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.