38. Ryan Giggs

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 0-2 loss at Everton (as sub), March 2nd 1991
League Record: 555 games (+117 as sub), 114 goals
Sold to: retired, May 19th 2014

The first man we’ve come across who is still playing pro football, and still at the top level at that. Ryan Giggs is a freak of the modern age in terms of his longevity and fitness. It’s amazing to think there are plenty of United fans out there (i.e. those a couple of years younger than me) who can’t remember a time Giggs wasn't in the first team.

His backstory is well known, especially the part about him training with City until the newly arrived Fergie set about overhauling the youth policy. A United fan from Salford, though born in Wales, the-then Ryan Wilson didn’t need much convincing when we finally got the wherewithal to come knocking. His potential was impossible to miss, by all accounts, and he made his debut not long after his 17th birthday. A few months later, he got his first start in the Manchester Derby, taking the credit for a Colin Hendry own goal.

The next season, with Lee Sharpe out injured, he claimed the left wing spot along with the #11 shirt and after Sharpe left in 1996, he was pretty much unopposed in the position for the next ten years, barring a Swedish rival for the Treble season.

In those early days, he became the poster boy for the early Premiership period, advertising all manner of things (veggie sausages spring to mind) and the club stuck his face on just about anything they could sell. He’d be eventually replaced in this role by some kid from That London playing on the other wing.

Throughout all his 20 years in the team, he’s rarely had the absolute backing of the entire support: after a brilliant 1993/94 season where he scored 19 goals, he struggled the next campaign and from then on, he always seemed to have some sections of the crowd on his back. It’s also unlikely he’s been that many people’s favourite player, but he always had the knack of answering critics in spectacular style.

There was, of course, his wonder goal in the 1999 FA Cup Semi-Final replay, where he picked up a wayward Arsenal pass near the half way line and kept running till he nearly hit the touchline, at which moment he smashed it into the top of the net.

But there was also a sublime performance at Juventus that came in one of the many dips in form a player gets over two decades. At a ground we’d never found it easy, he ran riot, scoring twice in a 3-0 victory. At the time, his form really was suffering and it was the perfect reply to the critics.

Yes, there have been spells of indifferent form where he seemed to spend too much with his hands on his hips as a pass went astray, and that open goal miss in the FA Cup against Arsenal in 2003 was inexcusable: I was in London that day, which happened by chance to be when the huge anti-war march took place. Sorry to say, the enormity of the event was far overshadowed by our defeat and wondering how the fuck Giggsy had put it over the bar when all he needed to do was pea-roll it into an unguarded goal. Such is football.

But in all likelihood, he’ll still be playing top class football at the age of 39, still patrolling the wing and occasionally twisting a full-back apart like nobody else can. He’s won more English league titles than anyone body else as well as four FA Cups and a couple of European Cups into the bargain. With other 900 first team games, he's played more for Manchester United than anybody else and certainly just about every England coach from Graham Taylor onwards has wished he’d been born in England rather than Wales.

More recently, there were revelations about his personal life that has sullied his reputation as a human being. Separating the man from his art, difficult as it may be, leaves someone who deserves his place amongst the greats of the club. It’ll be a strange day when the #11 shirt has something other than “Giggs” above it.

* May 2014 edit: after a season as player-coach under the somewhat underwhelming reign of David Moyes, Giggs took charge for the last four games of the season. In the second-to-last, a home game against Hull City, he brought himself off the bench, set up a goal and nearly scored another. That he didn't meant that the Manchester United scoring lists were missing his name for the first time since 1989/90.

As the appointment of Louis van Gaal as Manager was announced, the news came out that Ryan Giggs had retired as a player, to take up duties as the new Assistant Manager.

37. Darren Ferguson

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 2-1 defeat vs Sheffield United (as sub), February 26th 1991
League Record: 20 games (+7 as sub)
Sold to: Wolverhampton Wanderers (£250,000) January 1994

He’s the son of Fergie, and he’s never going to get away from that. With that out of the way, we can say as a footballer he was never anywhere near United standard. Not awful, of course, but not the kind to ever stamp his mark in the top flight. His best tool was a good left foot, though he never managed to use it to get the ball in the back of the net.

That all being said, he still managed to win a Premiership medal in 1992/93 after playing plenty of games early in the season due to injuries: his best moment was taking the free kick that led to us getting our first win that season (in the fourth game) down at Southampton. When Lee Sharpe returned from injury, however, it was back to the stiffs for young Darren and when Brian McClair moved back to midfield later in the season, he rarely troubled the first XI again.

I doubt anyone was particularly bothered when he dropped down a division to sign for Wolves. Later, he dropped further down the leagues with Wrexham, where he seemed to discover his best form, finally adding a decent scoring return to this game.

He’ll play a part in the stories of players much further down this line as a manager of teams they went out on loan to. This had led to predictable (though not necessarily untrue) comments that Fergie Snr was again helping his son’s football career. Currently in a second spell in the managerial chair at Peterborough, after a less successful time at Preston saw him get the old tin tack.

36. Gary Walsh

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 3-3 draw vs Aston Villa, December 13th 1986
League Record: 49 games (+1 as sub)
Sold to: Middlesbrough (£600,000), summer of 1995

From Wigan, Gary Walsh was a promising Rubgy League player who fell into football almost by chance: when another player dropped out of a game, he took the place. A United scout was watching and he was soon signed up, playing in the same youth team as Lee Martin and Tony Gill.

A few weeks after Fergie took charge, he got his chance aged only 18. At this point, Gary Bailey  - another blonde goalie who’d graduated to the senior team while only a teenager - was on the verge of retiring from injury (he’d play his five final games in the Spring of 1987) and Walsh was thrown in. Ferguson clearly rated him, as he played plenty of games throughout the rest of 86/87 and started the following season as first choice ahead of the more experienced Chris Turner, who had been signed by Ron Atkinson from Sunderland in the summer of 1985, ostensibly as back-up to Bailey, who at that point was fully fit and firmly established as our #1 and third choice England ‘keeper.

Like Bailey again, injury would ruin Gary Walsh’s United career. The most serious was after being kicked in the head during a mid-season tour in Bermuda, from which it was feared he wouldn’t play again.

As suggested by his lateness in entering this blog, Walsh was out of first team contention for three years – his only first team action coming during a loan spell up at Aidrie – with Jim Leighton then Les Sealey holding onto the goalie’s shirt. He made his comeback in February 1991 and appeared in a few more games that season after Mad Les’ bad injury in the ’91 League Cup final, and even won a Cup Winners’ Cup medal as an unused sub.

Of course, any hopes he had of establishing a first team place when Sealey was let go faded to nothing when we went out and snapped the world’s best in as a new #1. I barely remember him getting a game until the end of 1993/94, when he came on as sub at Ipswich and stayed in the team for the last two games of the season: against Southampton he was particularly impressive and a FA Cup winners medal for sitting on the bench was some small reward.

He may have had more the next season, when he finally got a half-decent run in the team and played ten games, which would have been enough for a Championship medal, if we’d won it that season. Sadly for Gary, we finished second due to last day heroics of West Ham keeper Ludek Miklosko denying us the win needed for the title.

That summer, Bryan Robson took him up to Middlesbrough where he was first choice keeper for a while, followed by a spell at Bradford City where he made over 100 league appearances before ending his playing career as back-up at Wigan. Last heard working as a goalkeeping coach at Hull City.

35. Dennis Irwin

Signed from: Oldham Athletic (£625,000), June 1990
Debut: 2-0 win vs Coventry City, August 25th 1990
League Record: 356 games (+12 as sub), 22 goals
Sold to: Wolverhampton Wanderers (free transfer), summer of 2002

Talk to any time-served United fan about Dennis Irwin and chances are you'll eventually hear the words "reliable" or "consistent". However, that doesn't tell the full story of a man who can count himself as one of Sir Alex Ferguson's best bits of business.

Irwin began his pro career over the Pennines with Leeds United. Helped by the management of Eddie Gray, always well-regarded for his ability developing young players, he was soon in the first team and throughout 1984/85 season was a regular starter. However, that summer Billy Bremner became the new boss and didn't rate the young Irishman, letting him leave on a free. This may help explain why Bremner was sacked a couple of years later.

Snapped by a more sympathetic manager in Oldham Athletic's Joe Royle, Dennis was soon back on track and became a key part of a developing team. By 1990, alongside ex-Red Andy Richie, he was part of a very good team that reached the League Cup final and gave United all manner of problems in the FA Cup.

I actually got a decent look at him around this time, as I won two tickets to the 1990 League Cup final in which Oldham lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest. Irwin must have made a good impression, as I can clearly remember being happy with the news he'd be wearing a red shirt.

In his first season, he was mainly seen at right-back. On his début, he helped set up both our goals and his crossing and dead-ball abilities would become a big part of our player over the next decade. Eventually, he settled in at left-back, a position in which he can claim to be our best ever, certainly from those I've seen. Though not the quickest player, he had the intelligence to always position himself correctly and was as good at crossing the ball as most wingers. Never shy going forward, it was one of his runs that brought about the penalty that opened the scoring in the 1994 FA Cup final. The run to that final also saw him on the end of a great team move against Wimbledon, which he finished by scuffing the ball into the corner.

He was also a dead-shot at set-pieces, being our penalty taker for a spell in the late 1990s, a job at which he was typically reliable. I remember him missing one late on in the 1999 Treble season but didn't shirk when the next spot-kick came up, at Liverpool - which he put away.

By 2002, he was well into his 30s and we had Mikael Silvestre playing in the left back position and he was allowed to sign for Wolves. In his first season, alongside Paul Ince, they were promoted to the Premiership. Though they were relegated back down after one season, Dennis didn't disgrace himself in his final year before retirement - indeed, when he came back to Old Trafford, I remember a young Portuguese number seven was kept well in his place by the veteran.

34. Mark Bosnich

Signed from: Non-contract player (June 1989)
Debut: 0-0 draw vs Wimbledon, April 30th 1990
League Record: 3 games
Sold to: Left due to work permit problems (June 1991)

You wait ages for another goalie, then two come along at once… I’m not sure if Leighton had fitness problems leading up to the 1990 FA Cup final, whether he was just being rested or whether Fergie was finally having doubts that would become justified in the first game against Crystal Palace.

Like Les Sealey, Mark Bosnich had two spells with the club. He is, however, the first player who’ll appear more than once as I’ve decided to have different entries for both his spells at the club to avoid talking too much here about events ten years down the line.

There’s not too much to say about his initial period with us. He was a young student from Australia at the time, and I’m not aware of the circumstances that saw him get a small handful of games over 1990/91. It seems he did a decent enough job (two draws and a win) and we may have been keen on signing him to a contract – he was essentially playing as an amateur, I believe. But problems obtaining a work permit got in the way and he went back home. He’d return soon after by marrying a girl from Manchester, which enabled him to sign for Aston Villa and begin a career that’ll bring him back around come entry #88.

(Also, I can't find a picture of him from around the time of his first spell at the club and the fact Garth Dykes' The United Alphabet book uses one of him in a Villa kit for the entry would perhaps suggest there aren't any.)

33. Les Sealey

Signed from: Luton Town (free transfer) first time, Aston Villa (free transfer) the second.
Debut: 2-1 win vs Queen’s Park Rangers, April 14th 1990
League Record: 33 games
Sold to: Aston Villa (free transfer) the first time, Blackpool (free transfer) the second.

Our second goalkeeper, at last! Jim Leighton made nearly two entire seasons without missing a single game in league or cup - you can't imagine that happening in these days of squad rotation.

Les Sealey is a classic case of how you can become a huge fan favourite and even enjoy a little iconic status without necessarily being a top-quality footballer. What was perhaps most important was that he “got” what it meant to play for us and revelled in every second he got in the shirt.

When he arrived at United, Les must have thought his best days were well behind him. 33-years-old, he’s had lengthy spells at Coventy City and Luton Town and was now second choice at the latter. Never a likely contender for a move to a big club or international recognition, he’d not had much luck on the trophy front either: when Luton Town had the biggest day of their history in beating Arsenal 3-2 at the 1988 League Cup final, he was out with injury. When they made the final again the next year, he was back in the team but had to make do with a runners-up medal as they lost 3-1 to Nottingham Forest. He hadn't had the best game in that, hence Andy Dibble earning the #1 shirt soon after.

By the Spring of 1990, he was second choice at Luton and it seemed his career was winding down. The typical route from here would have been to sign for someone like Northampton Town and have a few years kicking round the lower divisions. Instead, he wound up on loan at Manchester United and a month later, winning a FA Cup winner’s medal. Ferguson noted that his choice to play him ahead of Leighton in the replay came down to that while Sealey may not have been a technically better keeper, he thought he was. Confidence in a goalie is crucial, and Les had that in spades.

The next season, he started as first choice, barking away at the back four and becoming a firm crowd favourite. His most memorable moment came in the 1991 League Cup final, when he was seriously hurt in a clash with a Sheffield Wednesday player. Our physio, Jim McGregor, wanted to bring him off, such was the worry about the severity of the wound. But these were the days before substitute goalkeepers and Les knew he needed to stay on, looking like he was willing to beat the crap out of Jim and anybody else who insisted differently.

After defeat and on the bus back to the airport, Les passed out. It later transpired that if he’d got on the plane to Manchester, the change in air pressure may have caused very serious damage to his leg.

All was made better when he came back to play in the Cup Winners Cup Final. His joyous celebrations as seen in the pic above made the cover of the legendary (for a certain generation) video game Manchester United Europe.

In the summer, Ferguson correctly noted that to challenge for the top prize, you need a world class keeper (exception to the rule: John Lukic), and the big Dane he signed was as good as they got. Not ready to play second fiddle again, Les was allowed to join Aston Villa on a free. He started out there first choice, but Nigel Spink won his place back and our man was allowed to go out on loan to local rivals Coventry and Birmingham. In the middle of 92/93, we needed some back-up and brought him back: he remained a popular figure and would get a song during the warm-up.

When the aforementioned world class keeper got sent-off against Charlton in a FA Cup quarter final in 1994, Les stepped into the breach, and it was great to see him on the pitch again. He even got to play in the League Cup final a few weeks later due to the Dane’s suspension. We lost 3-1 in a game I watched for the main part in a Motorway service station near Stoke on the way to Milton Keynes. That summer, having become third choice - entry #36 got the nod as sub keeper for the FA Cup final - he went off to Blackpool, later returning to his native London with West Ham. He got a game for them at Old Trafford in the last game of the 1996/97 season and, again, got a warm reception.

Sadly, Les suffered a fatal heart attack in August 2001, making him I hope the only entry who is no longer with us. At our next game after his death, up at Blackburn, reds in the stands went into a loud rendition of "There's only one Les Sealey" in tribute. Top man, sadly missed.

32. Danny Wallace

Signed from: Southampton (£1,300,000), September 1989
Debut: 3-2 win vs Portsmouth (League Cup tie, scored once), September 20th 1989
League Record: 36 games (+11 as sub), 6 goals
Sold to: Birmingham City (£400,000), October 1993

As a child in the 1980s, Danny Wallace always seemed a really exciting player and thus I was pleased when we signed him. Good enough to make his Southampton début aged only 16, the departure of star players like Kevin Keegan, Alan Ball and Mick Channon ensured that he was one of their main men by the time they had their best-ever league season, finishing second in 1984.

Blessed with rapid pace and an ability to score spectacular goals (his superb overhead effort against Liverpool in 1984 was one of the picks of the decade), he made his England debut against Egypt in 1986, scored and was then strangely never got picked again. A couple of years later, he played a game alongside his younger twin brothers, Rod and Ray, a rare occasion of three brothers playing alongside each other in the same team.

It never really worked out for him at United, sadly. There were moments in his first season where he showed us what he could do - vital goals in cup games against Newcastle and Oldham spring to mind – and he was in the team that won the cup at the end of his first season. Often it seemed he struggled with being restricted to being on the left - Wallace was never really a winger in the traditional sense.

But then the real problems started after that summer, when Lee Sharpe returned to full fitness won the left-wing position. Despite that, his best moment came in the autumn of 1990 in the 6-2 smackdown of Arsenal. Playing the kind of free role he was used to at Southampton, Danny run riot, playing a big part in most of the goals and scoring the sixth himself. There haven't been too many better individual performances in a United shirt that I can remember.

It was a false dawn, though. Niggling injuries kept him out of the team and though he managed to earn a Cup Winners Cup medal as an unused sub, he barely featured at all from 1991 to his departure in 1993. His last contribution was scoring a superb long-range goal down at Brighton in a League Cup tie in the Autumn of 1992. A move to Birmingham saw a debut goal followed by familiar fitness problems and he retired after playing a single game for Wycombe, aged only 31.

Unfortunately for Danny, the reason for his recurring injury woes soon became clear when he diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  Since then, he’s faced the condition bravely and took part in fund-raising efforts: several ex-United players took part in a benefit game down at Southampton a few years back, and the man himself did a sponsored walk of the London Marathon course.

31. Paul Ince

Signed from: West Ham United (£2,400,000), September 1989
Debut: 5-1 win vs Millwall, September 16th 1989
League Record: 203 games (+3 as sub), 25 goals
Sold to: Inter Milan (£7,500,000), summer of 1995

Paul Ince was one of numerous products of West Ham United’s famed youth system and the ambition that would cause many a United fan to later label him many rude names was evident when the Hammers were relegated from the First Division in 1989.

He wanted out, and got wind United were interested. With West Ham not too keen on letting him go, a picture appeared in the papers of him wearing a United shirt. Sure enough, Hammers fan were enraged and his swiftly left the club - Ince stated the picture wasn't supposed to have been released until after the transfer was completed, but it didn't sit well with anyone. Not ones to drop a grudge, our match at Upton Park in 1994 saw him subject to vile abuse from his former supporters, which he answered in the best fashion by scoring a late equaliser.

When he did arrive, he failed a medical and thus the fee was paid with a million up front and the rest per game he played. At first, he didn’t seem all that special, being very raw and as yet unable to really take control of a game - and if not for injuries to Robson and Webb, I doubt he would have got as many games as he did in his first year. Indeed, for spells of that season, he instead played at right-back in place of the injured Viv Anderson, including the cup final.

All the same, there were hints of something special: I especially remember him smashing a long range shot against the bar against Oldham that signalled there was something worth developing.

Over the next couple of years, he matured as a midfield player, doubtless helped by playing and training alongside Bryan Robson and by the time we began the first Premiership campaign, he was a crucial part of the team. In no small part this was down to finally adding goals to his game, knocking in seven that season when playing as a ball-winning midfielder was no small beer. He also made a habit of making driving runs from midfield that often led to goals - the third in our crucial win at Norwich in the Spring of 1993 being a very good example.

Around this time, he established himself in the national team and made history when he became the first black England captain. Despite that, his career at international level never really seemed to hit the heights of his club form, strong performances at Euro ’96 aside.

Playing alongside a man from Cork the next season, he got even better as we snapped up the league and FA Cup double. However, there were problems under the surface. Ince seemed to have begun believing his own hype, revelling in his self-appointed status as “the Guv’nor” – a nickname never likely to impress Alex Ferguson. After the disastrous 4-0 spanking at the hands of Barcelona in 1994, Fergie slammed Ince as a “big time Charlie” and in hindsight, it was no surprise we let him head off to Inter that summer, especially given he had ambitions of trying his luck in Italy. It turned out to be the best move for us too, his departure allowing other players the chance to stamp their mark on the team.

At Inter, he seemed to be a success: his second season saw him score six goals in 24 games, a superb return in the hyper-defensive Serie A. They also made the UEFA Cup final, though were beaten on penalties by Schalke.

After two years on the continent, he reappeared here playing for, of all teams, Liverpool – much to the chagrin of numerous Reds. In Ince’s defence, we hadn’t taken up the option to resign him and the scousers were doubtless the biggest club to make an offer. What was more hard to take was when he scored an equaliser in a crucial league game at the end of the 1999 season and celebrated like he’d won the World Cup. Perhaps he believed he’d got one over Fergie, but history records who had the last laugh there.

After failing to add to his medals in a team that flattered to deceive, he went on to spells at Middlesbrough and Wolves before moving into management. In that role, he appears to not possess the skills that he seems to think he has, though at least his son Tom looks like being a promising winger over at Blackpool.

Despite his apparent bitterness in the late 90s towards us, I've managed to maintain a respect for him as a player. He stepped up when Bryan Robson was too old to run the midfield and we wouldn't have won the 1993 and 1994 championships without him. That said, a future entry took many of Ince's qualities and added much more...

30. Gary Pallister

Signed from: Middlesbrough (£2,300,000) August 1989
Debut: 0-2 defeat vs Norwich City, August 30th 1989 
League Record: 314 games (+3 as sub), 12 goals
Sold to: Middlesbrough (£2,500,000) July 1998

Talk about a bad start: signed as the most expensive player in the country, on his debut – broadcast live on TV - Gary managed to give away a penalty and look like a complete lummox. A few weeks later, we got run all over the pitch in a 5-1 defeat to Man City and it was looking like a transfer mess-up in the Garry Birtles mold was in the offing. Instead, he ended up as one of the top centre halves in the country and a mainstay of one of the best defensive line-ups in the club’s history. 

Starting out at Middlesbrough in the mid 80s, he played his part in bringing them back from bankruptcy in the old Third Division all the way to the top flight. Though they were relegated in 1989, young Gary had earned England caps and wanted to stay in the top flight to help his chances of further honours. With Paul McGrath sold, we were in the market for a replacement and Fergie had to go through protracted negotiations before getting his man.

After his rocky start, not helped by playing in a team struggling for form, he finally settled in alongside Steve Bruce, a centre back partnership that would form a crucial part of the success to come. The two would eventually be labelled "Dolly and Daisy" and complemented each other superbly: Pallister was surprisingly pacey (I seem to recall he was one of our top sprinters over 100 meters for many years) and also a lot taller than Bruce. Pally was also confident with the ball at his feet and, somewhat amusingly, also looked knackered out after a few minutes on the pitch. 

Somewhat infamously, he was regarded as a terrible trainer to the degree the other players coined the phrase "having a Pally" for someone who'd not done too well that day. 

Through the early 1990s, he improved vastly along with the rest of the team - his own development being recognised by fellow pros who voted him PFA Player of the Year in 1992. The next year, he didn't miss a game as we won the first Premiership title. A classic United moment came in the last home game of that season, against Blackburn. With the title already won, we were 2-1 up in the last minute when we won a free kick on the edge of their area. To everyone's surprise (especially Bryan Robson, who can be seen on camera looking to the bench with a look of bafflement), Pally stepped up to take it. To complete a legendary season, he then smashed the ball home to score his first of the season.  

(As a sidenote, if you ever watch the behind-the-scenes video Captain's Log, there's a scene before the game where Pally laments him not scoring that season and asks to take any free kicks near goal if we were winning. Obviously the boss was in a generous mood!)

Despite his consistent form in a successful side, he never got the recognition at international level. 22 caps is no small amount, but he surely deserved more. Instead, successive coaches preferred the likes of Tony Adams, Mark Wright and Gareth Southgate. He got the respect he deserved from United fans, though - we knew he was a crucial part of a winning team. 

Perhaps his greatest moment in the shirt came close to the end of his time with us, at Anfield in the Spring of 1997. Chasing the title, points were essentially and Pally stepped up to nod in from two corners at the Kop end in a brilliant 3-1 victory, giving the team a big boost on the road to another title.

Eventually, age and injuries took their toll and he was sold back to Boro. He only managed a couple more seasons before decided to pack it in, and he’s been seen a few times on MUTV, including one memorable occasion where a caller on a phone-in stating his admiration for Gary’s 'bulge' in the trouser area. Another amusing anecdote was told to Andy Mitten by a teammate who said that when Pally had his kitchen renovated, he had the fridge moved a foot closer to the door to living room so he didn’t have to walk so far for a beer.