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.