Article 15 — Manchester United 2000–2002
Peter Schmeichel announced his intention to leave Manchester United at the end of last season so played his last match for United in the Champions League final at Nou Camp. I forgot to mention the management of Schmeichel by Alex Ferguson in the Treble season. He was making mistakes in matches around December 1998 and Alex Ferguson took him out of the team to allow him to go on a holiday. It did wonders for him as he came back refreshed and played a crucial part in the Treble success.
Alex Ferguson was knighted for guiding United to the Treble and was now known as Sir Alex Ferguson. He had a huge task to fill, the big gloves of Peter Schmeichel. Mark Bosnich formerly a reserve goalkeeper at United was brought back from Aston Villa after all the big names that were linked to the club.
It was always tough to replicate the heights of the previous season so the task on hand was to enhance United’s reputation in Europe while maintaining domination in England. The season didn’t get off well as United lost the English and European curtain raisers, Charity Shield 1–2 to Arsenal and UEFA Super Cup 0–1 to last season’s Cup Winners Cup champions, Lazio in Monaco.
There was to be no problem for United in the Premier League as they completely dominated the league to finish it without any close challengers, ending the season a whopping 18 points clear of Arsenal, the highest margin by which United had won the Premier League title.
The 1999–00 season will be remembered for the controversial decision to not defend the FA Cup won as part of the Treble to take part in FIFA’s inaugural Club World Championship in Brazil.
The decision was ill-fated as United had a poor showing, drawing 1–1 against CONCACAF champions, Mexico’s Necaxa, losing 1–3 to 1998 CONMEBOL champions, Brazil’s Vasco da Gama and winning their final match against OFC champions, Australia’s South Melbourne 2–0. Before their travel to Brazil, United travelled to Tokyo, Japan in November 1999 to play against the South American champions Palmeiras in the annual Intercontinental Cup played annually between the champions of Europe and South America. They won their first trophy of the season, beating the Brazilian team 1–0 thanks to Roy Keane’s goal and Mark Bosnich’s heroics in goal to be the first English club to win the Intercontinental Cup.
United’s League Cup campaign ended in the 3rd Round itself, losing 0–3 to Aston Villa. Despite their Premier League dominance, United was struggling in the goalkeeping department and Italian goalkeeper, Massimo Taibi was signed from Venezia after injuries to Bosnich and Raimond Van Der Gouw. He was thrown into the cauldron of Anfield in his first match together with another new signing from Serie A, Frenchman Mikael Silvestre.
Taibi had a fine first game, one mistake aside but unfortunately would be remembered for a howler against Southampton at Old Trafford and then conceding 5 goals away to Chelsea in a 0–5 thrashing. The task of filling in as United’s Number 1 goalkeeper proved too big for the Italian. He didn’t play again for the rest of the season and was loaned back to Italian side Reggina on January 2000. As it turned out, Schmeichel's long-time understudy, veteran van der Gouw was the most reliable option in goal for the team.
In the Champions League, there was a new format and teams had to navigate 2 group stages to reach the knockout rounds. In the first group stage, United finished top of the group ahead of French team Marseille who beat them 0–1 at Stade Velodrome. In the second group stage, United lost 0–2 to an Italian team Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. United recovered from that defeat in style, winning their next 4 including a 3–1 win over Fiorentina at Old Trafford to qualify top of their group for the quarter-final stage.
In the quarter-final, United was drawn against Spanish and European powerhouse, Real Madrid. United gained a credible 0–0 draw at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, confident of their chances of beating the Spanish team at Old Trafford. An unfortunate own goal by Keane gave Real the lead who then had to weather a storm from United with a young Iker Casillas heroic for his team. Real turned on the style in the second half including a wonderful piece of skill by Argentine Fernando Redondo to outfox Henning Berg before assisting for Spanish hotshot Raul Gonzalez to score. As a football lover, you couldn’t help but admire that piece of skill. Real was leading 0–3 before United finally scored, once through a brilliant piece of skill and finish by David Beckham and another a late penalty converted by Paul Scholes. However, it was too late, poor finishing and fine goalkeeping kept United out. United’s defence of the Champions League ended in the quarter-final. Real would go on to win the Champions League that season.
United’s quest for a replacement for Peter Schmeichel continued and World and European champion, Fabian Barthez was signed from Monaco. There were no further signings made. Like the previous season, United started the season losing the Charity Shield for the 3rd season running, 0–2 to Chelsea. United’s dominance in the Premier League continued. They won the league for the third season in a row and the first time they have done so in the Premier League era.
There were some hiccups faced along the way as Arsenal inflicted the first defeat of the season on United thanks to a marvellous piece of skill from Theirry Henry catching out his international team-mate Barthez.
Liverpool beat United twice in the season as they began their dominance over United in meetings between the two fierce rivals. United sealed the Premier League title early as they did in 1999–00 and won it by 10 points after taking their foot off the pedal in the last few matches after sealing the Premier League title. United’s highlight of their season was a 6–1 hammering of arch-rivals Arsenal at Old Trafford.
Teddy Sheringham had an outstanding season at the ripe old age of 35 years old as he ended the season as our top scorer. Typically, United’s League Cup campaign didn’t amount to much as they were knocked out in the 4th Round. In their return to the FA Cup, United was knocked out by West Ham United in the 4th Round. Barthez had attempted to play mind games with West Ham’s Italian captain, the maverick and talented Paolo Di Canio by stopping play and putting his hand up for offside. Di Canio played to the whistle and scored the winning goal to knock United out.
In Europe, United got off to a great start with a 5–1 thrashing at Old Trafford of Belgian champions, Anderlecht but stumbled after that as they lost 2 games in 4 including a 1–2 reverse against the Belgians and a 1–3 defeat to Dutch champions, PSV Eindhoven in Holland. United still managed to qualify from the 1st group stage finishing second. United didn’t lose in the 2nd group stage but finished 2nd level on points with the group winners, last season’s Champions League runners up, Valencia by virtue of goal difference.
The quarter-final was a rematch of the 1999 classic Champions League final. Bayern Munich got their revenge for that heart-wrenching defeat as they beat United 1–3 over 2 legs. For the second season in a row, United was knocked out by a team that would go on to be the eventual champions.
In the 2 seasons after achieving the remarkable feat of the Treble, it is fair to say that United stagnated. Their dominance in the Premier League continued as they went on to win the league title by big margins in each season, in a one-horse race in both seasons. They had never won the league by such big margins and so early in their previous seasons.
However, the lack of competition in England affected them in Europe as they were just not good enough in the knockout stages against teams that would go on to win the competition. United didn’t take the League Cup seriously as they failed to go far in the competition after making the final of 1994. The decision to support the FA of England in trying to win the hosting rights for the 2006 World Cup by playing in the ill-fated FIFA World Club Championship backfired. The UEFA Super Cup and Charity Shields were lost and United didn’t go far in the FA Cup in 2001. Overall, despite the dominance of the Premier League, it was a disappointing and underwhelming period. United should have built on the success of the Treble to win more but they didn’t.
There was to be a sea of change for 2001–02 as Sir Alex Ferguson attempted to refresh the team. He made a shock announcement of retiring at the end of this season only to thankfully U-turn on his decision later in the season in February 2002. Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy was signed a season after he was originally supposed to arrive after concerns over his fitness were justified as he suffered an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury in training soon after the postponement of the deal.
That season, United made a signing that excited me, the signing of Juan Sebastian Veron for a British record fee of 28.1 million pounds. I had already seen what Veron was capable of in Serie A and Argentina and I really felt he would have been able to bring United up the next level especially in Europe.
The controversial sale of Jaap Stam to Lazio in August after the extracts from his autobiography implied Sir Alex Ferguson in a wrong light shocked everyone. French veteran, European and World champion Laurent Blanc was signed from Inter to replace Stam. Jesper Blomqvist was sold in November 2001 to Everton and Andy Cole was sold in December 2001 to Blackburn Rovers after 6 years at the club. In December, little-known Uruguayan Diego Forlan was signed from Argentine club Independiente. Steve McClaren who was appointed as assistant manager to Sir Alex Ferguson in 1999 left to be the manager of Middlesbrough and Teddy Sheringham left at the end of the previous season to rejoin Tottenham Hotspur after finishing 2000–01 as the Football Writers’, PFA and Manchester United’s Player Of The Year.
For the 4th season in a row, United lost the Charity Shield 1–2 to bitter rivals Liverpool. Unlike the previous 2 seasons, United looked shaky especially in defence especially after the departure of Stam. Blanc might have experience but he was struggling to cope with the pace of the game in England as was the record signing Veron. Veron was signed to give United a new dimension in midfield with European games in mind. A player that didn’t waste time adapting to the club and the English game was van Nistelrooy as he justified the transfer fee paid for him, plundering in goals which led to the sale of Cole.
Due to the porous defence, United was involved in some exciting matches including a 3–4 defeat to Newcastle United at St. James’ Park and a thrilling come from behind 5–3 win over Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.
There were also defeats surprisingly to Bolton Wanderers at home, the 4th defeat in a row to Liverpool this time at Anfield, Arsenal at Highbury and Chelsea and West Ham at home. United had already lost 6 times in the league by December.
Things were to change for United after the defeat to West Ham as they went on a winning run of 8 consecutive games to find themselves top of the league. Despite losing for the 5th time in a row to Liverpool, United kept their unbeaten run after that defeat for the next 7 games, drawing 1 and winning 6. United was now back in the title race and top at a time when they traditionally hit top form but they couldn’t afford to lose any more if they were to make it 4 Premier League titles in a row.
United couldn’t keep that run going though and suffered a killer blow losing 0–1 at home to Middlesbrough. United remained on the coat-tails of league leaders Arsenal but a 0–1 defeat to Arsenal at Old Trafford sealed the title for Arsenal. It was a bitter way for us to lose the league title and I remember there was talk of a shift of power after this Arsenal win.
The defeat meant United slipped to 3rd in the league table behind bitter rivals Liverpool and that is how they ended the season, their lowest finish at that time in the Premier League era. Arsenal became the first team other than United to win the Premier League title twice.
United was dumped out of the League Cup in the 3rd Round after a 4–0 hammering at Highbury by arch-rivals, Arsenal. In the FA Cup, there was an exciting 3rd Round navigation past Aston Villa who had Peter Schmeichel in the goal before crashing out to Middlesbrough 0–2 in the next round at Riverside Stadium.
In the Champions League, United was surprised by the previous season’s La Liga runners up Deportivo La Coruna from Spain in both their matches in the first group stage. I don’t think much was expected of Deportivo and in both games, they proved themselves to be no pushovers. United finished level on points with Deportivo but United finished 2nd thanks to an inferior head to head record against the Spanish team.
The passage to the knockout round was smoother though in the 2nd group stage. United and Bayern Munich were in the same group and they both finished level on points but United finished top thanks to a superior goal difference. Like the group matches in 1999, both encounters between the two ended in a draw.
Manchester United was re-united with Deportivo in the quarter-final and there was no chance of United under-estimating the Spanish team this time as they produced their best performance in Europe that season to beat them 5–2 on aggregate. However, the victory came at a cost as United lost Roy Keane and David Beckham in this match. Their absence would have an effect on United’s title challenge and the rest of the season as Beckham was ruled out for the rest of the season. Roy Keane was out for a month but could still play some part in the season.
In the semi-final, United played against German side Bayer Leverkusen who had shocked Liverpool to knock them out in the quarter-final. The identity of our opponents raised hopes of reaching the final in Sir Alex Ferguson’s native city, Glasgow. What proceeded to happen were two frustrating draws against the German team, 2–2 at Old Trafford and 1–1 at BayArena. United had only themselves to blame for possibly under-estimating the German team. The defence reared its ugly head again, there was profligate finishing and some unlucky moments in front of goal on United’s part too. Just like in 1996–97, United was left frustrated by German opposition.
Unlike 1996–97, United was to end this season empty-handed. The midfield experimentation of playing Veron, Scholes and Keane affected the stability of the team. We saw glimpses of Veron’s best as he struggled to consistently produce his best form and cope with the pace of the game in England. He made a costly mistake as he was caught in possession in his own half against Middlesbrough and they counter-attacked to score the winner in the game. It proved to be the killer blow for United’s hopes of retaining the Premier League.
Blanc too looked like he was running out of legs especially in England and the loss of Stam proved to be significant. Barthez made some costly errors as well. His first season in 2000–01 went by without any major errors in his game but his eccentricity and errors were another reason for United’s below-par season.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision to announce his retirement before the commencement of the league created some instability in the minds of his players and that had an effect too.
However, the base of what was good this season namely the form of Ruud van Nistelrooy was to be a crucial element to build on for next season.
