Since Manchester United’s shock exit from the Champions League at the hands of one of the predicted whipping boys of the competition, FC Basle, no one that I can recall has thought of one of the small advantages that this happening can bring to them. The Champions League is ultimately the competition to win as it is the most financially rewarding and, more importantly of all, provides the team who comes out on top bragging rights to being arguably the best side in Europe, but the UEFA Cup, as the Europa League was formerly called, remains a blot on the CV of the Red Devils. It shouldn’t be an obsession to emulate the honours won by their fierce rivals Liverpool, but this is the one trophy that United do not have in their silver laden cabinet.
Or should that be cabinetS? Not only have they won the European Cup fewer times than the team from the red half of Merseyside, but they also trail three-nothing to the Reds in terms of UEFA Cup wins. United have won league titles, FA Cups, League Cups, World Club cups, European Cups – Cup Winners’ and the ‘big one’ – but the UEFA Cup has slipped away from their grasp on numerous occasions.
They won the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup once in 1991 whilst Liverpool never had that pleasure, but they still trail significantly behind them in terms of overall European trophies won. Not since 1995 have United participated in Europe’s ‘second’ competition so this season’s venture into it represents a rare opportunity to complete the set (that’s if the rumours of a reinstatement into Europe’s premier competition at the expense of FC Basle do not come to fruition).
Click HERE to win two tickets to two Chelsea games!
Of course the Europa League is less prestigious, but there must be something inside Alex Ferguson that makes him want to take it seriously for it is something that he and the club have never won. In the years after their first ever League Cup honour in 1992 Ferguson and his team had a succession of failures in this competition largely to do with Fergie’s policy of selecting inexperienced, non top level players in his starting line-ups, which undoubtedly contributed to their many early exits. It was around the mid 2000s that he put out stronger sides featuring many first teamers – like he did in his early years – as opposed to mainly reserve and youth team players.
It has paid dividends because United have now won England’s ‘second best’ domestic cup competition three times since this period compared to just the once since the League Cup’s inception in the 1960-1961 season. Could Ferguson have had an epiphany and realised that not only were his club behind Liverpool in the league and European trophy stakes, but also way behind them in this often derided tournament and that overtaking them in terms of just league and European titles may not be enough to be considered England’s most successful club?
Could he be thinking this now knowing that it could be deemed that they are still behind the Reds in terms of trophies won? Excluding one off matches such as the European Super Cup and Club World Cup finals, the side from Merseyside have 40 major trophies to their name in contrast to the 38 that their rivals from the north-west have horded.