Sir Alex Ferguson faces a near-impossible task in selecting an all-time XI from his 27-year career as Manchester United manager
The Scot developed some of the game’s greatest players, from Cristiano Ronaldo to Paul Scholes, to Ryan Giggs and Eric Cantona.
While Sir Alex has confessed that narrowing down an XI is impossible, he has already revealed who the first name on his team-sheet would be… and it’s none of the above.
Mr Reliable at left-back turned out to be Fergie’s favorite.
He stated, ” “Denis Irwin, to be honest, would be the first name to make the team. He got an eight out of ten from me.
“He had a poor pass back in the closing minute of a game at Highbury, and [Dennis] Bergkamp came in and scored.
“‘You must be disappointed in the pass back,’ the reporters stated after the game. ‘Well, one mistake in ten years isn’t awful,’ I responded. He was a fantastic player.”
Irwin, aged 56, joined United for £625,000 from Oldham in 1990.
Over the next 12 years, he would make 468 appearances for the club, helping them win seven Premier League titles, two FA Cups, a League Cup, and a Cup Winners’ Cup.
In the 1999 Champions League final, Irwin played the entire 90 minutes as Ferguson’s side accomplished a stunning triple in Barcelona.
“People ask you: ‘Who is your best Man United team?’” Fergie said in a 2013 interview with the Sunday World. It’s also a complete impossibility.
“It’s simply not doable. Consider my strikers: [Brian] McClair, [Mark] Hughes, [Andy] Cole, Cantona, [Ruud] van Nistelrooy, [Louis] Saha, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, [Dwight] Yorke, Teddy Sheringham.
“Then there’s Wayne Rooney, [Robin] van Persie, and Chicharito [Javier Hernandez], the current players. How do you sort through all of that? Maybe Cantona and someone else?
“It was obviously a bit easy in the midfield since i had [Roy] Keane, [Bryan] Robson, and Scholes – all superb players – and furthermore [David] Beckham, Ronaldo, and Giggs.”
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