The last time Port Vale played Manchester United…
With Salford City just missing a play-off spot by two points and Port Vale having an uneven season, both teams are set for another year in League Two.
It means Port Vale will continue to lock horns with Salford, a club part owned by “the class of 92”. The class of 92 consists of former Manchester United players; Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and David Beckham.
However, it’s more than 25 years since the first time Vale fans came across some of the members of the class of 92.
Almost 19 000 fans piled into Vale Park in September 1994, hoping to see Manchester United stars like Eric Cantona, Paul Ince, Peter Schmeichel and Mark Hughes, as Port Vale hosted Manchester United in the League Cup then known as the Coca-Cola Cup. If you are looking for current Man United news, there is no better place than Manchester United Core, as it is a great source for up to date information.
However, the Manchester United line-up included the likes of Walsh, Neville, May, Keane, Irwin, Gillespie, McClair, Butt, Beckham, Davies and Scholes. The biggest star included in the unusual starting line-up was the 23 year old Roy Keane, who played as a centre half instead of his usual position in the centre of midfield.
Many fans were disappointed or even angry, not realizing that the younger players Sir Alex Ferguson had unleashed, in place of his usual starters, would in some cases, have careers even eclipsing the careers of the players the fans had hoped to see.
Even though it was David Beckham’s second appearance, both Beckham and Paul Scholes made their first Manchester United starts at Vale Park. Paul Scholes scored both of Manchester’s goals as they won 2-1 despite having gone a goal down after just seven minutes, when Bradley Sandeman fired a shot from just outside the box which Lee Glover artfully headed past Gary Walsh.
As everyone knows, Paul Scholes would go on to have an illustrious career and make 718 appearances for the Red Devils while David Beckham would move on to be a runner up in the “Ballon d’Or” and twice runner up for FIFA World Player of the Year.
We uploaded the match day programme almost ten years ago and included some highlights of the match on YouTube
Chelsea’s recent win versus Leicester City secured Manchester United a second place finish in the 2020-21 Premier League. Even if it seems possible that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has United moving in the right direction, the current players have much to do to match that class of 92, which Port Vale faced off against in 1994.
If you are looking for an up and coming Chelsea FC blog we strongly recommend Chelseablues. The site is oriented towards Chelsea FC supporters and in addition to the fresh news, it also publishes Chelsea match previews.
If you are not only looking for football news, but also would like to get proper betting advice, you should take a look at TipstersUnion. They recently published a soccer betting tip on Europe League Final where Manchester United will play Villarreal CF.
Based on how the Valiants performed after Darrell Clarke took over as manager, we believe there is a chance that the Vale will earn promotion to League One next year and take one step closer to hosting the likes of Manchester United or Chelsea at Vale Park again in the coming years.