8 Footballers Who Proved Everybody Wrong
5. The Class Of '92
After dominating the first two seasons of the freshly minted Premier League, Manchester United's crown slipped in 1995 as a Blackburn Rovers side, spearheaded by Alan Shearer and the millions of owner Jack Walker, dislodged them from the Sky Sports sponsored throne. Though a summer of soul-searching and navel-gazing ensued, it surprisingly did not see any high profile arrival at Old Trafford. Meanwhile, talismanic figures of the two title victories, Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis, had all departed. Things didn't look promising.
Sure enough, an unrecognisable Red Devils side laden with inexperienced youngsters, and shorn by injury of star players in Ryan Giggs, Andy Cole and Eric Cantona, succumbed to a humiliating opening day 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa. The hideous new grey away kit reflected - or rather, didn't - the mood around the red half of Manchester.
Summarising the game, Match of the Day's Alan Hansen confidently opined, "You can't win anything with kids." It was a comment that'd come back to haunt him. The fledgling United side - admittedly, bolstered by its returning generals - would not lose again till November, ultimately pipping Newcastle to the title and recording a memorable league and FA Cup double.
Interestingly, Gary Neville - one of the 'kids' who was named in the year's PFA Team of the Year - later agreed with Hansen, repeating the same withering refrain in front of the latest batch of Red Implings: "The Class of ’92 didn’t win that Premier League title. We had Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Roy Keane, Eric Cantona, Brian McClair and Peter Schmeichel." Best hand your medal back then, Gary.