It's no coincidence at all that every single time Manchester United have won the European Cup, the team has been littered with star players performing with other star players to then be known as legendary as a grouping.
'68: Best, Law*, Charlton, Dunne, Foulkes, Stiles, Crerand supplemented by Stepney, Brennan, Kidd**, Sadler, Aston - re. the first 3 listed. all 3 of them won European Player of the Year (Ballon d'Or) during their careers at a time when the award was of the highest repute (they would all been WPOTY by today's metrics), such was their quality and Best & Charlton are not out of place in top 10 or 20's to have ever played the game, which, apart form Schmeichel (in his respective position) and C.Ronaldo, we can't say the same about for anyone else that has suited up for us.
Stiles and Crerand aren't mentioned much these days, but Stiles was world class at what he did and proved it at both the World Cup and in his job on Eusebio, the premier striker of the time. Tony Dunne was one of the best full-backs in the world then, too. In short, a very strong team that enabled its stars to shine.
*Law didn't play in the final, but like Keane in '99 he was instrumental in getting us there.
**Kidd scored in the final, thus justifying being the replacement.
'99: Schmeichel, Stam, Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Beckham, Yorke* supplemented by Irwin, Neville and Cole. The first grouping had players rated amongst the best in the world for their position throughout their careers, Yorke accepted, but in the '99 season, he was performing at a level the likes of Rivaldo would happily claim.
'08:Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez supplemented by Brown*, Carrick & Park. From the second grouping, Wes Brown, like Yorke in '99, was playing at a level the likes of Thuram would be expected to. The first grouping were there or thereabouts the best in their positions in the world and the second grouping were perfectly capable at their own roles.
In all instances, the teams the stars played in enabled they themselves to play their game and shine. If you look at most winners of the CL, there will be a similar style of grouping you can make between stars and supplementals/enablers, and in most instances, it is a prerequisite to winning the trophy.
I was thinking about this topic in relation to DDG and Pogba, really... (probably more Pogba than Dave, beings as he's the outfielder) and the amount of investment it will take to get us up to 'that' level where we have Pogba-calibre players dotted around the team. It's going to take a mindboggling amount of money, isn't it? But if we want to get right to the top of the tree again and stand eye-to-eye with those already there, it's a necessary evil as the romantic narrative of plucky underdog-level players besting those they've no right to (on paper) rarely plays out anymore (Chelsea's run was the last time it happened, isn't it?)
In this day and age, do we actually have the funds at hand to make groupings that get anywhere near what is listed for any of the European Cup winning teams listed above? And would the club sanction that kind of investment?
'68: Best, Law*, Charlton, Dunne, Foulkes, Stiles, Crerand supplemented by Stepney, Brennan, Kidd**, Sadler, Aston - re. the first 3 listed. all 3 of them won European Player of the Year (Ballon d'Or) during their careers at a time when the award was of the highest repute (they would all been WPOTY by today's metrics), such was their quality and Best & Charlton are not out of place in top 10 or 20's to have ever played the game, which, apart form Schmeichel (in his respective position) and C.Ronaldo, we can't say the same about for anyone else that has suited up for us.
Stiles and Crerand aren't mentioned much these days, but Stiles was world class at what he did and proved it at both the World Cup and in his job on Eusebio, the premier striker of the time. Tony Dunne was one of the best full-backs in the world then, too. In short, a very strong team that enabled its stars to shine.
*Law didn't play in the final, but like Keane in '99 he was instrumental in getting us there.
**Kidd scored in the final, thus justifying being the replacement.
'99: Schmeichel, Stam, Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Beckham, Yorke* supplemented by Irwin, Neville and Cole. The first grouping had players rated amongst the best in the world for their position throughout their careers, Yorke accepted, but in the '99 season, he was performing at a level the likes of Rivaldo would happily claim.
'08:Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez supplemented by Brown*, Carrick & Park. From the second grouping, Wes Brown, like Yorke in '99, was playing at a level the likes of Thuram would be expected to. The first grouping were there or thereabouts the best in their positions in the world and the second grouping were perfectly capable at their own roles.
In all instances, the teams the stars played in enabled they themselves to play their game and shine. If you look at most winners of the CL, there will be a similar style of grouping you can make between stars and supplementals/enablers, and in most instances, it is a prerequisite to winning the trophy.
I was thinking about this topic in relation to DDG and Pogba, really... (probably more Pogba than Dave, beings as he's the outfielder) and the amount of investment it will take to get us up to 'that' level where we have Pogba-calibre players dotted around the team. It's going to take a mindboggling amount of money, isn't it? But if we want to get right to the top of the tree again and stand eye-to-eye with those already there, it's a necessary evil as the romantic narrative of plucky underdog-level players besting those they've no right to (on paper) rarely plays out anymore (Chelsea's run was the last time it happened, isn't it?)
In this day and age, do we actually have the funds at hand to make groupings that get anywhere near what is listed for any of the European Cup winning teams listed above? And would the club sanction that kind of investment?
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