It is not a debate anyone will be having about the current Manchester United side but the Red Devils have had some truly envious collection of players in the past.
Gary Neville is someone who’s had the privilege of playing with, and being a crucial part of many of these teams so he’d know a thing or two about the greatest.
Contrary to expectations, he once delivered a clear verdict on which Man Utd side is the best ever, making some bold claims about the players involved.
It came down to the presence of eight players which gave his winner the edge, and Neville was a part of that team as well!
Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Gary Neville’s best Man Utd team of all time
When it comes to choosing the best Man Utd team of all time, there are a few that directly come to mind, be it the side having the “Holy Trinity” playing together, the treble-winning team, the Premier League dominating side, among many others.
Neville played for Man Utd for nearly 20 years, from 1992 to 2011, and was a part of arguably the most dominating era at Old Trafford.
He won the treble in 1999, won the Champions League again in the 2007/08 season, and was a part of multiple teams that became the envy of the footballing world.
The 1998/99 squad stands as the only side to win a treble at United but Neville went a different direction with his choice for the GOAT United team.
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He said back in 2020 on Sky Sports: “Without that great Barcelona team, I think that this would’ve been the greatest. There were eight players, I would say at the time Edwin Van der Sar, Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, you could put them in any team in the world, they were world class.
“I don’t think Manchester United have ever had a team that had so many world-class players, and I look back at all the teams in history. Of course, there have been world-class players at Manchester United but to have eight almost nine best in position in the world at that time, it was an unbelievable team.
“That to me was something special at Manchester United, it was breathtaking, something continental.”
Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest quality shines in this debate
Nowadays, managers often talk about burning out or the players stop receiving their messages after a certain period of time.
Sir Alex Ferguson remains the greatest ever because if one ranks the best Man Utd sides of all time from one to ten, arguably seven or eight will be made up of teams managed by him.
His ability to refresh the squads and manage across generations marks him as the greatest manager of all time, as he was able to connect with every player, old or young.
The debate for the best Man Utd side might elicit different opinions based on who’s asked, but the big learning from this debate is that the best manager of all time only has one answer – Sir Alex Ferguson.