Neil Webb

[Oldham]

Old school.

IMO a very good player, good on the ball and good eye for a pass.
Never made a big impact at United but a terrific player for N. Forrest.

Almost went broke, works/worked as a mailman, missed out on the PL money...(correct me if wrong).

Did you rate Webb as a player?

 

[Devil may care]

I thought he was going to be fantastic for us but sadly he had a bad knee injury if I recall correctly and it didn't really happen for him here.

 

[Oldham]

He did play 26 games for England, and England had good midfielders at the time....
Not bad goal/game ration. Career:

Games: 486 ​

Goals: 121​

 

[204Red]

A top signing at the time... a real coup for us. Most Reds were drooling over the prospect of having him and Robbo at the core of our midfield as we attempted to end our 20plus year title drought. Scored a cracker v the Arse on his debut.

Sadly a serious injury (playing for England I believe) derailed his United career less than 10 games in. He never really recovered from it.

 

[Oldham]

Forgotten about the knee injury...to bad, him and Robson

 

[savais]

It was his achilles or ankle, not his knee, if I am not mistaken

 

[sparky]

That cross field ball into the feet of Lee Martin in the FA cup final replay was worth it alone.

 

[Anderson's Cat]

Superb player. I remember his debut goal (see spoiler 8:30) against Arsenal. Such a shame about his injuries.

Spoiler

 

[Grinner]

He was an excellent player and yet another produced by the genius Clough.

His wife was an annoying cow though.

 

[lysglimt]

he wasn't a product of Clough - he had almost 200 League games and 50 goals for Reading and Pompey when Clough signed him. Webb was 22 or so at the time.

 

[Randall Flagg]

Clicked on last post from the main menu read the most recent 2 posts, thought for a moment it was a RIP thread.

 

[fjred]

He got the injury playing for England and was never the same after. I was really narked at the time because of it. I never wanted any of our players to play nationally again.

 

[BAMSOLA]

I've heard that his delivery has gotten better since he retired from football.

hee hee

 

[Magnus]

Brilliant signing but got seriousley injured against Sweden. Such a shame cause Robbo and him would have brought us the league a few years sooner

 

[.Phil1968]

I was in the Stretty for that game v Arsenal, that was the game where Michael Knighton juggled his balls and Webby scored that wonderful goal.I honestly thought that we were going to do great things in the league that season but playing for fecking England wrecked Webb's achilles and we lost 5-1 at Maine Road before fighting relegation for most of the season.Webb could have gone on to great things but for terrible luck with injuries.

 

[Phurry]

Last time I saw him was in 2000, working on a photocopier in the offices of Winterthur in Basingstoke.

 

[Rood]

ye class goal on debut - fell out with Fergie over playing for England, never got a look in after that

 

[togg]

I was in the Stretty for that game v Arsenal, that was the game where Michael Knighton juggled his balls and Webby scored that wonderful goal.I honestly thought that we were going to do great things in the league that season but playing for fecking England wrecked Webb's achilles and we lost 5-1 at Maine Road before fighting relegation for most of the season.Webb could have gone on to great things but for terrible luck with injuries.

remember the game so well. Like you I thought we were going to be an absolute powerhouse that season, it was one hell of day. Looking back at that Knighton thing now, bloody hell what an embarrassment. At the time I thought, hey an owner that can juggle (well...a bit) an actual football, that can't be bad!!

 

[.Phil1968]

I remember all week in Manchester there were rumours of a takeover at United and the Evening News carried a story on the Friday about the Celtic owner, I forget his name, being the one taking us over and then Knighton appeared before the game.That was a fantastic performance from United that day, Arsenal were reigning Champions and we played them off the park 4-1 and we missed a penalty as well.
The Evening News also were the only paper in Britain to print the tables after only 1 game as United were top.
Going back to Webb it's a shame no one offered him a job in football after he retired.

 

[BAMSOLA]

Nobody likes my postman joke.

 

[misterredmist]

Yes, Webb was a class player, he set up the goal that won the first of Fergie's trophies, a long diagonal ball into the path of Lee Martin.....and he'd only come back from injury for the semi versus Oldham at Maine Rd, IIRC.

unfortunately, I think the ruptured achilles he got playing for England prior to the above did for him, he seemed to pile weight on after that and never quite recovered fitness and form.....shame.....

I rated him anyway

 

[Talking Vulture]

Absolute shit house when he got subbed v Forest when we were chasing the game.

feck him, the one wonder goal fat cnut

 

[golden_blunder]

that was the day Mike Phelan made his debut too I think. (the game against Arsenal)

 

[Verminator]

Absolute shit house when he got subbed v Forest when we were chasing the game.

feck him, the one wonder goal fat cnut

I was in the Stretty that day too.

While not going to your lengths, I remember being glad to see the back of him.
He turned into a whining blimp, using his wife's place in the media to direct slurs at the club.
Actually, in retrospect TV, you're spot on!
Fat, fecking, pony-gobbler!

 

[Rolandofgilead]

I remember all week in Manchester there were rumours of a takeover at United and the Evening News carried a story on the Friday about the Celtic owner, I forget his name, being the one taking us over and then Knighton appeared before the game.That was a fantastic performance from United that day, Arsenal were reigning Champions and we played them off the park 4-1 and we missed a penalty as well.
The Evening News also were the only paper in Britain to print the tables after only 1 game as United were top.
Going back to Webb it's a shame no one offered him a job in football after he retired.

He was hired as manager of Weymouth in the late nineties (97/98 i think) i can't remember if he played a bit as well but i'm fairly sure he got sacked.

 

[Moriarty]

He was hired as manager of Weymouth in the late nineties (97/98 i think) i can't remember if he played a bit as well but i'm fairly sure he got sacked.

I can think of just one Forest player that came here (Keane) whose transfer could be deemed a success. Storey-Moore was a really good player but plagued by knee and ankle problems; Webb, whose injuries are described well enough on here; and Birtles.

 

[Verminator]

Davenport was Forest too. Another raging success!

 

[Moriarty]

Davenport was Forest too. Another raging success!

Bugger, how could I forget him?

 

[stevetheskier]

I can think of just one Forest player that came here (Keane) whose transfer could be deemed a success. Storey-Moore was a really good player but plagued by knee and ankle problems; Webb, whose injuries are described well enough on here; and Birtles.

While not really able to be classed as a success Ian Storey-Moore made a great start to his short United career, scoring on his debut and finishing the season with 5 goals in 11 games before an ankle injury just about finished him.

 

[Moriarty]

While not really able to be classed as a success Ian Storey-Moore made a great start to his short United career, scoring on his debut and finishing the season with 5 goals in 11 games before an ankle injury just about finished him.

I liked Storey-Moore, especially when he gave the V sign to the Derby fans after he scored against them at the Baseball Ground. Denis Law, in his autobiography, talks about Moore's arrival at United and how he thought something was amiss when he saw Moore strapping up his ankles in training.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

While not really able to be classed as a success Ian Storey-Moore made a great start to his short United career, scoring on his debut and finishing the season with 5 goals in 11 games before an ankle injury just about finished him.

Yes, I would agree with that. Not unlike Webb in that respect: He came with a lot of hype and initially it looked justified. Injuries got the better of both players after they came to us. Birtles was just horrible. For us, I mean. He was a good player but for some reason he just couldn't score for United. Comparable, at a stretch, to Forlan, perhaps.