one game over the rest of the season. That was the infamous game where they changed out of their grey shirts at half time because Alex Ferguson claimed that the United players couldn’t pick each other out on the pitch. As this was the same shirt worn on the opening day, he should perhaps use that as his excuse for the defeat to Villa as well!
Over the course of the 1995/96 season, Paul Scholes scored ten times in the Premier League, Beckham hit seven and Nicky Butt weighed in with two goals. The three of them would also add a goal apiece during their run to the FA Cup. Not bad considering you aren’t supposed to win anything with kids!
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