ImagesGetty Imagesby a back four of Paul Parker, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister and Denis
Irwin; the trickery of Ryan Giggs and Andrei Kanchelskis on the
wings, the presence of Roy Keane and Paul Ince in midfield,
and the invention, flair and goals of Eric Cantona and Mark Hughes
up front.
“The pace and power of this team was impossible to beat,” said
Bruce. “If you wanted to fight, we could fight you; if you wanted to
play football, we could do that. We had pace, commitment, hunger,
drive and limitless energy. For me, of course, I am a little biased,
but I think it was as good a side as United have ever had.”
The only blemishes on this historic season were missing out on
becoming the first English side to win a domestic treble by losing to
Aston Villa in the League Cup final and making little impact in the
European Cup.
During the season, United set a club record for most wins (41)
and their longest-ever unbeaten run of 34 games in all competitions,
as they comfortably defended their league title and finished with 92
points, eight ahead of Blackburn in second place. In the FA Cup final,
United overcame Chelsea, who had earlier beaten them twice in the
league that season, with a 4-0 victory featuring two penalties from
Eric Cantona and goals from Ince and Hughes.
“Liberated from the pressures that quarter of a century without
a title had imposed, our players brought a new authority to their
game [in this season] and began to justify being rated as one of the
best teams to wear United colours,” a proud Ferguson has said.
The following 1994–95 season proved to be one of the most
dramatic, chaotic and adrenaline-fuelled campaigns in United’s entire
history, full of soaring highs and desperate, unprecedented lows.
United’s ambition had been to win a third successive title for the
first time in their history and make a meaningful impact on the newly
minted Champions League, but they would achieve neither.
In Europe, United were unable to get themselves out of the group
stage, where they suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in
the Camp Nou, which Ferguson said delivered “a bitter lesson...
Keeping the ball is the name of the game in Europe, and they just
don’t understand.”
Back in the more comfortable environment of the Premier
League, United’s title defence came under serious threat fromBelow
Manchester
United celebrate
winning the
double after
a 4-0 triumph
over Chelsea in
the 1994 FA
Cup Final“ WE HAD PACE, COMMITMENT,
HUNGER, DRIVE AND LIMITLESS
ENERGY... IT WAS AS GOOD A
SIDE AS UNITED HAVE EVER HAD”
UNITED
DOMINATE
THE ’90S