68. Karel Poborsky

Signed from: Slavia Prague (£3,500,000), July 1996
Debut: 2-2 draw vs Everton, August 21st 1996
League Record: 18 games (+14 as sub), 5 goals
Sold to: Benfica (£2,460,000), July 1998

I’m sure hardly any United fans had a clue who this guy was prior to the 1996 European Championships. There, the Czech scored a goal that got replayed countless times as his nation made it to the final, beaten in extra time by the Germans. It was enough to convince Fergie to stump up the cash on what surely must have been a transfer that was "taking a punt" rather than well-planned out.

In hindsight, he was a puzzling addition. As a right-winger, he was in competition with David Beckham, who had had a solid first full season the year before. Then, on the first day of 1996/97, young Dave scored from the halfway line at Wimbledon, a moment which helped propel him to superstardom.

Karel, meanwhile, was less prone to such spectacular moments, though if nothing else he was faster than Beckham. Despite a well-taken goal in our 4-0 spanking of Leeds, he never really established a regular spot. His ridiculous hair style perhaps didn't help endear him to the crowd too – a factor to which Maurone Fellani can relate to.

In his second season, his chances of a game dropped and he was let go to Benfica, to non-existent mourning from most supporters. He clearly wasn't that bad, as he subsequently went on to enjoy a lengthy career in Italy, Portugal and back in his homeland. 118 caps for the Czech Republic isn't too shabby either!

67. Ronny Johnsen

Signed from: Besiktas (£1,200,000), Summer of 1996
Debut: 3-0 win vs Wimbledon (as sub), August 17th 1996
League Record: 85 games (+14 as sub), 7 goals
Sold to: released on a free transfer, Summer of 2002

At the time, to me at least, an unknown when we signed him. Having started in his native Norway, a short spell in Turkey preceded his move to us, by which time he was already established in the national team.

And a fine signing he turned out to be. Calm, tough enough to hack the English game but refined enough to be able to use the ball at his feet, he would become a firm favourite with the fans.

Though signed (presumably) as Fergie continued the search to replace Steve Bruce (he had left the summer Ronny signed), he occasionally filled in at midfield, playing an absolute blinder in that role in our 4-0 drubbing of Porto in 1997. The Portuguese side were considered a tough draw, but a barnstorming performance saw us through to the semi-finals.

A championship medal capped off a good first season, but he never quite managed that level of consistency again, in the main part due to injuries. He still managed to do his bit in the Treble season, though, starting in the Champions League final. Subsequent seasons saw injury problems limit his appearances and he was eventually let go on a free. He managed to get a contract at Aston Villa, playing fairly regularly for two years before a short spell at Newcastle. Drifting back home, he enjoyed a few more years playing before retiring at the end of the 2008 season.

A fine player, who rarely let anyone down, the kind that often make up vital cogs in a championship winning team.

66. Jordi Cruyff

Signed from: Barcelona (£1,400,000), August 1996
Debut: 3-0 win vs Wimbledon, August 17th 1996
League Record: 15 games (+19 as sub), 8 goals
Sold to: Alaves (free transfer), June 2000

If Darren Ferguson had problems having the boss as his old man, how about the pressure of your dad being one of the greatest players of all time? That was the shadow Jordi Cruyff had to always deal with throughout his playing career.

An attacking midfielder, he was born in Holland despite his dad being a huge Barcelona star at the time, though the middle name he went by (his first name is Johan) was a name from Catalonia. Jordi got his break under his pop at Barca, and did good enough to get in the Netherlands squad for the 1996 European Championships. Unfortunately for him, the tournament was a nightmare for a Dutch squad blighted by in-fighting, summed up by a 4-1 kicking from England. To compound the pain, Cruyff Senior was sacked by Barcelona and Jordi quickly realised he wouldn't fit in the new regime.

Jordi was a decent player blighted by injuries at United that prevented him from ever being a regular in the first team. It must have frustrating for him, as he was often shifted our wide left as cover for Ryan Giggs, a role he clearly wasn't suited to. After his first season, appearances became more limited, hard going for a player who clearly had enough talent to do better. A loan spell back to Celta Vigo in 1999 signposted where his future was, and he eventually returned to Spain when his contract expired.

Later, he would have spells in Ukraine and Maltra before moving into coaching. He's currently General Manager of Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv.

65. William Prunier

Signed from: On trial basis, December 1995
Debut: 2-1 win vs Queen’s Park Rangers, December 30th 1995
League Record: Two games
Sold to: Released, January 1996

A player for whom a lot of mythology has sprung up around, especially in coming in those "Fergie's Worst XI" polls you see, often very unfairly.

Here's the facts: in December 1995, there was an injury crisis in our backline. Pallister, May and Bruce were all out and in them days, the squads weren't quite as deep as they are now. Short-term reinforcements were needed and luckily, King Eric knew an old friend from his days back in the homeland who was without a club. Thus, William Prunier arrived on a trial basis.

His first game, he didn't look too bad. Gary Neville was alongside him at central defence and he even helped set up a goal: a corner was swung in and Will threw himself at it. He made contact and the opposition keeper needed to make the save, only for Andy Cole to nod in the rebound.

A couple of days later, at White Hart Lane, the holes at the back were exposed. Dennis Irwin had joined the injury list and when Peter Schmeichel went off injured, it was no surprise we took a 4-1 drubbing with Prunier taking a lot of the flak.

As it was, Fergie offered to extend his trial, but the player elected to move on and spent several years playing in Denmark, Italy and Belgium before returning to his native France for a lengthy spell at Toulouse.

He remains a figure of fun at United amongst certain sections of the support, but the truth was he barely stuck around to make a real impression and had one good game, one bad.

64. Pat McGibbon

Signed from: Portadown (£100,000), August 1992
Debut: 0-3 defeat to York City (League Cup tie), September 20th 1995
League Record: That was his only game
Sold to: Wigan Athletic (£380,000), Summer of 1997

Hard to believe there could be worst debut: you get sent off and the team crumble to one of the more humiliating results of recent times. I'm not sure anybody would stand a chance after that - and he wasn't let loose in the first team again.

And that's all I remember of Pat. He'd arrived three years prior, but not got a sniff when we have Pallister and Bruce rarely injured, and back up from the likes of Blackmore, Phelan and May waiting.

We sold him to Wigan, after a successful loan spell there, where he managed five years as a regular before heading back home in 2002.

63. Terry Cooke

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 3-0 win vs Bolton Wanderers, September 16th 1995
League Record: one game (plus three as sub)
Sold to: Manchester City (£1,000,000), March 1999

I'd been vaguely aware of Terry Cooke from reading the United magazine: he'd won the 1995 Young Player of the Year award at the club and given the mood of the club at time, with numerous products of the youth policy being thrown into the first team, it wasn't a surprise when Cooke also got his chance.

After the 3-1 disaster at Aston Villa on the opening day of the season, we'd won four on the bounce before Bolton came to town. Our front six that day featured five homegrown youngsters (Butt, Scholes, Beckham, Giggs and our man here) plus Lee Sharpe, who had been at the club for seven years, since he was 17. Cooke looked good, showing some clever flicks and providing the cross for which Ryan Giggs opened the scoring.

He had a harder time a few days later, when he came off the bench in a League Cup tie against York City. What should have been a routine job went horribly wrong and we crumbled to a humiliating 3-0 defeat. A couple of weeks later, Cooke was given a chance to redeem our honour in the second leg - and to give him his dues, he contributed with a goal. But our 3-1 win wasn't enough.

Around this time, Cooke was pictured with his fellow youngsters alongside the Youth Team Coach Eric Harrison as he received some order - but it was a shortlived spell in the limelight for the West Midlands lad. As a right winger, he wasn't in the same league as David Beckham (not asking much!) and in the summer of 1996, other players were signed who could play that position and a series of loan spells followed over the next couple of years.

One of these proved to be successful, when he joined a Manchester City side then in freefall, dropping as far as the third tier - some of their nu-fans attracted to their current powerful side may struggle to believe only 15 years ago they were playing the likes of Macclesfield Town. Struggling to adapt to life far from the top, Cooke seemed to be something of a catalyst, scoring five goals in 17 games to secure a permanent transfer and help push them into the promotion play-offs. In the dramatic final of those against Gillingham, in which only a last-gasp Paul Dikov equalising goal saved them from disaster, Cooke slotted away a penalty in the shoot-out that helped City to victory.

That was probably the peak of Cooke's career. The following saw him suddenly fall out of fashion with City manager Joe Royle (it was rumoured that his not being picked was due to the club not being able to afford the additional fees to United that would be incurred if he hit a certain number of appearances) and he again found himself down the rounds as a loaned-out player before a free transfer in 2001.

He later went on a globe-trotting serious of career moves, with spells in North America, Australia and Azerbaijan before injury forced his retirement in 2011.

62. Phil Neville

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 5-2 win vs Wrexham (FA Cup tie), January 28th 1995
League Record: 210 games (+53 as sub), 5 goals
Sold to: Everton (£3,500,000), August 2005

Younger brother of Gary, Phil was also considered to be a talented cricketer in his youth, but chose United when they came knocking. Their sister Tracey was also talented, playing netball for England. Phil made his debut in the season Gary established himself at right back as injuries did for Paul Parker - also captaining the youth team to FA Youth Cup success that same year.

The next season, he made some fine performances at left back (Dennis Irwin shifting to the right), knocking Gary out of the first team at times. Indeed, for the FA Cup final against Liverpool in 1996, Phil got the nod ahead of his brother, who had to make do with being a sub – he’d looked impressive through the season, putting in some good crosses when he got forward.

To cap off a superb first full season, he won his first England cap and made the squad for the 1996 European Championships. However, Gary remained first choice at international level and Phil never quite managed to establish a regular spot, being left out of the World Cup 22 in 1998 and 2002, though he made the squads for both the 2000 and 2004 Euros – at the former, a rash challenge in a decisive game against Romania saw a penalty awarded and converted, effectively knocking England out and condemning Neville to much venting of bile over the subsequent year from opposition fans back at domestic level.

As an aside, at the time, a few people said I looked like Phil, thus it was something of a knock to a teenager's confidence on reading a newspaper report which labelled my apparent lookalike as the "Ugliest Player at Euro 2000".

For United, he never quite managed to maintain the high levels he set early on, remaining a solid presence in the squad, capable of covering either full back position and, later on, putting in a shift in midfield when needed. It was in that role he had his finest moment in a red shirt.

In December 2002, we were chasing an Arsenal team that were looking to establish dominance in the league. They were the reigning champions and FA Cup holders, boasting an impressive midfield led by French international Patrick Vieira. With the chips down, Phil seemed to dig up the spirit of Bryan Robson and dominated a game in which we won 2-0 - a performance still talked about by fans.

However, in the next couple of years, Fergie made a series of nightmare midfield buys, of whom he felt obliged to play, and both Phil and Nicky Butt were out of action. Clearly good enough to have a first team stake elsewhere, he reluctantly asked for a transfer. I was disappointed at the time, as he certainly deserved more games and his attitude and commitment were solely lacking in others players around at the time.

On finally leaving, he became a deserved first choice (and captain) at Everton and it’s a surprise to me that he didn’t feature more for England. Then, in June 2013, he returned to United as first team coach under the new regime of David Moyes.

61. Andy Cole

Signed from: Newcastle United (£6,000,000 plus Keith Gillespie)
Debut: 1-0 win vs Blackburn Rovers, January 22nd 1995
League Record: 161 games (+34 as sub), 93 goals
Sold to: Blackburn Rovers (£8,000,000), December 2001

Ah, the days when a huge signing could appear out of nowhere and shock you. The news that Andy Cole was on his way to United was exciting to a youthful United – at the time, he was the reigning Young Player of the Year as well as the previous season’s Premiership top scorer. The prospect of him lining up with Eric Cantona seemed to promise goals galore. It didn’t quite work out that way.

Nottingham lad Cole, son of a miner, started out with Arsenal, then managed by George Graham. The dour Scot clashed with the youngster, and after only a single showing from the bench, he was on the way to Bristol City via a loan spell at Fulham. His first full season as a first teamer (92/93) saw him in good form in the second tier, and he attracted the attention of Kevin Keegan, then revitalising Newcastle United and charging to a return to the top flight. February 1993 saw £1.75 million change hands, and he instantly won hero status with 12 goals in 12 games.

Keegan then made an inspired move by bringing Peter Beardsley back to the North East. Having started out in my native Cumbria with Carlisle United, Peter had caught the eye of the legendary Jimmy Murphy whilst playing in Canada for Vancouver Whitecaps. Murphy had always had a keen eye for talent (he had recommended Steve Coppell) and we signed him for £250,000 in 1982. Then manager Ron Atkinson failed to give the striker much of a chance – half a game against Bournemouth in the League up – and let him go at the end of the season. While Beardsley developed into one of the best forwards in the country, we spent years attempting to find a decent forward line: the likes of Garth Crooks, Alan Brazil, Terry Gibson and Peter Davenport all failing to make the grade. It was, quite simply, Atkinson’s worst mistake as manager for us.

By 1993, perhaps Everton saw Beardsley as past his best – he was 32 at the time – but he and Cole scored 55 league goals over the season, as Newcastle won many fans with their attacking football. Andy got 34 of those, and though he was in slightly slower form the next season (nine goals in 18), Alex Ferguson was still convinced he was the man to replace the aging Mark Hughes in leading the front line.

Andy was never a complete crowd favourite – he had many detractors, including my own dad, who never rated him. Conversely, my mother adopted him as her favourite player, perhaps because he had learned his trade alongside her former favourite Beardsley.

A lot of his problems came on the last league game of the 1994/95 season, away at West Ham. Andy had had his moments early on – five goals in a game against Ipswich was the best one-off haul for a United player since George Best put six past Northampton in 1970, and he scored two vital goals in a 3-2 win over Coventry that kept us in the title race. At West Ham, though, he saw chances saved and hit a post as we only drew 1-1, when a win would have made us champions.

Cole, unfairly, took a lot of the blame. He struggled to reach his best form over the next two seasons – his partnership with Eric never really took off, and he wasn’t helped by a broken leg in the Autumn of 1996. Fergie seemed to be losing patience, as he signed three new strikers from 1996-98, one of whom Cole had already fallen out with over a perceived slight whilst on England duty.

The last of those three, however, brought Cole back to the forefront. Finally connecting with a strike partner, period from 1999-2000 saw him play the best football of his career. No long a pure goalscorer, his all round play had improved to an impressive degree. He scored the goal that sealed the 1999 Championship, as well as the winner at Juventus that saw us seal our place in the European Cup final.

By 2001, however, injuries had begun to take their toll - he played just 19 league games in 2000-01 season - and Fergie spent big on a new striker and adjusted the system so that we played with just the one man up top. With his first team regular status no longer assured, and still hopeful (incorrectly, as it turned out) of getting in the place in the England squad for the 2002 World Cup, he left for Blackburn. He had some success, completing his set of domestic medals by scoring the winning goal in that year season’s League Cup final.

Season-long spells at Fulham and Manchester City followed, making a decent scoring return at both, before his career wound down, ending with an unsuccessful stint back in his hometown with Nottingham Forest. Currently, he works as a television pundit and comes across far more articulacy than he did in his younger days.

60. Kevin Pilkington

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 3-0 win vs Crystal Palace (as sub), November 19th 1994
League Record: four games (+2 as sub)
Sold to: Port Vale (free transfer), Summer of 1998

As a goalkeeper, Kevin was always going to struggle to break into the first team when the man already there was the best in the world, while Gary Walsh was a more than capable deputy.

Despite that, he did manage some game time due to injuries and didn’t embarrass himself. Having experienced players like Bruce and Pallister ahead of him doubtless helped – the two of them must have been pleased in part to not have a giant Dane barking abuse at them for 90 minutes.

Sadly for Kevin, his most prominent moment in the shirt came when Schmeichel got injured at Tottenham – Kevin was thrown in to a line up already struck by injuries, and Spurs took advantage to record a 4-1 victory. The arrival of the veteran Tony Coton pushed him back into the reserves and he went through several loan spells to gain experience (he didn't appear to do too well at Rochdale), as well as putting him in the shop window.

Port Vale was the first stop on a varied career in the lower tiers, most notably with Mansfield Town and Notts County. At the latter, he lost his first team place to Kasper Schmeichel – son of Peter. Some families just have a habit of fucking up a guy’s life. All the same, the best part of 400 league means that while he didn’t enjoy the successes of Neville, Scholes and Beckham, he still managed better than O’Kane, Davies and Casper. Most recently, he's back at Notts County as their goalkeeping coach.

Kevin is also the last of the “Class of ‘92” to appear in this list. The only other notable “graduate” would be Robbie Savage, who after being released on a free transfer without making the first team, would carve a good career out for himself with Crewe, Leicester City, Blackburn and Birmingham, as well as being a regular for the Welsh national team.

59. Graeme Tomlinson

Signed from: Bradford City (£100,000), Summer of 1993
Debut: 2-0 win vs Port Vale (League Cup tie), October 5th 1994
League Record: no league appearences, two as sub in the League Cup
Sold to: free transfer to Macclesfield Town, Summer of 1998

My only memories of Graeme are of reading about his arrival in the official club magazine, of which I still have every copy from the first (in December 1992) to around 2004. I say “I” still have them – the vast majority are currently going very mouldy in my parents’ attic.

Tomlinson was an early case of Fergie importing young talent (insert your own joke there), a practise a lot more common today. He’d impressed in a Youth Cup tie, and had even scored a few for the Bradford first team. He first got into the team a year after he signed, in the second leg of the (in)famous Port Vale League Cup tie, following it up with another showing from the sub's bench in the next round, where we put up a decent showing against Newcastle, losing 2-0 at St James' Park.

Sadly, a bad injury whilst out on loan stopped him making any real progress, robbing him of a lot whatever Fergie has seen in him in the first place. Given a free transfer, he drifted to Macclesfield and Exeter, never finding any goalscoring form, before leaving the professional game.

58. Chris Casper

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 2-0 win vs Port Vale (League Cup tie), October 5th 1994
League Record: two games, both as sub
Sold to: Reading (£300,000), November 1998

Son of 1970s Burnley forward Frank, Chris Casper was another who made a handful of showings over a number of years. Like John O’Kane, as a defender, there was too many quality players ahead of him for there to be a realistic chance of making the first team on a regular basis.

It was the best part of two years after his debut that he got in the team again, making appearances in all the cup competitions as well as his two showings from the bench in the League. Loan spells followed, the last of which was at Reading, where he was impressive enough for them to shell out the cash.

It seemed to be working out until a horrific leg injury ended his career aged only 24. Moving into coaching, he eventually became manager of Bury while only aged 30. A two-and-a-half year spell in charge (relatively a long term by modern standards!) came to an end in January 2008. More recently, he's worked with club's Academy systems for the Premier League.

57. John O’Kane

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 2-1 win vs Port Vale (League Cup tie), September 21st 1994
League Record: one game (plus one as sub)
Sold to: Everton (£400,000), January 1998

As a full-back, John O'Kane (seen fourth from left on the back row of the picture above) had little to no chance of becoming a regular when we had Irwin, May and the Neville brothers around. An opening day injury crisis saw him a sub in the opening game of the 1995/96 season, where our 3-1 defeat was met with the now infamous line from Alan Hansen that "you never win anything with kids".

To give Hansen some mitigation, United's subsequent success that season was only in part down to the youth of Beckham, Scholes, Butt and the Nevilles. They were surrounded by experienced quality players like Cantona, Schmeichel, Irwin, Bruce and Pallister. Even the likes of Keane and Giggs (then in their mid 20s) had the best part of 150-200 games each under their belts. We were hardly a team of "kids" at the time.

As for O'Kane, he must have felt confident when Everton signed him up after a series of loan spells at Bury and Bradford, but he struggled to make an impression and the he moved progressively downwards with moves to Bolton, Blackpool and then non-league Hyde United. Like Simon Davies, he perhaps left it too late to leave United - he was nearly 24 when he did so.

After a three year stint with Hyde, he eventually returned to his native Nottingham, where he has been doing support work in social care.

56. Simon Davies

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 2-1 win vs Port Vale (League Cup tie), September 21st 1994
League Record: four games (plus seven as sub)
Sold to: Luton Town, for £150,000, August 1997

Looking back, it’s almost staggering how many young players Fergie give a chance to in the mid 1990s, and for all those that made it (such as our previous entry), plenty more don’t and end up sliding down the divisions.

At least Simon Davies got a decent chance, and even scored a goal in a 4-0 win over Galatassary that was sadly something of a dead rubber – qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League had become impossible by that point. Davies wasn’t awful, but never looked like he was going to challenge Ryan Giggs’ spot on the left wing. Despite only one League start in 1995/96, he still managed to win a cap for Wales.

In the summer of 1996, Fergie went on a spending spree and Davies moved further down the pecking order. In truth, Simon would have benefited from leaving then, as he spent the subsequent season with only sub appearences in League Cup ties to show for it, and doubtless this caused some stagnation.

A transfer to Luton Town failed to bring any revival in his fortunes and his career never picked up again. Mike MCSG offers a perspective on his time at Rochdale here. Following that, he spent three years in the Welsh league.

As of January 2014, he is working on the other side of town for City’s under 21 side.

55. Paul Scholes

Signed from: Youth team
Debut: 2-1 win vs Port Vale (League Cup tie, scored twice), September 21st 1994
League Record: 404 games (+95 as sub), 107 goals
Sold to: Retired in the Summer of 2013

Ah, how we can laugh now. Youngsters may not know of the hoo-ha surrounding the debut of Paul Scholes: Fergie essentially decided to use the League Cup to blood younger players, in part due to the fact we had, in 1994/95, qualified for the Champions League group stage for the first time. This meant six extra games for the first teamers, though the “three foreigner” rule meant our first foray led to embarrassment in Barcelona and Gothenburg.

Therefore, with the first team stretched, the League Cup was what give way and the Boss decided to use it blood younger players. At the time, pundits moaned about United “cheating the paying fans” but in hindsight, how many of those that paid for the first Port Vale game boast about seeing the debut of the finest English player of his generation?

Short, asthmatic and (as a youth) topped with a crop of bright ginger hair, if Paul Scholes looked like a footballer it was more in the midfield-terrier style of a previous North Manchester-born legend - Nobby Stiles.  However, “the Ginger Prince” was born with an uncanny football brain that gifted him a superb range of passing and an ability to time his runs into the box to score vital goals. As for tackling… well, everyone has their kryptonite.

Initially playing as a centre-forward, by 1997, he had moved back to the centre midfield role, his superb range of passing and vision becoming a crucial part of our play. By 1999, Scholes and Roy Keane were doubtless the best midfield combination in the country and drove United to the Champions League final – Paul scoring a vital goal at the San Siro to get us past Inter Milan in the Quarter Finals. Bookings in the Semis against Juventus saw both miss out on the final, but Scholesy would finally get his medal nine years later, sealing our path to the final with a winning goal against Barcelona.

On the international stage, he was initially a success – Kevin Keegan was a huge fan. However, by the start of the new century, the pressure to play a system that featured Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard (both of whom enjoyed the limelight) saw our man shunted out to the left wing by Sven-Goran Erikkson. It was a joke of a compromise, albeit one opposition teams were thankful for, seeing as it put England’s most dangerous player in a relatively harmless position. After the 2004 European Championships, he’d had enough and asked to not be considered for selection again. There was calls for him to be brought back for the 2010 World Cup, and Fabio Cappello was apparently keen, but Scholes decided he’d rather spend the summer at home in Oldham.

Though initially retiring in the summer of 2011, he came back in January 2012, a decision which would prove decisive to one young Frenchman who felt his deserved his chance in the first team and wasn’t happy to see the veteran get there instead. He played a final season, though his powers were clearly very much on the wane, before quitting for good at the end of 2012/13, another Championship medal in the bag.

It was a privilege to have seen the man play football.