You can't win anything with kids

On the opening day of the 1995/96 Premier League season, Manchester United lost their first game 3-1 at home to Aston Villa.

Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen was quick to write off Manchester United and criticised manager Sir Alex Ferguson with a comment that will long be remembered by Manchester United fans and many football fans alike.

You can't win anything with kids

He also commented on the fact Man United had made only two signings during the summer break and lacked strength in depth. Nick Culkin and Tony Coton were the two purchases, and neither made an appearance that year.

Following that statement, Manchester United went on to make Hansen eat his words, winning both the Premier League and FA Cup that season with a team whose average age was 26 years and 137 days.

Was Hansen Ultimately correct, and if so, what made that Manchester United team different from the trend?

Talented Youth

I remember that season well. After picking up the first two Premier League titles, Man United had suffered at the hands of Blackburn the previous year. Jack Walker had plowed tens of millions into Rovers, and picked up the leagues' most sought after striker Alan Shearer amongst other big names. Manchester United had something to prove, and Hansen's statement likely gave them even more encouragement.

The Red Devils won the league by four points, beating Newcastle United, and Liverpool who were another 7 points back in 3rd. Incidentally, it was also the season Manchester City were relegated, how things have changed.

In the title winning side of 95/96, Gary Neville, aged 20 and Phil Neville, aged 18 made 55 appearances between them. A twenty year old Nicky Butt appeared 32 times, Paul Scholes (aged 20) made 26 appearances, Ryan Giggs, 21 at the time, appeared 33 times. Future England captain David Beckham also made his breakthrough season, aged 20, making 33 appearances.

Together, the above players earned a total of 454 caps for their countries during their careers. The Neville's hold the record for brothers with the most caps for England, David Beckham is the player with the 3rd most England caps, and Ryan Giggs happens to be the most decorated player in the history of the Premier League, with 13 titles to his name.

I do not remember a season since, for any club, in which there has been such a fruitful crop of youth team players advancing into the senior set-up. (Southampton 2/3 seasons ago?) An exceptional influx of youth players certainly helped, but that was not the only reason for the clubs' success over this period.

Experience

Clearly Alan Hansen picked the wrong year and team to make that statement and even as 'just' a supporter of this historical team, it made winning the league that season even sweeter. However, since that season only one team have won the Premier League with a younger squad - Chelsea in 2005 with an average squad age of 25 years and 312 days under Jose Mourinho.

And looking back on other members present in the Man United squad in 1995/96, it is clear that experience also played a major part in their success. Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce, Dennis Irwin, and Paul Parker made up the back four for the vast part of the season, none of which were under 30 years old. Peter Schmeichel stood in goal, and was also in his early 30's. Then there was the likes of Andy Cole, Roy Keane, and the talisman Eric Cantona, all players with international experience and a proven record of scoring goals and/or winning competitions.

In my view, Alex Ferguson was extremely lucky to have both an array of outstanding youth players all appear at once, an aging but rock-solid defense, and a couple of truly outstanding Premier League talents in Eric Cantona and Roy Keane.
And Alex Ferguson would likely tell me to go fk myself explaining that he had put together a team with the perfect amount of experience and fearless youth - I'd have to agree with that.

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