It would be no kind of appraisal of this century’s greatest ever football teams without a look at the team that kicked off the new Millennium at the top of the tree. While Manchester United’s treble-winning team of 1998/99 will never be forgotten, and even the 1999/2000 side has its superfans, the vintage of 2000/01 is one that often gets overlooked.
The eve of the season could hardly have gone worse. Sir Alex Ferguson knew that his frontline needed freshening up and as a consequence, planned to invest upwards of £20 million on the Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy… until this happened.
United, perhaps sensing that Van Nistelrooy’s injury would rule him out for exactly long enough to be signed the next summer (and that’s exactly what happened), focused on the other end of the pitch, signing French World Cup-winning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.
United started the league season a little sluggishly, drawing at both Ipswich and West Ham in two of their opening three games. An entertaining draw against Chelsea when 3-1 up at one point hinted at a frailty in defence that needed to be fixed:
When they travelled to Arsenal and lost 1-0 on 1st October, United sat in second place. But that defeat – as defeats so often did under Sir Alex Ferguson – led to self-reflection and a stoic determination to go on an unbeaten run.
From their next fixture, away to Leicester City, until their match against Spurs at the start of December, United won every game and took top spot back from their North London rivals. While there was a brief wobble when the Red Devils drew at Charlton and lost at home to Liverpool, another lengthy unbeaten run of a dozen games across the turn of the year saw Ferguson’s men virtually deliver the title by the arrival of Spring.
Another loss to Liverpool didn’t matter. United bounced back immediately and wrapped up the title by Easter, with Teddy Sheringham winning both the PFA and FWA Player of the Year awards with 15 league goals and 21 in total.
To say that United took their eye off the ball in the final three fixtures would be an understatement. They lost all three, to Derby, Southampton and Spurs as they coasted to the finish line, having been eliminated from the F.A. Cup, League Cup and Champions League – in a two-legged defeat to 1999 finalists Bayern Munich – in meek fashion.
What Manchester United achieved in 2000/01 was a blueprint for what Sir Alex Ferguson achieved at the club. Even when things went against him in the transfer market, missing out on Van Nistelrooy until the end of the season, when he would replace Sheringham (who returned to Spurs), Ferguson was always able to prioritise and refocus his squad. Gettting the league won with consistent results is a devilishly difficult task, one that in the seven years since Ferguson’s departure, United have never done.
In winning the 2000/01 title, United also won three Premier League title in a row. That this record has never been replicated in over a quarter of a century – other by United themselves – is testament to the enduring power of English football’s most decorated league side.
How Manchester United supporters must wish it would ever be this easy again.
