It was May of 1991, in the midst of a usually wet spring in the North West of England and although the games were taking place during the night, they provided me with a great topic to connect with my gym teacher, Mr Anderson. Athletic and charming, he was liked by many of the girls, but for some reason he had little time for a chubby teenager who could bat all day at cricket but had little other athletic ability. Until he found out about my knowledge for sport and that he could have a conversation with me about his beloved Los Angeles Lakers. In 1991 Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers were an old team, but still a good team. Trouble was, they were no longer a great team, like their opponents, the Chicago Bulls. It was the Lakers’ ninth visit to the NBA Finals in 12 years. They would lose the seven games series four games to one and over 5000 miles away a gym teacher pouted as his knowledgeable student said ‘I told you so’. Los Angeles wouldn’t return to the NBA Finals for nine years while the Bulls started their own dynasty.

Mr Anderson wasn’t much of a baseball fan, like me, but later in the year of 1991 I’d watch the Atlanta Braves stun the baseball world when they went from a last placed team in 1990 all the way to game seven of the World Series, starting an unprecedented streak of 14 straight divisional titles from 1991-2005.

I spent the summer of 1991 playing cricket away from Mr Anderson’s watch and going to one or two Grand Prix races. I saw Michael Schumacher sit inside his Jordan car on the grid of the Belgian Grand Prix in his first ever Formula One race. Less than a minute later his race was over, but exactly a year later he (as I did) returned to Spa-Francorchamps to win his debut Grand Prix. Almost 20 years later, the German remains in the sport (he retired between 2007-09) with a record 91 wins to his name.

Four months before Schumacher’s first win, I sat inside Wembley watching Wigan Rugby League Club (later known as Wigan Warriors) complete another league and cup double as many of the game’s greatest ever players tore opponents apart during a stretch where they would win eight straight Challenge Cup finals inside the Twin Towers and seven successive league titles.

Another team who enjoyed a victory at Wembley during their 1991/92 season was Manchester United Football Club, who defeated Nottingham Forest 1-0 in the Rumbelows Cup Final (now known as the Carling Cup). It was the third straight season that the Red Devils had tasted success in a cup competition after winning the 1990 FA Cup final in extra time of their replay against Crystal Palace and beating Barcelona in the 1991 UEFA Cup Winners Cup Final. The first trophy was the first for many of its players, while the win over Barcelona gave them a reason to be relevant again in Europe. They were learning how to win and preparing for bigger and better things to come. Even the moment they climbed the steps to receive their prize at Wembley, people wondered if they could finally put an end to the 25-year streak since they were champions of England. It turned out that they couldn’t, as they won just one of their next five games as Leeds United beat them to the title.

It was a collapse that didn’t shock United fans. Number 25 just rolled over to number 26. And then exactly one year after they won their last trophy at Wembley this happened…….

United won their final seven matches of the 92/93 season, securing their first English league crown since 1967. It’s over 18 years now since Steve Bruce headed home that 97th minute winner and almost everything in life has changed since then. The Lakers struggled for years and then got Kobe Bryant and won again. The Braves lost their great pitchers, haven’t won a division in five years or a playoff series in nine years. Michael Schumacher has his records but at F1 races he now looks like a 75-year-old on the highway getting passed on both sides by younger, faster drivers while the Wigan Warriors just won their first title since 1998. And then there’s Manchester United who are still managed by Alex Ferguson, still score late goals and still win. 18 years later.  It is the greatest dynasty in modern day sports.

On Saturday they became the most successful club in English football history winning their 19th crown but, to me, 12 titles in 19 seasons is even more impressive. The story about Ferguson’s desire to knock Liverpool off their bleeping perch rightfully got a lot of play but in many ways the dynasty continuing just may have gotten lost. This was supposed to be the year that Chelsea won again. We were told that key injuries to Antonio Valencia and Rio Ferdinand would cost United as would the attitude of their petulant striker, Wayne Rooney, who held the club hostage over his future back in October and whose quotes look even more ridiculous today than they did at the time:

• “”I met with David Gill [United's chief executive] last week and he did not give me any of the assurances I was seeking about the future squad, I then told him that I would not be signing a new contract. I was interested to hear what Sir Alex had to say yesterday and surprised by some of it. It is absolutely true, as he said, that my agent and I have had a number of meetings with the club about a new contract. During those meetings in August I asked for assurances about the continued ability of the club to attract the top players in the world. For me its all about winning trophies – as the club has always done under Sir Alex. Because of that I think the questions I was asking were justified.”

As many of us knew all along, because the club does win trophies Rooney actually had no justification for asking such questions. In the end greedy Rooney got what he really wanted (more money) and was on the field to score a penalty at Ewood Park on Saturday that clinched another title for the club. It was fitting that a man that got the best of a mental game against his manager was the one to finally carry the team over the finish line and showed that Ferguson’s greatest strength is to move with the times. The shrewd Scot lost the mental game with Rooney back in October but put aside his principals for the best interests of the club. That would not have happened in 1992 or 2002 but catering to the ego of his best player showed another side of Ferguson. This is a man who has led this team through many changes in the game but the one constant has been their continued dominance at the top of the English game.

Did you know?

• Six members of the Manchester United squad won their first ever league winners medal this season while Ryan Giggs collects his 12th. In total 76 players have won a Premier League medal with Manchester United since 1992. For your enjoyment I have put every player’s name at the bottom of this post. Take some time and see how many you can name before you read them. I would love to hear how many you got in the comments section below. We even created the game at sporcle for you to enjoy. Click this link.

Over the Blue Moon

Carlos Tevez lifted the cup, Yaya Toure scored the goal, Mario Balotelli had his best game in a City shirt & Nigel De Jong was immense but the one man I was pleased for on Saturday didn’t even play. Roberto Mancini deserved that moment. Managing the world’s richest football club doesn’t sound too difficult but the Italian has had his fair share of ups and downs this season. His biggest battle was against constant critiscm from sections of the media who threw stereotypes around about his ‘negative tactics’ but in the end he stuck to his system and deserved his shining moment. It wasn’t exactly the 1990 FA Cup Final (after all I think goalscoring hero Yaya Toure earns more in a week than Lee Martin did in a year) but Man City learned how to win something on Saturday. Their victory over Stoke City at Wembley ensures their season has been a complete success after they qualified for the Champions League and won a trophy for the first time in 35 years. For the club it could mean the start of many trophies (as has been reported by many) but it’s important for a club with so much ambition to not look too far ahead at this time. Right now they need to look at their personnel and determine who they need to mount a serious challenge for the Premier League next season and reach the later knock-out stages of the Champions League. Just because their owners have deep pockets doesn’t mean winning everything will come overnight. They’ve won a lucrative spot at the top table of European football and a beautiful FA Cup trophy but now they need to win the greatest battle of all – patience. Trophies will come but not at the rate that some expect.

Six Super Stats from Wembley

• Manchester City win their first silverware for 35 years and their first FA Cup for 42 years. It is their fifth FA Cup in total, following wins in 1904, 1934, 1956 and 1969. In 1956, neighbours and rivals Manchester United also won the league.
• Yaya Toure scored the goal meaning that an African player has scored in the last five FA Cup finals.
• At 28-years-old, Yaya Toure is the youngest player to score in an FA Cup final for five years.
• Carlos Tevez and Pablo Zabaleta are the third and fourth Argentines to play and win in a FA Cup Final. The other two were Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa playing for Tottenham in 1981, beating Manchester City.
• Vincent Kompany is the first Belgian to win the FA Cup after Nico Claesen (1987) and Marouane Fellaini (2009) both failed.
• It is the fifth year in a row in which a ‘blue team’ is the FA Cup winner. That streak follows a run of six years of ‘red teams’.

A Hammer Blow

Any fan who has ever suffered through a relegation knows exactly what this guy (above) feels. The match between West Ham and Wigan on Sunday was absolutely breathtaking for the neutral, delightful for Wigan fans and heartbreaking for Hammers everywhere. Winning 2-0, with Birmingham losing at home to Fulham, West Ham looked like they would get the chance to fight for survival on the last weekend of the season but their dreams turned to nightmares in the second half, capped off by a Charles N’Zogbia late winner that sent them down. It was a cruel way for them to receive their sentence. Most already knew they weren’t good enough to stay in the Premier League but to be teased and then denied in that fashion was incredibly harsh on their fans. Players come and go and some can leave the club knowing they gave their best all season but they’ll be in a minority. Manager Avram Grant has already moved on saying “its the saddest day since I started in football 40 years ago” and although his words show empathy his actions all season have showed the opposite. This day will stick with the fans more than anyone else. West Ham United are a proud football club who should be mixing it with the elite every week but they now face a very tough time in their history. The lower leagues of English football are littered with clubs who believe they should be in the Premier League and thought all along they were too big and too good to go down. It’s up to David Gold and David Sullivan now to see whether they become the next Newcastle or the next Leeds.

Six Super Stats from DW Stadium (unless you’re a Hammer)

• West Ham are relegated from the Premier League for the second time.
• They became the 16^th different club to be relegated from the division more than once in the PL era. They were also relegated in 2002-03 and spent two seasons in the Championship before returning via the playoffs.
• West Ham lost for a second time this season after leading 2-0 – the only club in the division to lose twice from this position this season. They also lost 4-2 at home to Manchester United.
• In the last two months, West Ham have played eight Premier League matches and won one point from a possible 24.
• It was also the second time in PL history Wigan have won after being 2-0 down – they also beat Arsenal 3-2 at the DW Stadium in April 2010. 
• Charles N’Zogbia scored his second PL double and his first ever at the DW Stadium. 

Winners

Here is a list of Manchester United players who won a Premier League medal in the order in which they first received them.

• 1992/93: Clayton Blackmore, Steve Bruce, Eric Cantona, Dion Dublin, Darren Ferguson, Ryan Giggs, Mark Hughes, Denis Irwin, Paul Ince, Andrei Kanchelskis, Brian McClair, Gary Pallister, Paul Parker, Mike Phelan, Bryan Robson, Peter Schmeichel, Lee Sharpe.
• 1993/94: Roy Keane
• 1995/96: David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Andy Cole, David May, Gary Neville,  Phil Neville, Paul Scholes.
• 1996/97: Jordi Cruyff,  Ronny Johnsen, Karel Poborsky, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
• 1998/99: Henning Berg, ,Jesper Blomqvist, Wes Brown, Teddy Sheringham, Jaap Stam, Dwight Yorke.
• 1999/00: Mark Bosnich, Raymond van der Gouw, Mikael Silvestre
• 2000/01: Fabien Barthez, Luke Chadwick, Ronnie Wallwork
• 2002/03:  Laurent Blanc, Roy Carroll, Rio Ferdinand, Diego Forlan, Ruud van Nistelrooy,  John O’Shea, Juan Sebastian Veron.
• 2006/07:  Michael Carrick, Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher, Gabriel Heinze, Tomasz Kuszczak, Henrik Larsson, Kieran Richardson, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha, Alan Smith, Edwin van der Sar, Park Ji-Sung, Nemanja Vidic.
• 2007/08: Anderson, Owen Hargreaves, Nani, Gerard Pique, Carlos Tevez.
• 2008/09: Dimitar Berbatov, Jonny Evans, Rafael da Silva,
• 2010/11:  Darron Gibson, Javier Hernandez, Michael Owen, Chris Smalling,  Fabio da Silva, Antonio Valencia.

Admit it, you didn’t get Ronnie Wallwork did you? Let me know how you did below.

Cheers

Kristian Jack