Fergie's Fledglings
Encyclopedia
Fergie's Fledglings were a group of Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

 players recruited under the management of Alex Ferguson
Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE is a Scottish association football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United, where he has been in charge since 1986...

 (often nicknamed "Fergie") and trained by assistant coaches Brian Kidd
Brian Kidd
Brian Kidd is an English football coach and former player, who is currently Assistant Manager to Roberto Mancini at Manchester City....

 and Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison (football)
Eric Harrison is an English former football player and coach. He is probably best known for being the man behind the Manchester United youth setup that produced the group of players known as "Fergie's Fledglings", including David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes.Harrison began...

, before eventually progressing to the first team. The alliteration
Alliteration
In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of Three or more words or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to...

 in the term is a clear homage to the Busby Babes
Busby Babes
The Busby Babes were a group of Manchester United players, recruited and trained by the club's chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of the eponymous Matt Busby.The Busby Babes were notable...

, the famously youthful Manchester United team assembled by the club's other legendary manager Sir Matt Busby
Matt Busby
Sir Alexander Matthew "Matt" Busby, CBE, KCSG was a Scottish football player and manager, most noted for managing Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–1971 season...

 and his assistant coach Jimmy Murphy.

The late 1980s Fledglings

The term "Fergie's Fledglings" was first coined by the media in the 1988–89 season to describe a group of young footballers who were introduced into the Manchester United first team by the manager Alex Ferguson. The group included players from the team which reached the final of the 1986 FA Youth Cup
FA Youth Cup
The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under–18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part...

 such as Lee Martin, Tony Gill
Tony Gill
Anthony Dean "Tony" Gill is an English former professional footballer who spent his entire, short-lived professional career with Manchester United....

 and David Wilson, and other youth team players such as Russell Beardsmore
Russell Beardsmore
Russell Peter Beardsmore is a former English footballer.Beardsmore began his career with Manchester United. He made his debut in September 1988 against West Ham United and was one of the first wave of "Fergie's Fledglings" to emerge...

, Mark Robins
Mark Robins
Mark Gordon Robins is an English football manager, appointed manager of Barnsley in 2009.As a player, he was most notable for his exploits with Manchester United, Norwich City and Leicester City...

 and Deiniol Graham
Deiniol Graham
Deiniol William Thomas Graham is a Welsh former footballer who played as a forward for various clubs in the Football League after playing in the Manchester United youth and reserve teams.-Career:...

 as well as young players bought from other clubs such as Lee Sharpe
Lee Sharpe
Lee Stuart Sharpe is an English former footballer. Predominantly a left winger, Sharpe joined Manchester United from Torquay United as a youngster in 1988, playing for the club up until 1996...

 (Torquay United
Torquay United F.C.
Torquay United Football Club, nicknamed the Gulls, are an English association football club based in the tourist resort town of Torquay, Devon. They played in the Conference National in 2008–09, but were promoted to Football League Two after a 2–0 win over Cambridge United on 17 May 2009 at Wembley...

) and Giuliano Maiorana
Giuliano Maiorana
Giuliano "Jules" Maiorana is an English former footballer who played in the Football League as a left winger for Manchester United.-Career:...

 (Histon
Histon F.C.
Histon Football Club is an English football club based in the twin villages of Histon and Impington, approximately north of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. From the 2007–08 season they competed in the Conference National, the highest level that the club has ever reached in the English football league...

).

There was some initial success for the Fledglings; in only his second start, Beardsmore inspired the team to a 3–1 win over rivals Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

, and an injury crisis saw Gill, Graham and Wilson drafted into the first team for an FA Cup 3rd round replay against Queens Park Rangers in which both Gill and Graham scored.

However, serious injuries and loss of form meant that most of these players did not build on their initial success and the term "Fergie's Fledglings" had fallen out of use by the following season. Beardsmore and Robins made over 50 appearances each for Manchester United but were never regulars in the team (although Robins did score a winning goal against Nottingham Forest in the Third Round of the 1990 FA Cup which is popularly believed to have saved Ferguson's job at United).

Of the original batch of Fledglings, only Martin and Sharpe made more than 100 appearances for Manchester United making important contributions towards Ferguson's first trophies such as the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 in 1990 and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but...

 in 1991.

However, Sharpe was the only one of this group of players left at the club by the end of the 1993–94 season, and by the time he was sold to Leeds United in August 1996 he had played in three league-winning teams, two FA Cup-winning teams, and also won both a Cup Winners' Cup and a Football League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...

, as well as being voted PFA Young Player of the Year
PFA Young Player of the Year
The Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year is an annual award given to the player aged 23 or under at the start of the season who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in English football...

 in 1991.

The 1990s Fledglings

A second wave of young players emerged at Manchester United in the early-to-mid 1990s. This group proved worthier than the previous generation in comparisons with the Busby Babes
Busby Babes
The Busby Babes were a group of Manchester United players, recruited and trained by the club's chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of the eponymous Matt Busby.The Busby Babes were notable...

 in terms of the success they achieved as relatively young footballers. Each one was developed by Manchester United from a very early age, some signing schoolboy forms with the club at the age of just 14. Many of these players were part of the Manchester United team that won the 1992 FA Youth Cup, including future United regulars David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...

, Nicky Butt
Nicky Butt
Nicholas "Nicky" Butt is an English footballer. He began his career with Manchester United and spent 12 years in their first-team before moving to Newcastle United in 2004. He spent one season on loan to Birmingham City in 2005–06...

, Ryan Giggs
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for Manchester United. Giggs made his first appearance for the club during the 1990–91 season and has been a regular player since the 1991–92 season...

 and Gary Neville
Gary Neville
Gary Alexander Neville is a former English footballer. He is England's most capped right-back and was Manchester United's club captain for five years....

. Also generally considered in this group are players such as Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes is a retired English footballer, a one-club man who played his entire professional career for Manchester United.Born in Salford, but later moving to Langley, Scholes excelled in both cricket and football in school. He first trained with Manchester United at the age of 14 after being...

, an FA Youth Cup finalist in 1993 and Phil Neville – Gary's younger brother – who was a substitute in the 1993 FA Youth Cup Final and captained the team to the 1995 FA Youth Cup.

The term "Fergie's Fledglings" came back into common usage during the 1995–96 season, after Ferguson had conducted a mass clearout of the Manchester United old guard in order to properly blood this second group of youngsters coming through. Following a 3–1 opening day away defeat to Aston Villa, pundit Alan Hansen
Alan Hansen
Alan David Hansen is a Scottish former football player and BBC television football pundit. He played as a central defender for Partick Thistle, Liverpool and Scotland...

 commented on Match of the Day
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...

"You'll never win anything with kids". The young side, with an average age of just 24, then went on to overturn Newcastle United
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...

's 14-point Christmas lead to win the club's third league title in four years. This was followed up by a 1–0 win over Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

 in the 1996 FA Cup Final
1996 FA Cup Final
The 1996 FA Cup Final was the 51st to be held at Wembley Stadium after the Second World War and was held between two of the biggest rivals in English football, Manchester United and Liverpool.- Build-up :...

 to secure The Double
The Double
The Double is a term in association football which refers to winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season...

. A period of great success followed, the most outstanding triumph being The Treble
The Treble
The term treble or Treble is used in association football to refer to a team winning three trophies in a single season. Honours usually considered to contribute to a treble are the top-tier domestic league competition, domestic cup competitions, and continental tournaments; although this depends to...

 in 1999.

Many of the so-called "Class of '92" became regulars for both club and country during this time. David Beckham (captain of England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 from 2000 to 2006), Nicky Butt and Phil Neville moved on in 2003 (to Real Madrid
Real Madrid C.F.
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...

), 2004 (to Newcastle United
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...

) and 2005 (to Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

) respectively.

Gary Neville
Gary Neville
Gary Alexander Neville is a former English footballer. He is England's most capped right-back and was Manchester United's club captain for five years....

, who briefly held the post of team captain following the departure of Roy Keane
Roy Keane
Roy Maurice Keane is an Irish former footballer and manager. In his 18-year playing career, he played for Cobh Ramblers in the League of Ireland, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, before ending his career at Celtic in Scotland....

 in 2005, before injuries considerably reduced his playing time, retired in February of the 2010–11 season. He never played for another club. Upon the announcement, Sir Alex Ferguson described Neville as "the greatest right back of his generation." Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes have also never played elsewhere and after the retirement of Scholes in 2011, only Giggs remains at United, now well into his thirties and considered a veteran of the current squad. Giggs has now also won more major trophies than any other player in English football history. Coming on as a substitute in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final
2008 UEFA Champions League Final
The 2008 UEFA Champions League Final was a football match that took place on Wednesday, 21 May 2008 at 20:45 CEST . The match was played at the Luzhniki Stadium, in Moscow, Russia, to determine the winner of the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League...

, he became the holder of the club's all-time appearance record. The previous holder was Sir Bobby Charlton
Bobby Charlton
Sir Robert "Bobby" Charlton CBE is an English former professional football player, a member of the England team who won the World Cup and Ballon d'Or for European Footballer of the Year in 1966...

, the longest serving of the Busby Babes.

1980s

  • Russell Beardsmore
    Russell Beardsmore
    Russell Peter Beardsmore is a former English footballer.Beardsmore began his career with Manchester United. He made his debut in September 1988 against West Ham United and was one of the first wave of "Fergie's Fledglings" to emerge...

  • Tony Gill
    Tony Gill
    Anthony Dean "Tony" Gill is an English former professional footballer who spent his entire, short-lived professional career with Manchester United....

  • Deiniol Graham
    Deiniol Graham
    Deiniol William Thomas Graham is a Welsh former footballer who played as a forward for various clubs in the Football League after playing in the Manchester United youth and reserve teams.-Career:...

  • Giuliano Maiorana
    Giuliano Maiorana
    Giuliano "Jules" Maiorana is an English former footballer who played in the Football League as a left winger for Manchester United.-Career:...

  • Lee Martin
  • Mark Robins
    Mark Robins
    Mark Gordon Robins is an English football manager, appointed manager of Barnsley in 2009.As a player, he was most notable for his exploits with Manchester United, Norwich City and Leicester City...

  • Lee Sharpe
    Lee Sharpe
    Lee Stuart Sharpe is an English former footballer. Predominantly a left winger, Sharpe joined Manchester United from Torquay United as a youngster in 1988, playing for the club up until 1996...

  • David Wilson

1990s

  • David Beckham
    David Beckham
    David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...

  • Nicky Butt
    Nicky Butt
    Nicholas "Nicky" Butt is an English footballer. He began his career with Manchester United and spent 12 years in their first-team before moving to Newcastle United in 2004. He spent one season on loan to Birmingham City in 2005–06...

  • Chris Casper
    Chris Casper
    Christopher Martin "Chris" Casper is an English former footballer and football manager who played in the Premier League for Manchester United and in the Football League for A.F.C. Bournemouth, Swindon Town and Reading...

  • Terry Cooke
    Terry Cooke
    Terence John "Terry" Cooke is an English footballer, currently without a club. He began his career with Manchester United, but struggled to break into the first team and had loan spells with Sunderland, Birmingham City and Wrexham before moving to United's local rivals Manchester City in 1999...

  • Simon Davies
    Simon Davies (footballer born 1974)
    Simon Ithel Davies is a former international Welsh footballer who has managerial experience in The Football League with Chester City, where he is now youth team manager.-Playing career:...

  • Ryan Giggs
    Ryan Giggs
    Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for Manchester United. Giggs made his first appearance for the club during the 1990–91 season and has been a regular player since the 1991–92 season...

  • Keith Gillespie
    Keith Gillespie
    Keith Robert Gillespie is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays in midfield for Longford Town....

  • Gary Neville
    Gary Neville
    Gary Alexander Neville is a former English footballer. He is England's most capped right-back and was Manchester United's club captain for five years....

  • Phil Neville
  • Pat McGibbon
    Pat McGibbon
    Patrick Colm "Pat" McGibbon is a former Northern Ireland international footballer. His regular position was at centre-back....

  • John O'Kane
    John O'Kane
    John Andrew O'Kane is an English former professional footballer who last played for Hyde United.-Career:...

  • Kevin Pilkington
    Kevin Pilkington
    Kevin William Pilkington is an English footballer who plays a goalkeeper for Luton Town. Noted for his shot stopping abilities, Pilkington played Premier League football for Manchester United before dropping down to the Football League, where he played in nearly 350 games in his time at Mansfield...

  • Robbie Savage
    Robbie Savage
    Robert William "Robbie" Savage is a football pundit and former Welsh professional footballer who played predominantly as a midfielder. During his career he captained Derby County, and also played for the Welsh national team. He now presents 606 on BBC Radio Five Live on Sunday evenings alongside...

  • Paul Scholes
    Paul Scholes
    Paul Scholes is a retired English footballer, a one-club man who played his entire professional career for Manchester United.Born in Salford, but later moving to Langley, Scholes excelled in both cricket and football in school. He first trained with Manchester United at the age of 14 after being...

  • Ben Thornley
    Ben Thornley
    Benjamin Lindsay Thornley in Bury) is an English footballer who currently plays for Witton Albion in the Northern Premier League....

  • Graeme Tomlinson
    Graeme Tomlinson
    Graeme Murdoch Tomlinson is an English former footballer who played as a forward.-Career:Born in Watford, Tomlinson played in the Football League for Bradford City, Manchester United, Luton Town, Bournemouth, Millwall, Macclesfield Town and Exeter City, scoring 20 goals in 136 appearances...

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