Manchester United 1999-present
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Preceding article: Manchester United 1998-1999 (the treble)
Succeeding article: none
The new millennium has seen Sir Alex Ferguson's side land more silverware, although they have faced some stiff competition from other teams - first Arsenal and now Chelsea.
Many players have come and gone. Since the 1999 treble success, Peter Schmeichel, Denis Irwin, Ronny Johnsen, David Beckham, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham, Jaap Stam, Roy Keane, and Dwight Yorke have all left to be replaced by a new generation of players including Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand, Gabriel Heinze, Cristiano Ronaldo, Edwin van der Sar, Wayne Rooney and Park Ji-Sung. Other players like Fabien Barthez, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Kléberson and Juan Sebastián Verón have arrived and left within the space of a few seasons.
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[edit] Into the new millennium
United won the Premiership title in 1999-2000, with an 18-point margin over runners-up Arsenal and just three league defeats all season. They won their third successive title the following season, making United the fourth team to achieve that success and Sir Alex Ferguson the first manager to stay in charge of any team throughout a championship hat-trick.
2001-2002 was a trophyless season, as United was knocked out of the Champions League by Bayer Leverkusen, the FA Cup by Middlesbrough (in the fourth round), and finished third in the Premiership.[1]
United won another Premiership title in 2002-03, overhauling Arsenal to secure their eighth title in 11 seasons. Ferguson even described this success as his greatest achievement since becoming United manager in 1986.
Alex Ferguson rebuilt the team, signing the England defender Rio Ferdinand for a record £33million from rivals Leeds United before the transfers of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2003 and Wayne Rooney in 2004, to complement the signing of Ruud van Nistelrooy who quickly became the second-highest scorer in United history even though he spent much of the 2004-05 season injured. His injury and Rio Ferdinand's eight month suspension damaged United's title hopes in 2003-04 and they finished third in the Premiership, which was won by unbeaten Arsenal. United were knocked out of the Champions League by eventual winners FC Porto and the League Cup by Aston Villa, but they won the FA Cup, beating Millwall 3-0 in the final.
[edit] The FA Cup since 1999
United caused considerable controversy in 1999-2000 when they failed to enter the FA Cup, instead electing to take part in the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship, played in Brazil. United became the first FA Cup holders not to defend their title.
United claim to have been pressured by the Labour Government of the day, along with The FA, who felt that having English representation in the FIFA competition might assist an English attempt to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Whether this decision boosted the English Bids' chances is uncertain, but either way, the plan failed, and Germany was nominated as the World Cup Host Nation, beating South Africa into second place.
Returning to the FA Cup in the 2000-2001 season, United struggled to have an impact on the competition, failing to get past the Fifth Round until the 2003-2004 season, when they went on to win the competition. In the interim they went out of the competition to West Ham United and Middlesbrough.
In the 2004 Final, United defeated Millwall 3-0. United had also beaten Arsenal 1-0 in the Semi-Final at Villa Park, which was some consolation for their failure to keep up with the Gunners in the League Title race.
United managed to get to the final again in 2004-2005, but lost to Arsenal on Penalties despite thoroughly outplaying their opponents. this was the first time that the FA Cup Final had been decided on Penalties. Previously, there had been FA Cup winners decided by replay (United won two FA Cup replays in 1983 against Brighton and Hove Albion and again in 1990 against Crystal Palace) but the Replay system was removed from the Final in the mid-1990's. However, no FA Cup Final had gone to Penalties in the interim. The Final was also the first final ever to finish 0-0 after 90 minutes (and again after Extra Time).
United went out of the 2005-2006 competition in the Fifth round again, 1-0 at near-rivals, Liverpool. This game is mostly remembered for Alan Smith, who broke his left leg and dislocated his left ankle in a terrible double-injury. It also marked the first time since 1925 that Liverpool had defeated United in the FA Cup. The two teams had met on 9 previous occasions since, with United triumphing on each one (including the 1-0 win in the 1996 Final).
[edit] 2004-05: The Glazer takeover
In 2004-05, Manchester United finished third in the Premiership for the third time in four seasons. They were knocked out of the Champions League by AC Milan in the second round and the League Cup by Chelsea in the semifinal, and lost the FA Cup to Arsenal on May 21st. Although they had spent a considerable amount on players in the preceding seasons, many of them were disappointing, such as Juan Sebastián Verón, Kleberson, Diego Forlan, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Mark Bosnich. There were also those who criticised the sale of David Beckham to Real Madrid.
In late 2004, the American businessman Malcolm Glazer made a bid to take over the club. The bid was extremely controversial due to his plan to borrow large amounts of money to buy the club and then transfer the debt onto the club itself. United supporters made several anti-Glazer demonstrations before matches and the supporters' organisations Shareholders United and IMUSA encouraged supporters to buy shares in the club to prevent a takeover, but these attempts were unsuccessful and Glazer acquired control of the club on 12 May 2005. Supporters demonstrated outside the ground that evening and again when the Glazers first visited the stadium.
Under the shadow of this controversy, United went to the Millennium Stadium to defend the FA Cup amid threats of protests and possible crowd trouble. Throughout the game, Arsenal dominated the match and deservely won the title after the penalty shootout. This capped off a disappointing season where they finished third in the league, far behind the champions, Chelsea. Many supporters refused to renew their season tickets in protest at the Glazer takeover, and some formed a new club, FC United of Manchester, to watch instead.
[edit] 2005-06: League Cup win compensates for title chase disappointment
United made two major signings at the beginning of the season: the South Korean winger Park Ji-sung and the Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, but started the season badly. Players publicly complained about the lack of depth in the squad, and after a 4–1 defeat away to Middlesbrough United's captain Roy Keane criticised his team mates so severely in an MUTV interview that CEO David Gill ordered them not to broadcast it. On November 6, 2005 Manchester United had gone through their worst run of form in years, possibly due to injuries to 5, and at one point even 9 major starting team players- Neville, Giggs, Keane, Heinze, Solskjær, Saha, Brown, Richardson and Fortune all had the misfortune to be injured simultaneously. The worst part of that was that many were players occupying similar positions- leaving the defence and left side of midfield seriously undermanned and forcing players such as Phil Bardsley into the first team and Alan Smith to move into central midfield, a role which he did not excel in. The team, still damaged by injuries, defeated Chelsea and ended their 40 game unbeaten run after their best performance of the season, thus cutting the difference between United and Chelsea to 10 points with a game in hand.
Roy Keane left the club by mutual agreement terms on 17 November 2005. He was injured at the time, but a few weeks later he signed for Celtic.
United fans were further upset when George Best, who had scored in the club's European Cup final victory in 1968, died on 25 November 2005. Many supporters left tributes outside Old Trafford in the form of scarves and shirts.
United's European campaign was a disaster, the loss on the last match day saw the team finishing bottom of their group in the UEFA Champions League, failing even to qualify for the UEFA Cup. This potentially cost the club around £15million in television revenue.
Injuries also dampened United's morale, after losing Heinze to injury to start the season. Paul Scholes, who had been declared unfit to return to action that season due to an eye dysfunction, returned on the final day of the season to play the second half. Alan Smith was also out for a lengthy period having broken his left leg and dislocated his left ankle in a horrendous double-injury in February.
To make matters worse, United lost 1-0 at Liverpool in their 5th Round F.A. Cup match, to all but end their quest for a major trophy. However, their League Cup run was successful, culminating in a 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the final on 26 February at the Millennium Stadium. It was only United's second win in the competition, following victory in 1992.
United finished second in the Premiership with 83 points, their best finish since 2003, but trailed Chelsea by 8 points. To date, Sir Alex Ferguson is still the most successful manager in English football. He has so far won eight Premiership titles, five FA Cups, two League Cups, one European Cup, one European Cup Winners' Cup, one Intercontinental Cup and seven Charity/Community Shields (one shared) - 25 trophies in all, in 19 years at Manchester United.
[edit] 2006-07: Fergie on course for 9th title
The 2006 summer transfer window saw Ruud van Nistelrooy leave Manchester United for Real Madrid, after falling out of favour with Sir Alex Ferguson at the end of the 2005-2006 season. Michael Carrick joined United from Tottenham Hotspur, and goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak joined from West Bromwich Albion, initially on a 2 season loan. Alan Smith, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Paul Scholes and Gabriel Heinze all returned from their long-term injuries to take part in the 2006-2007 season. United courted England and Bayern Munich star Owen Hargreaves, but were rebuffed by Bayern.
As of 15 December, Manchester United were top of the Premier League table, 8 points ahead of defending champions Chelsea, although having played one additional game. After all of the games of the group phase in their UEFA Champions League campaign, United have recorded four wins (over Celtic, Benfica (twice) and Copenhagen) and two defeats (Copenhagen and Celtic). United finished top of their group, advancing to the knock-out phase, and relegated Benfica to the UEFA Cup in a thrilling come-from-behind win at Old Trafford. Now United's first opponent at the knockout stage will be LOSC Lille Metropole. United suffered a shock 4th Round exit from the Carling Cup, a trophy they had won the previous season, at the hands of Southend United, who at the time were bottom of the Championship.
On 1 December it was announced that an agreement with Swedish side Helsingborgs IF had been made for the loan signing of Henrik Larsson. The loan will start from 1 January 2007 and end at the beginning of the Swedish domestic season on 12 March 2007. The loan was triggered by the preceived lack of depth behind first choice strikers Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha.[3] Ole Gunnar's Solskjær's injury added with young Giuseppe Rossi's inexperience and his current loan at Newcastle as well as Alan Smith's lack of fitness forced midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo to partner with Rooney up front in Saha's absence for United's 3-0 victory over Everton on November 29.[4]
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ↑ Keane gagged by United after TV attack on players. Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on November 1, 2005.
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