I care about the number of players from the United Kingdom, home grown, players that represent the English National team, young talents, and the academy. Utilizing players from our academy has helped us out during some of our most bleakest moments. Take Mark Robins, for instance. His goal against Nottingham Forest in the 3rd round of the Fa Cup in 1990, took considerable pressure off Sir Alex. The atmosphere from fans had become raucous, the media predicted that his career was predicated on the result of the match, and the contextual factors dictated that Man Utd were floundering in 15th place, which is particularly noteworthy considering we hadn't finished in the bottom half of the table since 1975, excluding the acquisition of Sir Alex where we finished in the bottom table in 3 of his first 4 seasons. So, even if it's conjecture that Fergie would've been sacked that day, that moment, had we lost that game, the Fa Cup being Fergie's first trophy unequivocally had a galvanizing influence on Fergie, and therefore United. A month after academy graduate, Mark Robins scored in the 3rd round of the Fa Cup, we were losing 1-0 to Millwall in the league, on the 10th February, and had we lost that game we would've went bottom of the league, due to us losing at home to Spurs and Crystal Palace respectively. Fortunately, Mark Hughes who had his youth career at United scored in the game we ended up 2-1. Speaking of Mark Hughes, a player who had his youth career at United, scored a brace against Barcelona in the European Cup Winners' Cup final, (Clayton Blackmore, and Lee Sharpe, youth graduates were also in the starting berth) which was symbolically our first European trophy since 1968. It gave both Sir Alex and United conviction, as exemplified by, "if we are enough to win a top European trophy, we're certainly good enough to win the league." Needless to say, Fergie who had his tenure at the club in jeopardy went on to be our most successful manager ever, managing the club for a further 23 years, winning the league 13 times in the process, and establishing himself as the seventh longest serving manager in European history!
Conversely, the tradition predates Ferguson. Sir Matt Busby was predominantly responsible for transforming the fortunes of the club, after the Second World War. Contextually, It was the case that our first league Championship was secured in1 908, six years after we had officially changed our name to Manchester United, the subsequent title followed in 1911, and thereafter we were dangling incongruously, until the Second World War reached its equilibrium thanks to Sir Matt Busby being appointed the corresponding year.
Under his reign, Man Utd finished runners up in 1947, 1948,1949 and 1951, before winning a third league Championship in 1952. 1951 was our final season before winning the league, and it was this very year where the term "Busby Babes" was coined by Manchester Evening News journalist Frank Nicklin, as the "Busby Babes" went on to consolidate our resurgence by winning the league consecutively in seasons 1955-6, and 1956-7 with an average age of 21 and 22 respectively.
Unfortunately, extenuating circumstances such as the Munich Air Disaster, claimed the lives of 21 people, including 8 players. One of those players in Duncan Edwards is still talked about today. Some of the most prolific names in football have spoken about the extent to which they were enamoured with him. Some claiming he would've been England's captain in 1966, some say he's the most talented player they've ever seen, and Sir Bobby Charlton said he was the only player that made him feel intimated
Busby rebuilt his team in the 1960s, winning the league in 1965 and 1967, and winning the European Cup in 1968, with perhaps the most notable names being academy product being Nobby Stiles who marked Eusebio out of the 1966 World Cup semi – final between England and Portugal, and the fact that England went on to win the competition meant Stiles is one of three Englishmen who have won both the European Cup and the World Cup, another being Bill Foulkes the Rock of Old Trafford who was essential in helping Manchester United rebuild after the Munich disaster. He marshalled the Manchester United defence during one of the most emotional periods in the club’s history. He survived the Munich crash and managed to rescue others. In the reconstruction period that followed, he was named as captain to replace the late Roger Byrne and he was instrumental in leading Matt Busby’s ailing side back to the top of the game. After starting out in the United academy as an 18-year-old in 1950, Foulkes was promoted to the senior squad a year later. He went on to play for 19 years at the club, racking up 688 appearances. His haul of four league titles was not repeated by a United player for the next 32 years.
Success wasn’t limited to the league though as Foulkes also won the FA Cup and memorably, the 1968 European Cup. Moreover, there is of course, Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best and Dennis Law, forming the "Holy Trinity" said to be Man Utd's most formidable trio in its existence. Two of the aforementioned in Sir Bobby Charlton and Best were home grown players. The former, Charlton enjoyed a record-setting time at United, winning domestic and continental silverware while also being named as Footballer of the Year in both England and Europe. At the international level, he was a key member of the World Cup-winning English team of 1966. Charlton survived the Munich plane crash and was instrumental in helping rejuvenate United in the following years. Playing as an attacking midfielder or a forward, he led the entertaining United sides of the 1960s and came to be recognised as a symbol of the club. Whilst, the latter entertained the crowd at a time when the club was recently in adversity, not to mention fans would spend their hard earned cash from working all week to experience a show, and Best delivered, with his charisma, flamboyant nature, and went on to be a Ballon D'or winner, as well as setting a precedent for those wearing the no.7 shirt, which is still cherished today.
Even before Busby inspired resurgence, Manchester United teams have fielded at least one youth-team player in every match-day squad for the past 80 years. It is an unbroken tradition that stretches back to 1935, one that survived all kinds of situations and many different managers and chairmen.
Not every academy product does as planned at the club, but it hasn’t stopped them from making a career elsewhere, take Johnny Giles for instance, he’s now regarded as a Leeds and Irish legend, as exemplified by being considered the Greatest Irish Player of the last 50 years in 2004, a commendable amount of praise.
Fortunately, there is a plethora of academy prospects that were exceedingly talented individuals. The academy has produced one of the most renowned names in football, World Cup winners, Ballon D’or winners, Champions League winners. Obviously, from our academy there is the Class of 92 including one of the most renowned names in Football, our academy has produced Ballon D’or winners, World Cup winners. That is quite a record to be proud of.