Picking a Manchester United all-time XI means leaving out a European Footballer of the Year. Probably two. Four men have won that award while playing for United (Law, Charlton, Best and Ronaldo) and then you've got Cantona, who started everything in 1992, and Rooney, who scored more goals for the club than anyone. Six names, and realistically there's room for three or four.
So this one comes with a row built in. Years in brackets are time at the club.
The XI
4-4-2, because that's how Ferguson won most of his titles, with Cantona dropping off Ronaldo up top.
Goalkeeper
Peter Schmeichel (1991 to 1999). Keane was suspended for the 1999 Champions League final in Barcelona, so Schmeichel wore the armband in his last game for the club. He'd come from Brøndby eight years earlier and won five titles in between. Every United keeper since has been measured against him, and Van der Sar and De Gea both have proper cases.
Defence
Gary Neville, right back (1992 to 2011). One club, nearly twenty years. I can't think of a United right back who was that good for that long.
Rio Ferdinand (2002 to 2014) and Nemanja Vidić (2006 to 2014), centre backs. Ferdinand came from Leeds and could play out from the back before everyone was told to. Vidić arrived from Spartak Moscow in the January and headed everything. Bruce and Pallister were the first title-winning pair of the Ferguson years, and their fans won't let you forget it. But these two were the back line for three titles in a row and the 2008 European Cup in Moscow.
Denis Irwin, left back (1990 to 2002). Signed from Oldham, and he'd play either flank, which is more than you can say for most full backs. Took plenty of the penalties and free kicks too. Evra is the obvious rival. Irwin gets it because he was in the side for the first title in 26 years and was still there for the treble.
Midfield
George Best (1963 to 1974) on the right. Wembley, 1968, extra time against Benfica, and Best scores in the European Cup final. He was European Footballer of the Year that same year. Two years later he got six in one FA Cup tie at Northampton. If you're under 60 you've only seen the clips. He was 27 when he left.
Roy Keane (1993 to 2005) over Bryan Robson. This is the hardest call in the team and I don't feel great about it. Robson was captain through the 1980s, lifted three FA Cups and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1991, and was still around for the first two Premier League titles. Keane gets it for one night in Turin in April 1999. United were 2-0 down to Juventus in the semi-final. Keane got booked, knew he'd miss the final, and headed the first one back anyway. United won 3-2. Robson had worse luck with injuries and a worse team around him for most of his time. I know that. Keane still.
Bobby Charlton (1953 to 1973). Survived Munich in 1958. Ten years later he captained the side that won the European Cup at Wembley and scored twice in the final. 606 league games, and his goals record for United stood until Rooney passed it in 2017.
Ryan Giggs (1990 to 2014). 672 league games, more than anyone in the club's history, and 13 league titles. People always show the goal against Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay. What gets forgotten is he was a winger in 1991 and a central midfielder twenty years later, and good at both.
Attack
Eric Cantona (1992 to 1997). Some fans would leave him out because he only played 143 league games. But United hadn't won the league since 1967 when he arrived from Leeds in November 1992, and they won it that season. Then three more in the next four years, with the 1995 ban for the kick at Selhurst Park in between. He scored the winner in the 1996 FA Cup final against Liverpool, then retired a year later at 30.
Cristiano Ronaldo (2003 to 2009, back 2021 to 2022). He came as a skinny teenager from Sporting who went down a bit too easily. By 2007-08 he scored 42 goals in all competitions, headed United in front in the Champions League final in Moscow, and won the Ballon d'Or. I've gone on the first spell, not the second.
Manager
Sir Alex Ferguson. Busby built the Babes, lost them at Munich, and ten years later won the European Cup with a new side. On another day he gets this. But Ferguson won 13 league titles and two European Cups, and he did it with about four completely different teams.
Close, but not quite
Denis Law (1962 to 1973) is the one that hurts. European Footballer of the Year in 1964, 309 league games, and a goalscorer as sharp as anyone United have had. He missed the 1968 final injured. If you want him in for Cantona, The Trinity statue outside Old Trafford is Best, Law and Charlton for a reason.
Then there's Paul Scholes, and this is the one you'll actually hear argued in a pub. Some want him in for Charlton. Others want him in for Keane. One club from 1993 to 2013, and when he came out of retirement in 2012 he walked straight back into the team. I'd still keep Charlton, and Keane's place is already the call I'm least sure of, so Scholes sits this one out.
Wayne Rooney (2004 to 2017) is the club's record goalscorer. He scored a hat-trick on his debut against Fenerbahçe at 18 and won five titles. He loses out to Cantona and Ronaldo.
Duncan Edwards made his debut at 16 and was dead at 21 after Munich. People who saw him play still put him first. I've gone with what players actually got to do, and that's a horrible rule to apply to him.
Also unlucky:
- David Beckham (1992 to 2003). The best crosser of the ball the club has had, and both goals in the 1999 final at the Nou Camp came from his corners. But Best is on the right.
- Roger Byrne (1951 to 1958). Captain of the Busby Babes. Died at Munich.
- Bill Foulkes (1951 to 1970). Munich survivor, 566 league games, and he scored the semi-final goal in Madrid in 1968.
- Ruud van Nistelrooy (2001 to 2006). 150 goals in all competitions.
Build your own
Your United might be the 1968 side or the treble team. Or just Law up front, because you've never forgiven anyone for leaving him out. You can build any of them, or your own Sunday side, in our team builder, and there are ready-made Manchester United prints of the classic teams too.