It must be a daunting prospect stepping out at training a fresh-faced newcomer, eager to impress, confident in your ability, until you look out at your prospective new team mates and see a 35-year old Paul Scholes effortlessly spraying passes just as he did 10 years ago, and a 36-year old Ryan Giggs showing no signs his qualities will be diminishing any time soon.
Stepping up to the reality of playing for one of the most successful football clubs in the modern era is one thing to get used to, witnessing the evergreen faces of Giggs, Scholes and Neville surely makes the task all the more difficult.
Telling a player his future lies elsewhere must be one of the most difficult off-the-field decisions Sir Alex and managers all over the world have to make, but with 19 players currently plying their trade in the Premier League, once all on the books of Manchester United during Fergie’s reign, leaving the Theatre of Dreams does not necessarily mean facing a lower league nightmare.
David Jones, a former United graduate is currently grabbing the headlines with his set-piece creativity and impressive displays at the heart of the Wolves midfield, and manager Mick McCarthy is understandably trying to get the talented midfielder to commit his future to the club.
McCarthy’s eagerness is understandable; Ferguson clearly believed in the central midfielder’s potential, signalled by his decision to send the technically gifted Jones on loan to NEC Nijmegen in Holland to continue his football education. His brief but impressionable time playing for the Eredivisie club may not have led to a more permanent fixture in the United side, but subsequent moves to Derby and now Wolves proves that leaving the club has not hampered his chances of playing in the top flight. Wolves goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann spoke highly of Jones calling him one of the most technically gifted players at the club, but he is just one of many to have benefited from a United education.
Ryan Shawcross has quickly become one of the most aerially dominative centre halves in the Premier League, rightfully earning a call-up to the senior England set-up last season. Progress in the United ranks were hampered not only by defensive rocks Ferdinand and Vidic, and the reliability of Wes Brown, but also the emergence of Jonny Evans and Gerard Pique. Shawcross has not looked back since he sought regular football despite his tender years, but speculation linking him with moves to such prestitgious clubs as Liverpool in recent seasons is evidence that another former United player could ressurect his career and still cut it at the highest level.
The latest fledgling to leave United is Craig Cathcart, the young Northern Ireland centre half who has slotted straight into Ian Holloway’s first eleven at Blackpool since his move this summer. Cathcart at 21, has already broken into the Northern Ireland senior setup playing alongside current United defender Jonny Evans, and it’s once again testament that the infrastructure n place at Manchester United has helped produce an accomplished player at such a young age.
This summer nine players departed the club, three of those players secured Premier League football at other clubs, three players returned to European and South American shores, two now play at promotion-chasing Championship clubs, while one now plays in the Conference South.
Febian Brandy is the only player yet to find a new club, and is a reminder like Sam Hewson at Altrincham, that life at the top does not guarantee you a top-flight football career. United’s scouting and coaching staff must still sport a wry smile when they see those once considered promising United prospects reigniting their careers elsewhere, except perhaps when they stick one in on a return to Old Trafford.
Sparky in Rotterdam '91 