25 Greatest Manchester United players

Davìd Moyéz

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Andy Mitten is currently going through his greatest 25 ever Manchester United players in a series in the Athletic. Starting at 25 he's currently down to 12 and we've had:

Fernandes
Irwin
Foulkes
Meredith
Byrne
Neville
Solskjaer
Buchan
Crerand
Beckham
Hughes
Van Nistelrooy
Vidic
Edwards

By my reckoning I can think of at least 12 more who should definitely be included so I'll be interested to see which one misses out. My 12 definites are:

Law
Best
Charlton
Schmeichel
Keane
Scholes
Robson
Giggs
Cantona
Ferdinand
Rooney
Ronaldo

I would be interested to hear whether anyone else has any they think should definitely have been included or what other people's top 25 would be.
 
Knowing Mitten’s work, it will be a well considered and thoughtful list.

Surprise so far is seeing Ruud above Beckham. Huge fan of Ruud but I struggle to see how he gets ahead of Beckham here given what Beckham won and being part of the teams that established our dominance to take us from initial champions to serial winners and the benchmark club.
 
The Midnight Rambler said:
Surprise so far is seeing Ruud above Beckham. Huge fan of Ruud but I struggle to see how he gets ahead of Beckham here given what Beckham won and being part of the teams that established our dominance to take us from initial champions to serial winners and the benchmark club.
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I thought Ruud was a bit too high as well. And also Hughes maybe.

Rossa said:
Evra surely has to be there. Best fullback in the world for a couple of seasons.
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He probably would've squeaked in near the bottom if I'd have done a top 25 but in fairness I don't know a lot about the likes of Buchan and Meredith. I can't see how he will get above any of the names still to come in my initial post though.
 
Davìd Moyéz said:
I thought Ruud was a bit too high as well. And also Hughes maybe.


He probably would've squeaked in near the bottom if I'd have done a top 25 but in fairness I don't know a lot about the likes of Buchan and Meredith. I can't see how he will get above any of the names still to come in my initial post though.
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Fair enough
 
wouldn't have Neville. Bobby Noble was a better full back until his unfortunate injury
 
Davìd Moyéz said:
Andy Mitten is currently going through his greatest 25 ever Manchester United players in a series in the Athletic. Starting at 25 he's currently down to 12 and we've had:

Fernandes
Irwin
Foulkes
Meredith
Byrne
Neville
Solskjaer
Buchan
Crerand
Beckham
Hughes
Van Nistelrooy
Vidic
Edwards

By my reckoning I can think of at least 12 more who should definitely be included so I'll be interested to see which one misses out. My 12 definites are:

Law
Best
Charlton
Schmeichel
Keane
Scholes
Robson
Giggs
Cantona
Ferdinand
Rooney
Ronaldo

I would be interested to hear whether anyone else has any they think should definitely have been included or what other people's top 25 would be.
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I'm struggling to work out who from your extra list could justifiably miss out. All of them are comfortably within the top 25 for me.
 
Flying high said:
I'm struggling to work out who from your extra list could justifiably miss out. All of them are comfortably within the top 25 for me.
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Yeah, it's a head scratcher. The only thing I can think is possibly he's not including goalkeepers? Other than that I think Ferdinand would possibly be the most likely to drop out.
 
The Midnight Rambler said:
Knowing Mitten’s work, it will be a well considered and thoughtful list.

Surprise so far is seeing Ruud above Beckham. Huge fan of Ruud but I struggle to see how he gets ahead of Beckham here given what Beckham won and being part of the teams that established our dominance to take us from initial champions to serial winners and the benchmark club.
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Imo, Ruud is our best ever out and out striker aside from maybe Law. The only mark against him is the lack of major success in his time but that was more down to Fergie rebuilding the side and not quite getting it right on occasions.

As good as Beckham was, I don't think he ever had that level of form that Ruud had. He broke the consecutive goals record twice
dutchred said:
wouldn't have Neville. Bobby Noble was a better full back until his unfortunate injury
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Neville probably had longer at the top level but not much between them tbf.
 
The Cat said:
Taylor?
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I think he may have mentioned in the article for Van Nistelrooy or Hughes that the likes of Taylor and Viollet hadn't made it. Similarly in the Solskjaer article he gives notable mentions to Cole, Yorke and Sheringham.

Nobby Stiles another I think who must've been close
 
Davìd Moyéz said:
Yeah, it's a head scratcher. The only thing I can think is possibly he's not including goalkeepers? Other than that I think Ferdinand would possibly be the most likely to drop out.
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Yeah I though about both of those. Ferdinand would be just plain wrong. Schmeichel I have always thought was slightly over rated, but he still deserves to be in the top 25 I'd say. The other possibilities are Giggs and Ronaldo. If we're talking greatest players both are comfortably in the top 10. But you could make arguments about either when it comes to off field stuff or commitment to the club.
 
Schmeichel
Parker
Pallister
Irwin
Bruce
Sharpe
Ince
Hughes
McClair
Keane
Cantona
Robson
Kanchelskis
Giggs
 
Evra should be in over over Neville.

Bruno also deserves to be higher. It's not our winningest times, but he's been the backbone for the stretch.
 
I get its a personal list to Mitten, so its hard to argue with - but Solskjaer shouldn't really be in there. Great player, cult hero of course, but he's not one of the 25 best ever footballers to play for United.

Also agree with others that Ruud is a bit high.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
I get its a personal list to Mitten, so its hard to argue with - but Solskjaer shouldn't really be in there. Great player, cult hero of course, but he's not one of the 25 best ever footballers to play for United.

Also agree with others that Ruud is a bit high.
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I'll see the funny side if he's got his Uncle in the top 5
 
KStandBarmyArmy1993 said:
Imo, Ruud is our best ever out and out striker aside from maybe Law. The only mark against him is the lack of major success in his time but that was more down to Fergie rebuilding the side and not quite getting it right on occasions.

As good as Beckham was, I don't think he ever had that level of form that Ruud had. He broke the consecutive goals record twice

Neville probably had longer at the top level but not much between them tbf.
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Appreciate that point and I’m a big Ruud fan so will always advocate for him.
In this list, I do maintain Beckham should be higher.

This is titled as our greatest players (not necessarily our best in any given position) so we can look beyond pure numbers and Beckham being a core part of the Co92, the romance of the treble and his own redemption story post 98 while with us adds to it for me above what Ruud achieved with us.
 
From the last 30 or so years with not the most knowledge of the 90s

Giggs
Ronaldo
Cantona
Scholes
Beckham
Keane
Smeicheal
Rooney
Vidic
Ferdinand
Van der sar
Evra
Bruno Fernandes
Van Nistlerooy
De Gea
Carrick
Gary neville

What do united fans make of that?
 
Raul Madrid said:
From the last 30 or so years with not the most knowledge of the 90s

Giggs
Ronaldo
Cantona
Scholes
Beckham
Keane
Smeicheal
Rooney
Vidic
Ferdinand
Van der sar
Evra
Bruno Fernandes
Van Nistlerooy
De Gea
Carrick
Gary neville

What do united fans make of that?
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Van Der sar is a good shout.
 
Ole'sgunnarwin said:
Schmeichel
Parker
Pallister
Irwin
Bruce
Sharpe
Ince
Hughes
McClair
Keane
Cantona
Robson
Kanchelskis
Giggs
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For 90 mins well let ‘em know!

If this list doesn’t include Kanchelskis, it’s pointless

Schmeichel
Van der Sar
Evra
Irwin
G Neville
Rio
Vidic
Stam
McGrath
Beckham
Scholes
Keane
Giggs
Kanchelskis
Ronaldo
Ince
Cantona
Ruud
Rooney
Carrick
Best
Law
Charlton
Robson
Edwards
 
Davìd Moyéz said:
I'll see the funny side if he's got his Uncle in the top 5
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Oddly enough, Charlie was one of my old fellas faves. He was that era. Always loved to point out when he was on penalty duty, he’d point to the corner where he was going to put it… and then actually put it there. Always. Having also seen the Babes as well as the 60s side, he’d laugh at some of these nominations, as good as they are
 
Also Buchan is always left out of these things. He was brilliant just played in one of the worst eras for the club.
 
I can only speak from a perspective of someone who started supporting United in 1995.

Top of my list would be Paul Scholes followed by Ryan Giggs.
I think having both for so long was almost like a cheat code.
Their consistency, immaculate technique which was incredibly rare in the first decade of the PL on top of their ability to reinvent themselves as they got older gave SAF and the club a massive edge, both played a huge part in United’s dominance.

Third would be Cantona, fourth would be Rooney, Fifth would be Keane.
 
bigal01 said:
Neville ahead of Bruno !?
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I don't have an issue with this. Bruno is great and all but so was Neville. Starting fullback for over a decade and would have been longer if not for injuries. Won everything and was an absolutely guaranteed starter for us during our best years.
 
Number 11. Peter Schmeichel New
New piece out today from Mitten with Schmeichel at number 11. The list so far:
25. Fernandes
24. Irwin
23. Foulkes
22. Meredith
21. Byrne
20. Neville
19. Solskjaer (missed a trick not having him number 20)
18. Buchan
17. Crerand
16. Beckham
15. Hughes
14. Van Nistelrooy
13. Vidic
12. Edwards
11. Schmeichel

Looks like Ferdinand/Taylor/Stiles/Viollet will definitely not make his top 25 as I'd imagine the final 10 will be Law, Best, Charlton, Robson, Cantona, Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Rooney, Ronaldo
 
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