OTHER EVENTS

The Leader Column

Authoritative, independent and hard hitting, the weekly column on the business of football tackles some of the biggest issues of the week. Click here to sign up for your weekly fix from the Leaders in Football.

THE GOLDEN AGES

4:30pm Thursday, 28th May 2009

Any outsider to football might imagine that two great clubs like Man United and Barca would have met a number of times in European Finals but in fact, prior to this week, they had met only once. That occasion - when United beat Barca 2 - 1 in the Uefa Cup Winners' Cup Final in Rotterdam, in 1991 - was not a great game but it was highly significant in many ways.

For a start, it was the first season that English clubs had been allowed back into European competitions since the post-Heysel ban in 1985. For five long years, English clubs took no part in the greatest matches in Europe, and the magisterial AC Milan side of the day went on a run of European Cup winning which ended after they spanked Barcelona 4-0 in 1994.

Secondly, Man United's team in 1991 was almost entirely British: the only 'foreigner' was Denis Irwin from the Republic of Ireland, and every player on the bench was English. A Welshman, Mark Hughes, got both their goals.

Last but by no means least, 1991 was the year the Premier League was formed, kicking off its first season the following year. For United, the timely victory over Barca marked a great turning point in the Club's fortunes; it signaled an emergence from the long, dark tunnel of 25yrs without a league title (apart from the 2nd Division!) or a European Cup, and the start of twenty years domination of English football.

If ever there was a 'golden age' for a football club, surely this is it? The famous United team of the 1960s may have won a few league titles and one European Cup - with Best, Law &Charlton et al - but they were hardly on the same park as the post 1992 lot. Back in the sixties, the 'golden age' didn't last all that long either, petering out into mediocrity within a few years. Two decades of domination of the most competitive league in the world is something else.

But Wednesday's victory over Man United by a dancing Barca team with a makeshift defence rings another bell. United may well still be the best team in England - and no one expects a sudden decline - but when you're at the top of the mountain, the only relevant direction is down. There will be many, probably older, United fans who in the middle of their current sadness will find themselves thinking: 'How much longer can we expect this 'golden age' to go on?'

The answer will probably have Sir Alex Ferguson's name in the sentence.

back