Sir Alex Ferguson today declared Ralph Milne his worst ever signing. The £170,000 acquisition from third division Bristol City played 22 times on the left-wing, scoring three goals before being released by the club. But who is in the worst ever Fergie team?
Rant had a go at picking an XI … and substitutes!
We’ve taken a few liberties with the selection. May rarely played at right-back (as did Berg), although a roasting by Jesper Blomqvist – then of Gothenberg – sealed “Superstar’s” selection. Fortune, initially bought as a left-winger, made a number of appearances in defence before being sold.
Our selection is heavy on players from the 1990s onwards. Ferguson’s early record – Milne aside – was surprisingly good!
We’ve only included Ferguson’s signings and players who actually played in the first team.
Rant’s Selection
Goalkeeper – Massimo Taibi, £4.4m (Venezia)
Right back – David May, £1.2m (Blackburn Rovers)
Left back – Quinton Fortune, £1.5m (Atlético Madrid)
Central defence – Henning Berg, £5m (Blackburn Rovers)
Central defence – William Prunier, free (Bordeaux)
Right wing – Jordi Cruyff, £1.4m (Barcelona)
Central midfield – Eric Djemba-Djemba, £3.5m (Nantes)
Central midfield – Kleberson, £6.5m (Atlético Paranaense)
Left wing – Ralph Milne, £170k (Bristol City)
Forward – Dion Dublin, £1m (Cambrdige United)
Forward – David Bellion, £2m (Sunderland)
Substitutes’ Bench
Mark Bosnich, Mal Donaghy, Liam Miller, Karel Poborsky, Diego Forlan, Danny Wallace.
Notable Mentions
Patrick McGibbon, Giuliano Mairoana, Erik Nevland … Juan Veron?
[poll id=”27″]
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now make an article named – fergie`s best XI xD
even this side, with a little luck, could survive in PL
Juan Veron
now check this out!
gk.. schmicael
rb.. irwin
cb.. stam/bruce
cb.. vidic/rio
lb.. evra
rm.. ronaldo
cm.. keane
cm.. cantona
lm.. slskaer
f… nistelrooy
f… rooney
vds, cole, yorke, sheringham, ince, then home grown giggs, becks, scholes, butt, neville brothers….
bring on the world 11..
Henning Berg? We would have never done the Treble without his two miraculous goal line clearences agaisnt Inter.H e was class.
The worst ever signing of man u is eric djembajeba
bit harsh including Dublin imo. He only got moved on because he had leg broken! prior to that he had shown good signs of being a decent player and he went to be a good prem striker
Would agree with your team in general but think it’s a bit harsh having May and Berg in there. Although not the most talented players they were good squad players. Although I’m finding it hard to think of anyone else to put in instead. Just shows what a good record the manager has in the market.
What about Dimitar Berbatov ? Is he really worth 30 m ?
what he had done so far many strikers can do for less money. When you pay 30 MILLION POUND you will at least expect a MARADONA on the pitch.
Believe or not, I think Berba will be the next veron flop.
there ie also on the road nani and anderson especially the portuguese.
oh … forget to mention something else.
I think that whining argie b*tch carlos tevez deserve to be in starting XI. Its not only about the money and what you will get for, but also about loyality and respect.
I agree with Ronan. Remember when the commentator during that famous game cried out; “Berg! Again!” But then again, as DS says; “hard to think of anyone else to put in instead”.
I also think it’s a little hard on Danny Wallace as a sub. Sir Alex didn’t know he had multiple sclerosis when the winger was signed.
I disagree with a lot of that. Henning Berg did well for us, Dion Dublin was unlucky with injury and went on to be a good player. David May was a decent squad player, Quinton Fortune wasn’t THAT bad, he wasn’t owt special but he did OK – I can think of worse players, put it that way. Even Kleberson was a tad unfortunate because he never got a clear run of games due to injury, look back to his time with us, he was always injured.
Apart from that no argument from this end, fun article! 🙂 now should we do Liverpool’s worst XI, just for a laugh!?
For Liverpool’s worst XI – see whatever Rafa puts out on Saturday!
i dissagree with quinton fortune in the list! he was a true fighter in defence and had decent quality going foward. he’s ex-teammates brucie and keano both wanted to sign him up… but his terrible luck with injuries put end to that!
William Prunier was never signed on a ‘free’. He was a trialist and therefore surely isn’t eligible?
It’s a very good point, well made, although non-contracted players are not allowed to play in the Premier League. See FA rules. A contract is a contract, even if it’s short-term “trial”.
ronnie wallwork?
ralph milne for me, although theres a few on the list u cant argue with, apart from his pass to lee martin in the 1990 cup final would have neil webb on the list to.
“Ferguson’s early record – Milne aside – was surprisingly good!”
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Are you taking the piss! His record was fucking brilliant!! Choccy, Irwin, Schmeichel, Ince, Keane, Bruce, Pallister, Hughes, Cantona. All fantastic purchases who gave great service to the club. Ince cost £1M and was sold for £7.5M. Scraping the barrel by including the likes of Berg, May and Dublin. If, after 23 years of managing Manchester United you’re struggling to put together a worst eleven, then that says a lot for the big man in charge. Now, do the same for Benitez and you’ll probably have surplus to requirements!
Jeeze! It was a compliment to the gaffer you know 🙂
Talent wise, kleberson shouldnt be there (maybe should include miller instead…and based n what he gave us neither should berg or fortune…other than that its okay…i would also omit dublin…
Fortune was pretty unspectacular, but not necessarily a bad player for United, likewise with May and Berg. The likes of Kleberson and Poborsky were pretty unfortunate not to get proper chance to prove themselves, Poborsky especially so because he could probably have been one of the United success stories if his arrival at United hadn’t coincided with the emergence of David Beckham. Fair point on the rest though, Jordi Cruyff, Massimo Taibi and David Bellion are especially notable.
Henning Berg your joking me right? this guy was quality in our treble winning year, saved us twice against inter. William prunier only played 1 game and wasnt even a official player he was only on trail. If your gonna start mentioning Prunier then what about players like Eric Nevland? Its gotta be Milne as the worst player closely followed by Liam Miller and Djemba Djemba who couldnt even pass the ball forward
No way should Berg and May be on there – Where is Dong Fangzhou, Laurent Blanc, Alan Smith? All nice blokes I’m sure but in a United shirt pretty bleeding clueless.
Oh, and Ricardo too.
That’s true about Djemba x2, he’d just hold onto the ball, look up, hold onto it a bit longer, look up again, then just as we were expecting a Beckham-like bit of vision he’d pass it back to Tim Howard! lol. I laugh about it now (I’m sure we all do) but I wasn’t laughing then.
I never rated Poborsky, maybe his Euro 96 performances made my expect too much of him. Don’t get me wrong, he had some good games (especially against Leeds) but he was infuriating otherwise, continually trying to beat too many players and 9 times out of 10 losing the ball. Jordi Cruyff was invisible whenever he appeared for us, a shame really because he was an instant hero scoring that brace against Everton, he just never built on it.
More honourable mentions: Kieran Richardson, Gabriel Heinze (post 2005 season), Larry White, Roy Carroll, Mikael Silvestre (sort of – I always found him frustrating, but at left back he was OK), Nani, Alan Smith (in central midfield, up front he did OK without being spectacular), Darren Ferguson!! (have we forgotten him chaps?), Manucho, Dong Fangzhuo and Lily Savage.
This might be controversial but Id nominate Saha as one of his worst signings, not anything to do with the quality of player but because of the effect he had in pushing out Ruud Van Nistelrooy (for a pittance) and stopping us from buying in another striker while we waited endlessly in vain for him to get fit. He cost a fair bit too.
I take the point that in fits and starts he was effective, but same could be said of Forlan and Veron.
I also forgot to mention Niel Webb
Fabien Barthez?