United Youth Process Always So Exciting

While finding it hard to believe it all started a quarter of a century ago, watching the Class of '92 graduate at Manchester United has to go down as one of the most fulfilling experiences a football fan could ever enjoy.

In the days before 24-hour wall-to-wall football coverage, opinions were still formed without the huge debate that follows every move of the players. I remember the first time I watched Ryan Giggs, or Wilson as he was then called, was in an England Schoolboys international against West Germany on the television. He was clearly highly regarded and his performance left me expecting he would make great strides and push on at the club. Giggs's breakthrough at United came first as he instantly made his mark in 1991, before that notable FA Youth Cup triumph, and was as breathtaking a talent as I have ever seen. Some of his displays were exhilarating so, when talk began to grow that he was one of a number of prospective first-teamers in the youth ranks, the excitement only gathered pace.

Many people presumed the side that won the FA Youth Cup in 1992 leaned heavily on the prodigious skills of the wiry Welshman but it soon became clear there was more substance to the squad at Eric Harrison's disposal. Ben Thornley and Chris Casper, who I believe captained England at youth level and partnered Gary Neville in the middle of defence for his country, attracted initial attention and a buzz.

Yet it was Neville who was handed his senior bow first in the wake of the two-legged cup win over Crystal Palace, coming on for the last few seconds of the UEFA Cup tie with Torpedo Moscow. Naturally, I had him tagged as a central defender with poise, calmness on the ball plus a sense of authority and leadership. He eventually forced his way into the side at right-back and played in that position for England at Euro '96 to prove how well he adapted to that role.

Word had long been out on David Beckham's potential and it was already established he had become a set-piece expert with devastating passing and crossing ability. Despite enjoying a debut as a substitute at Brighton in the League Cup a week after his pal Neville, he would also have to be patient for another opportunity. It was almost two years to the day before he appeared under Alex Ferguson again, in that famous League Cup game at Port Vale, and it would take a loan move at Preston to ensure he was battle-hardened enough for senior action.

Nicky Butt was next to force his way into the first team and, notably at Premier League level, largely because of his tough character and ability to mix it with older opponents. The midfielder made the first of his 387 appearances for the Reds against Oldham Athletic in November, 1992. I remember one of his first telling contributions was to provide the assist for Mark Hughes' stunning injury-time equaliser against the same opponents some time later at Wembley en route to the Double in 1994.

Throughout 1993, only Keith Gillespie from the promising group made his debut, and scored in an FA Cup tie with Bury. The Northern Irishman was another old-fashioned winger in the Thornley and Giggs mould and had pace and trickery in abundance. When Thornley provided another flank option in the Premier League game at West Ham over a year later, in February 1994, there looked to be genuine riches at Ferguson's disposal. After all, he also had Lee Sharpe and Andrei Kanchelskis in the senior wide roles.

Thornley would, of course, suffer a serious knee injury against Blackburn Reserves, while the next Class of '92 debutant, Scottish striker Colin McKee, would not play for the first team again after his outing in the final league game of the 1993/94 season with Coventry City. Yet that was often the norm in such situations, you might hope to bring through one youth player a season to become a regular if you were lucky and the barriers to the senior XI were, let's face it, pretty formidable.

Still the debuts kept coming, though, in the 1994/95 campaign, Paul Scholes made his mark with a double in that Port Vale fixture after being purposely kept back to aid his long-term development. "If he doesn't make it, we might as well all give up," Sir Alex once commented. Three days later, the then-forward scored on his Premier League bow at Ipswich Town and was clearly out to grasp his long-awaited opportunity with both hands. It's fair to say he did that by becoming one of the greatest players in the club's illustrious history.

Defender John O'Kane and midfielder Simon Davies, who scored against Galatasaray, received their taste of the big time while Casper's debut came later than expected, in the second leg against Port Vale. A month later, keeper Kevin Pilkington became the final member of the Class of '92 to earn his stripes. All four would muster a total of 42 appearances between them, which was still surely something to be proud of.

By the time 1995 came around, with Phil Neville making a fine introduction to the first team in an FA Cup tie with Wrexham, some of the others were really making a huge splash. The younger Neville brother was not strictly a member of the Class of '92, even though, if memory serves me right, I think he represented the youth team as a 15-year-old. He helped the youngsters lift the FA Youth Cup again in 1995 and was yet another example of the system working perfectly.

When speaking to Butt recently, he suggested the hardest part for any young player at United is not breaking into the first team, it's staying there. The fact he, Scholes, Giggs, Beckham and the Nevilles went on to play such a key role in unprecedented success for the club is possibly something that will never be repeated - no matter how much effort is placed into youth development at the Aon Training Complex.

Some 12 members of that squad did get their first-team outing with the Reds and even one who didn't, Robbie Savage, whom I remember as a hard-working forward, went on to have a pretty notable career in the Premier League and with Wales. 

The club continues to invest its faith in youth. Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford are established in Jose Mourinho's squad while Scott McTominay has earned his opportunity and performed as well as I've ever seen him play (and I watched him a lot in the lower-age groups) in the Champions League win over Benfica. He is the latest to really attempt to grasp the chance afforded to him and Axel Tuanzebe also sparkled in the recent Carabao Cup triumph at Swansea.

By my reckoning, there are 15 homegrown players still attached to the club who have made a senior appearance, although a handful are currently out on loan. Sam Johnstone, Joel Pereira, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Tim Fosu-Mensah, Demi Mitchell, Regan Poole, Joe Riley, Tuanzebe, Angel Gomes, Lingard, McTominay, Andreas Pereira, Paul Pogba, Rashford and James Wilson all fit into this category and will keep working hard for another chance.

Of course, not all of them can make it and that has always been the case. Patience, as has been explained earlier, was always necessary - even for a golden generation like the Class of '92. When Gomes made his bow at 16 last term, there was no real expectation he would remain in the senior squad but, with an Under-17 World Cup win with England now under his belt, he is still one of those very much on the right course, with some of his youthful colleagues also enjoying a fine start to 2017/18.  

There is an immense challenge for all the youngsters to emulate the stars of the past and some pundits reckon it can be an impossible task, despite the evidence at Old Trafford suggesting otherwise. What is for certain is watching our homegrown talents endeavour to follow in the famous footsteps is something Manchester United as a club has always been about. The examples are there for all to see and there can only be excitement in wondering what the future has in store.

The opinions in this story are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Manchester United Football Club.

Credit: Manutd.com