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Friends, rivals...

lend me your eyes and ears.

This is not my story.

This is our story.

A story about the soul of a city.

A working-class city.

And its community.

Its people. My tribe.

Manchester is a... is an intriguing city.

A city like Manchester

is a special place.

The people celebrate life

against all the odds.

No one is more important than anyone else.

We're all workers. We're all pulling together here.

Home of the Industrial Revolution.

Hard work is in the people's blood.

I think it's about having humility

and for anything you get out in life, you have to work hard.

After the war, they craved for release.

A pastime to unite them.

These people had a tough week.

They had nothing but their football.

You gotta go out there and entertain them.

The club's DNA is the pioneering gene.

You see that in the city, too.

It's had its tough times and its bad times.

But it's always related to the community.

There's a certain responsibility

that came with wearing the red shirt of Man United.

Every single game carries importance

for the people who sit there and watch it.

Your responsibility is to play for them.

Young players, academy players, youth.

Attractive football, attacking football

that should bring Mancunians to Old Trafford.

They're the ones you're playing for.

Then the significance of football

just becomes so much greater.

United has always been renowned as a family.

That's what United was.

That's what United is.

The story of hope and fear.

Of delight and despair.

And all in between.

Manchester United

on the verge of true sporting greatness.

We, players, are just guardians of the shirt.

Handed down from one generation to another.

To understand the United Way

means understanding the Busby Babes.

The man you are looking at

is a football manager.

There are 91 others of his kind

in the football league at the moment.

Yet few would deny that this one is the greatest.

He's the man who's the personification of his club

and of all that's good in the game of football.

Matthew Busby was born to the pit country of Lanarkshire,

son of an Orbiston miner.

And in that distinctive Scottish way

was crazy about football.

When Matt Busby came we were not a successful club

by any stretch of the imagination.

So he had a little bit of time to build.

The Busby Babes, they call them.

The harvest of young talent

which attracted the attention of the world.

The darlings of British football.

The public couldn't have enough of them.

Busby Babes.

A band of brothers with the world at their feet.

Duncan Edwards, signed at 15 years.

Bobby Charlton, signed at 15 years of age.

Eddie Colman, Geoff Bent. You go on and on and on.

They were sought out as schoolboy footballers.

When Matt came straight after the War,

he put a lot of emphasis

into young players.

It was a tremendously happy time.

There were boys that'd come to this club from leaving school.

We lived with them.

They came, we nurtured them, we watched them,

we looked after them, they were coached.

We were sort of all together type of thing.

You become a sort of family.

Under Busby a philosophy came together.

The United Way is born.

After the horrors of the War,

people were looking to rebuild lives.

United come along with these fresh-face kids,

playing absolutely wonderful football

and the whole nation took them to heart.

They admired the football that they played.

They admired the kind of man Matt Busby was.

They resonated with so many people across the country.

Those Busby Babes,

with their unmatched post-war record

in cup and league football.

This team conquered all before them.

And now Europe awaits.

United go into this match with a 2-1 lead

from the first leg.

Over 50,000 are packed into this JNA stadium.

We arrived in Belgrade.

It was such a thrill to see the team lined up

before the kick-off.

I felt so proud of them.

United march on to the next round.

We set off the following morning

with a scheduled stop in Munich for a refuelling.

There was quite a lot of snow on the ground in Munich.

We set off on the third attempt and one of the crew said,

"Christ, we're not going to make it."

We hit something.

There was an eerie silence.

I could see quite a few seats strewn.

People were still strapped in them, but they were dead.

Harry Gregg, the goalie,

had somehow got out of the cabin.

Had heard a baby crying and had rescued it

and he called to me to come and take it from him.

The team were very modest

and they were very sound young men.

They never had a chance to say goodbye.

This tragedy...

touched the everyman.

This is Old Trafford

and today it's the heart of a mourning city.

Everybody in Manchester, everybody in Britain nearly

is looking to this ground.

How did you feel when you heard the news of the crash yesterday?

Very upset. I'm sure it's upset most of the people around here.

I'm sure it's a great loss to everybody in Manchester.

Too awful for words, really.

I feel like the loss of great sportsmen

and terribly upset.

The fact you're not a Manchester man made no difference?

It makes no difference. They're a fine team and I'm very sorry.

The one question that's in everybody's mind is,

how's Matt Busby getting along?

This is the first thing that the taxi driver asked me

when I got out of the train at the station just now.

I can remember the matron coming into the dormitory early evening

and telling me that the plane had crashed.

I knew Matt very well. He was a friend of my father's.

I used to call him Uncle Matt.

What would become of Manchester United?

Eight of your players... gone.

Duncan Edwards killed.

David Pegg killed.

Bill Foulkes injured.

Mark Jones killed.

Ray Wood injured.

Eddie Coleman killed.

John Berry injured.

Roger Byrne killed.

Tommy Taylor killed.

Dennis Viollet injured.

Bill Whelan killed.

And Geoff Bent killed.

And the fact that the club came back to play a match,

ten or 11 days after such a tragedy,

has never, never ceased to astound me.

My dad, working in and around the city,

he went to Old Trafford

the first game after Munich.

And people of all football allegiances, like my dad,

were actually asking, "Can this club recover from this?"

And wanted the club to recover.

We went to the match in our normal corner

and it was electric.

That's the match with the programme with no names in it.

And United won.

And so for a 12-year-old football life went on normally.

There was a need for solidarity.

The whole country was with them in that moment.

To lose all those players,

who he'd known since boys

and had nurtured and made into English champions

took a huge toll at the time.

And I don't think he ever recovered from Munich.

We didn't bring Munich up in front of him.

Mentally, it was a terrible time.

They'd known not to discuss anything at all at the time.

And all of a sudden, Jean had said something about,

"Look, this is your life."

"This is something you've got to do. You've got to face it."

"Er, you've got it in your mind."

"And these boys probably would want you to go back and all..."

All on their lines and it started a little seed again.

And I got this obsession, again,

that Manchester United were going to the top.

A tragedy that unifies.

That brings people together.

That makes you stronger.

They were a team that had been devastated

and people wanted to see them grow again.

♪ When I look up to the sky

♪ I see your eyes a funny kind of yellow

How would they rebuild from this tragedy?

♪ I rush home to bed I sunk my head

Everyone that he brought into the club

or came through from the youth system...

It was like a jigsaw puzzle.

Jimmy Murphy was with him. His number two was with him.

We gelled. We gelled.

That was the Matt Busby way. That was the United way.

Manchester is coming alive.

Freedom. Joy.

Anything was possible.

Manchester was very lucky to have a great mix of players.

Bobby was such a gentleman.

But he was demanding, Bobby. He was a winner.

And Denis was a fantastic goal scorer.

Was a finisher.

And then you, obviously, had George,

who was out of this world.

He had everything. Just sublime.

Charlton, Best, Law. The trinity.

Best again!

Goal! Superb!

This was football that made cynics fall in love again.

Best. Charlton.

It's telepathic between the two of them.

And it's number two!

Oh, what a finish!

♪ You in the sky, you with the sky

♪ You make me cry, your eyes

♪ You in the sky, you with the sky

♪ You make me cry, your eyes

United have scored!

Busby has masterminded a quite astonishing rebuild.

Both sporting and spiritually.

Europe beckons once more.

For there lies greatness.

I still want Manchester United to be the best team in Europe.

The only way they can be the best team in Europe

is by winning the European Cup.

We knew... Each and everyone of us knew the task ahead,

reflecting on ten years before.

We had to do it for them.

We've got to win.

Manchester United manager, Matt Busby,

this moment, stands on the threshold of a dream.

A dream of leading the first English club

ever to capture the European Cup.

It was like the Holy Grail.

Everybody wanted to win it for Sir Matt.

And, obviously, everybody that perished at Munich.

Benfica frustrating United here.

We didn't play that well.

Eusébio waltzing past defenders

like they aren't there.

Every one of us, our heads were down.

United failing to find any kind of rhythm.

In life, sometimes terrible things happen,

and it knocks you down.

And sometimes it pushes you forth.

Sadler into Charlton. And it's there!

1-0 to Manchester United.

Lovely header guided into the bottom corner.

Deep down, each and every one of us,

we knew it was for them.

We've nurtured them. We've watched them.

We've looked after them.

Oh, and three.

You become a sort of family.

Charlton loses his man. Oh, yes, it's four.

That's the game and that's the European Cup.

Manchester United have well and truly done it.

They're finally champions of Europe.

Matt Busby, this maestro,

has groomed a side ten years on from disaster

to reach the very pinnacle of football.

It was unbelievable. Absolutely incredible.

We've done it. We've done it.

It's took ten years, but we've done it.

It was a release.

I think it was just everything that involved going back

to that terrible day, February 6th, in Munich.

The United Way is established.

The damage done to his body at Munich,

never mind his mental state, was quite horrific.

He'd taken a battering.

He'd done his shift.

The Emperor stands down.

What's next?

All dynasties rise and fall.

We hadn't won the league since 1967.

The season before, I think we should have won it.

Leeds won it.

And one day, I was sitting in my office,

and the phone rang

and it was the chief exec of Leeds United.

I said, "Would you be willing to sell Eric Cantona?"

Cos I'd read in the newspapers that Wilkinson and Eric,

there were problems and there were clashes.

I haven't had a problem in my football career up to now

with any player I've worked with.

He reads poetry. He reads philosophy.

He paints. Maybe that's different.

He said, "What do you wanna pay for him?"

I said, "A million."

So, they said, "No, no. 1.5."

"No, no. A million."

And, eventually, I got him down to the million.

"Can we say it's 1.2 because we'll get slaughtered?"

"The supporters think the world of him."

I said, "You say what you like."

Football and Manchester United

have signed the French international striker,

Eric Cantona, from Leeds United

for fee of £1.2 million.

Well, ladies and gentlemen,

we're pleased to announce

that, we've agreed terms with Leeds United

for the transfer of Eric Cantona.

And he's agreed a new three-and-a-half-year contract.

The stage is mine.

All eyes on me.

The Leeds fans probably today won't agree with me,

but I think it's a shrewd sale.

Wilkinson's done wonders for that team.

If he thought it was right for him to get rid of Eric Cantona,

he's made the right decision.

Eric Cantona is 26 and he's already had eight clubs.

What does that tell us?

Cantona doesn't fit the bill.

The only thing I recall is

seeing it on the news that he'd signed.

In them days it was, like, rumours

and social media.

Basically, you were the last to know, the players.

Then I remember my mates going, "What's this Cantona like?"

I think it was fair to say we all didn't quite realise

how good he was until he came and trained with us.

The way he went about his business on the training ground,

he was a breath of fresh air.

We were all in awe of Eric

from the first moment he arrived at the club.

Cos he was really the first foreign star

that came into our club.

To see him walk about the corridors,

to see him train,

it was one of those moments

where there's youth team players,

you just sit there in awe of everything that Eric did.

Eric, of course, had won the league the year before,

so he had that confidence where he'd already done it.

It was so huge. We hadn't won it for 26 years.

We'd found it so hard. Got close a couple of times.

He'd played a big part in Leeds's win the previous year.

So that was always in the back of everybody's minds.

The same narrative was spoken about

at 26 years, since they'd won the league.

Every year that went on, the harder that became.

The players are always being reminded

that they hadn't won that for so many years

and you'll never be as good a team

as past teams that have done it.

It's a big, big job. It's a demanding job.

And particularly following Sir Matt.

Who's gonna be the next manager?

You all try and make speculations

because it hadn't happened before.

But, I mean, he was there 25, 26 years.

Well, there were a series of managers,

as there are when you're not playing well.

And it didn't really work.

They gave it Wilf McGuiness.

He was young, Wilf, to take the job at that time.

Frank O'Farrell, who I really liked.

That was a shame cos he was a lovely man, Frank.

Who was it after?

Tommy Docherty, yes.

Tommy Doc was the next manager.

Tommy Doc took over

and had a bit of a relegation scrap on his hands right away.

They were living in the past. Members of the old team.

Yes. All the old school had to go.

The end of an era.

The bond is broken.

The family is split.

How do you replace people

like Denis Law and Bobby Charlton?

Players were leaving. Players were coming in.

Tommy Docherty was bringing these people in.

Players were leaving.

It was unbelievable the amount of players that were coming in

and playing for us.

So you weren't settled.

George Best was thinking he's carrying the weight of the club

because everybody looked up to him to do something.

Things weren't happening on the football field.

We were losing a lot of games. We weren't scoring goals.

Things were beginning to happen off the field.

I never saw George.

He was never there.

Maybe his drinking started getting more regular.

And the press were on his back following him everywhere.

A free spirit went down.

George was a footballer.

He never wanted to be a role model.

Manchester United are bottom of the First Division

facing the real prospect of relegation.

Remember people saying, "United are too good to go down."

I think certainly George Best felt that was the case.

I picked him to play on a Saturday.

About ten to three,

there was knock on the dressing room door.

I opened it. George was there with this gorgeous looking lady.

He said, "I've come to play."

I said, "You're in no condition to play."

Which he wasn't.

He'd been a bit heavy under the booze.

Besty came in

and I said, "Everything all right, George?"

"I'm not playing today," he said and walked out.

That's the last I've seen him at Old Trafford.

It was a disaster.

Just like that the most human of heroes is gone.

Gallagher! Oh, it's looped in and United are...

I let in 48 goals.

Does that not tell you something?

It tells you we weren't playing the Manchester United way

And we got relegated.

And across to Denis Law. Oh!

Denis Law has scored for Manchester City.

What an irony.

What a cruel irony.

United are relegated.

United are down and it's chaos here.

Utter chaos at Old Trafford.

We decided to stick with the team

and bring in one or two of the kids.

We had a good young set.

One or two good players come in through the youth team.

He brought them back

into the top flight two years ago

and now Tommy Docherty has won them the FA Cup.

In '77 we won the FA Cup,

but it'd been ten years since we'd won our trophy.

So, we weren't winning a lot at the time.

A meeting of the directors has decided unanimously

that Mr Docherty is in breach of the terms of his contract

and his engagement is terminated forthwith.

Tonight's decision by Manchester United's directors

followed a fortnight of speculation

about Docherty's future.

That began with the news that Docherty left his wife

after 27 years of marriage,

for the 31-year-old wife of the club's physiotherapist.

Not one player in that team knew what was going on.

No one knew.

Nobody saw it coming

and Tommy Docherty obviously felt a bit uncomfortable.

He... he not only went off with somebody's wife,

he went off with an employee of the club.

Docherty, manager of United since 1972,

wouldn't talk to reporters

as he waited for the directors' decision.

They met at the home of Louis Edwards, the club's chairman.

Among them was Sir Matt Busby,

the former manager, who flew back from Dublin,

specially to attend today's meeting.

So Matt wanted it to be a family, you know.

And that was what people... thought of Manchester United.

Especially those who worked in it.

Everyone was involved

and the directors took their stance

that this can't happen at Manchester United.

Matt Busby was a hindrance.

It was all down to Busby that I got the sack.

I was very bitter.

They were the losers, Manchester United.

Not me. I wasn't a loser. They were the losers.

Great managers rise to the challenge.

They are not afraid of special players.

They search them out.

Well, I think he's a Manchester United player.

He's an exciting player.

He's got all the assets of the top players in the world.

He's come to a big, big club.

I just think they connected. I just...

They had this understanding of what was required

at that moment in time.

But I also think the manager

gave him that element of freedom to perform,

to really show his talents on a football field.

And everybody else sort of moulded themselves around that.

It was the first time you really saw a player

being treated different for a reason.

That's what makes a great manager.

He understood that to get the best out of Eric,

he needed to be treated in a different way.

I needed to be loved.

To belong.

To be part of a family.

The manager was very good at managing people.

He knew who he could have a go at.

He knew who he had to put his arm round.

He knew who to let have a little bit of leeway

'cos they expressed themselves in certain different ways.

Eric was one that got away with quite a bit

because he was just different.

He was different, the way he dressed, acted,

the way he portrayed himself.

I think what the manager looks for

was your character, where you're from, your background.

To make sure that you're the right type of character.

Forget the playing side of it.

With Eric it's straightforward.

99 things out 100 are straightforward with the lad.

He loves his training, he loves to practise,

he's got great pride.

He's got a short fuse.

People say he's this, people say he's that.

I'm not interested.

So long as it doesn't interfere

with the running of Manchester United football club.

And it doesn't.

The thing about Eric

is he's very much his own man.

If you respect him fully, he gives you everything.

Yeah, he was the boss's favourite by a country mile,

but it didn't bother us.

There was not one player that would turn round and say,

"It is a little bit unfair that he treated Eric differently."

Eric was different. He deserved to be treated different.

He felt like a man of the people.

He really did. Like he belonged to the people.

And nobody could believe that a man of his talent

was like one of us.

I was an outsider.

But I felt strongly the energy of this club and this city.

The energy only can come from the soul of the people.

And from the soul of the place.

I went to places like The Haçienda,

to enjoy the music, the city, the people.

That was important for me

to absorb the vibe, to understand it.

In Marseille, growing up, I felt free.

In Manchester, I felt that freedom again.

Marseille's a very, very hard, working-class city.

Same as Manchester.

Marseille's not establishment.

Manchester's not establishment.

That's what Eric was like.

I think he recognises his background

in the people of Manchester.

Eric found the right place for himself.

I feel at one

with cities built on defiance.

That stand on their own two feet.

I remember knowing Manchester as a real dark place.

The late-'70s, there wasn't an awful lot to enthuse you

about coming over to Manchester.

You think, somebody please put the lights on.

Brighten up the place a little bit.

The late-'70s was a time

when the Northwest suffered.

And that area around Old Trafford,

I think, was an area of a lot of dereliction, unemployment.

The starting point

was the social breakdown of the Winter of Discontent

under Mr Callaghan in 1978.

And the Northwest was particularly badly affected.

The cosy world which we were told would go on for ever,

where full employment would be guaranteed

by a stroke of the chancellor's pen,

cutting taxes,

deficit spending,

that cosy world is gone.

Destitution, demoralisation,

huge levels of unemployment.

Real poverty.

That's, that's what life was like then, you know.

People's lives weren't great.

Football was the be all and end all.

And it created a kind of atmosphere at times

that spilled over into violence.

The game had become unattractive.

The grounds were dreadful.

The obvious place for the hooligans.

Manchester United

are banned from European football

after the fighting involving their fans

in France last month.

Chelsea supporters were involved

in more fighting with United supporters.

This time outside Old Trafford.

United have had to put up with the hooligans

amongst their supporters for several years now.

But never before has the team itself

actually lost a match because of them.

The beautiful game is broken.

Sullied.

These are testing times.

We hadn't won the league for a number of years

and I just felt that the team wasn't progressing.

We needed a new manager.

There was just a little bit of a quibble over the company car.

At the time I'd got a top-of-the-range Merc.

They offered me, I think, it was a Rover.

I said, "I've got a dog called Charlie."

"Let's talk cars."

I really can't stand the word "pressure"

because I think we look for self-sympathy in the game,

whether it's footballers, managers, directors, whatever.

He came with a bit of flamboyancy.

And it was like as if they were trying to change the image.

Not so much the look of the club, but the image of it,

from a point of view of what was being portrayed to the fans.

Ron saw himself as first-team manager only.

And I don't think he got much involved

in a great deal outside of that.

There was still young players floating around,

but Ron had the cheque book.

There was never a question of neglecting the youth side.

But we had to get the first team right.

That was the first priority.

I mean, you can't go around to the fans and say,

"Hey, we ain't half gonna have a side in five years' time."

The first thing he said to me,

"We've got to have Bryan Robson."

Don't worry. You're buying solid gold.

This is biggest deal

in the history of English football.

What does that mean to you?

Well, I'm proud that something like that is happening,

but I like to just get on with the game.

I knew Ron really well

and I knew how he wanted me to play.

I wanted to win things and I knew I had a far better chance

at Manchester United.

Hurry up, lan, and let's get ready.

We're working this afternoon.

Got you. He's there now.

The new Emperor.

His new clothes. His way.

Nothing happened on a Friday. We just played five-a-sides.

And Ron was integral to that.

He loved to join in himself.

Which was a bit unusual because he couldn't really play.

And they were doing some crossing.

Ron was again integral to that.

He passed the ball out from the centre of the pitch.

Get out in the right back and curl it in

and get on the end of it.

All you have to do is put it in.

Generally wisecrack his way through the training session.

"Right, lads, see youse tomorrow."

Er, right, OK what happens now? Who's playing?

Turned up on a Saturday. Went to the Midlands Hotel.

Still nothing before the meal, we thought, "What's happening?"

And then he would open up his briefcase and I thought, "Yes."

He'll have all the team talks.

He would pass folders round

and we can see who we're playing against.

So he lifted up his briefcase.

It was full of aftershave, hairspray.

Done himself up a bit, and went,

"OK, lads, this is the way we're playing."

"Two big guys up front."

Bump, diddly, bump. Winger, da, da, da.

And that was the team talk.

I thought, "No, no, that's it then." Quite simple.

It was larger than life.

And that was his thing.

Making you feel good all the time.

Saying things that make you feel good.

Probably his weaknesses, the only weakness, I'd say, was...

"You can do what you want outside football,

as long as you turn up on a Saturday and play.

Life's too short, really.

Socially, we all lived reasonably close

to each other in those days.

There was always captains' team meetings

on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

and Robbo would say, "Right, it's captains' day,"

which meant, basically, you had to go to the pub and stay there

for as long as you could bear it.

I'd go into the bars and just say,

"We're having a bonding session, gaffer."

"We're going out here, going out there."

The boss was all for it.

I went out with them once, when I first got there,

and I ride back in the boot of Bryan Robson's car.

Whiteside, Robson, McGrath are the three names

that always get mentioned.

And we did, we did like to go out and have a few pints.

Well, I say to them boys, "You were our three best players

week in and week out.

Why didn't you get the rest of the boys out with you?"

We would have been unbeatable.

Oh, what a strike!

If you can get people enjoying what they're doing,

then you're gonna get more out of them.

A big trophy for Big Ron.

We did have a good cup run.

We won it in '83 and '85.

I mean, it's the biggest cup in Britain

and we've got the best support.

It's the league that United fans want.

An FA Cup is six matches.

It's not hard. Any club can win an FA Cup.

It's the league that's the big one; 42 matches.

FA Cup triumph for Man United.

I got that family feeling when I was there.

They had a humility about them. All these guys.

And a friendliness. And a camaraderie.

But they never excluded anybody.

I think your liver excluded you

from these parties, now and then.

It wasn't parties.

It was just going to pubs and sitting down and drinking.

And that held us back. There's no doubt about it.

Because I spoke to Jesper Olsen's fitness coach

and he says, "Youse are losing players

left, right and centre of injuries cos of the alcohol."

We were reasonably successful.

We were never out of the top four.

We qualified for Europe nearly every year.

We won a couple of FA Cups.

So, we weren't unsuccessful,

but, again, after four, five years

we weren't looking like winning the league.

It was still 18 years since we won the league.

Nineteen years since we won the league.

At that time, Liverpool were absolutely a machine,

but I did feel that with the players that we had,

we could win the league.

Things had gone a little bit wrong

and I wasn't sure that we could pull it round.

I just felt a change was needed at that stage.

We went in training one morning.

My boots aren't out for training and I get a message,

"Chairman wants to see you."

And Mick Brown says, "The Chairman wants to see us."

I just remember Mick saying, "What do you think he wants?"

I said, "Don't ask for a rise today, Mick."

"I don't think that's gonna happen."

Manchester United Football Club sacked their manager,

Ron Atkinson, today

and with him goes his assistant, Mick Brown.

I actually had no indication what was gonna happen.

I've come down today

expecting, a nice five-a-side and what have you.

The Chairman called for me at 10.30.

They told me, reluctantly, I felt reluctantly,

that they decided to dispense with my services

because of the results over the last few months.

And I accept that totally.

Bump.

We went, "Well, what do you mean, gone?" "I'm away."

"Right, OK."

So, we just looked at each other a bit and he went,

"Everybody at my house tonight. Eight o'clock, party."

And that's what it was.

Round to Ron's for a party.

To celebrate him getting the sack.

Right, here's Fergie.

There was only one target for me.

And that was Alex Ferguson.

I knew that if I rang up Aberdeen at switchboard

and just said it was Martin Edwards, the Chairman,

and I suddenly wanted to speak to Alex Ferguson,

then I may not have been put through.

So we went straight to Mike.

"Hello. Can I speak to Alex, please?"

I think he was pretending to be Gordon Strachan's agent.

She said, "Oh, John, how are you? How are the children?"

And I saw the sweat was pouring down.

I said, "They're fine, thank you. Fine."

Can I speak to Alex, please?

She said, "Sure. I'll put you through."

Welcome to Manchester.

Ooh! This is different, lads. This is seriously different.

"I'm Alex Ferguson."

"I'm manager of Manchester United now."

"I don't care who you are. I don't care if you're Whiteside,

Robson, McGrath, Strachan. Whatever."

He said, "I am the manager

of Manchester United from this day."

I woke up this morning, Alex,

to read that you're gonna win the title.

Well, what I've said is that starting today we have to win.

And we have to start thinking of winning every game now.

The first pre-match meal we ever had

he got the waitresses to take away butter and bring margarine.

He wouldn't allow us to have salt.

Oh, he was authoritative. There's no doubt about that.

He was a man in control. He was the boss.

Yeah, he was more disciplined.

There were more boundaries and rules that you had to abide by.

The structure of the club and the scouting,

to the youth team

to the way that everything was sort of run,

it was all geared to be his way.

And there goes the final whistle.

Manchester United, one goal only in the last six games now.

No win in their last six.

The vultures are already circling.

And the knives are out.

The atmosphere sometimes could be critical.

The media certainly could be critical.

There were moments

when you thought he was coming under real pressure.

I think he knew himself that he needed to turn it around.

I was just hopeful that he could turn it round

before we had to make any decisions to the contrary.

We knew how hard he was working with the scouts,

we knew the emphasis he put on youth.

The time and effort he put into it

was just unbelievable, really.

He was there first thing in the morning, last to leave.

He's one of those believers,

the more you put in, you get out.

And it is that working-class ethic.

Patience. Rare in football.

But a most precious commodity for a manager.

I think that Cup run was the biggest pressure of all.

The media were trying to build that game up to be

a crucial game for his future.

We just knew, as a group, that we had to do better.

We had to do more.

We just felt if he could just get some success

it would all come right.

He was fearless in what he'd done.

He would just stick by it

and he'd always believe he could make it work

to suit Manchester United as a football team

and a football club.

You've gotta win your domestic title.

That's what you're judged on. Your competition.

The competition in your own environment.

And that was always the, uh, the holy grail.

And the players are always being reminded

that they hadn't won that for so many years.

Arch-rivals take to the field

with United still in this race for the title.

Up until Christmas,

we looked as if we were odds on favourites.

We, you know, we played some fantastic football.

And, um, and if we're being brutally honest,

we, uh, bottled it a bit.

And Walters on the follow-up!

And the title will go to Leeds!

Manchester United have blown it.

We'd handed the opportunity to Leeds to go on and win it.

It's the most disappointed I'd ever been, really, in football.

After the game someone asked me for my autograph.

And I signed it and they ripped it up in front of me.

They said, "You'll never win the league."

Sir Alex used that as a tool to, um, to make it,

"It's us against the world," basically.

He made a point of saying it on the coach,

"This is what happened."

"Next year, we come back, and we don't let this happen again."

"Right, we'll show people."

"We'll show them what we're about and what we're gonna do

and we will overcome it."

We've got to assemble a squad

which is good enough to win the Premier League.

We had a great presence about that team.

And so, that dressing room could handle a character.

And Eric was definitely a character.

Manchester United needed me.

And I needed them.

I was an outsider, but... I was accepted.

I was born to play for Manchester United.

It's a good cross, and Cantona...

Beautiful turn on his first goal for Manchester United.

Eric became a catalyst in a way.

He was different. He trained differently.

He looked after himself differently.

As time went on, he just changed everybody's mentality.

A lot of people say a talisman, but I think it's more than that.

When we bought Cantona, everything seemed to kick off.

There was a different culture at the club.

You were seeing these young kids,

like little cats, sneaking up,

getting closer and closer to Eric.

And before we knew it, they were doing the same as he did.

From that point on, we never really looked back.

♪ Don't waste your words, I don't need anything from you

♪ I don't care where you've been or what...

Hughes!

We really believed that we could win the league that year.

The boys had loads of belief in themselves.

There was a determination amongst us all.

Cantona picks out Hughes.

And another cracker.

The fans, the culture, the city.

That was the energy that pushed us forward.

We were taught to be brave, to take chances...

- Cantona. - ..be confident.

It's a night where you can relax and play but win.

It was just there, you could feel it.

Determination to make sure that we got over the line this time.

Bruce!

♪ I am the resurrection and I am the life

Unbelievable!

They've come back from the dead in this one.

United are Kings of England once more. Champions, once again.

Champions.

♪ I am the resurrection and I am the life

♪ I couldn't ever bring myself

♪ To hate you as I'd like

We all felt the joy that we'd brought to Man U

after 26 years.

I can always remember

Sir Matt's smiling face in the stand.

He was just so delighted

that the club had won it after so many years.

It was like a weight was lifted

and it really meant everything

to the group of players and to the city.

Manchester did feel like the centre of the universe.

You just felt this connection

between the music and the football.

Old Trafford in the afternoon. The Haçienda in the night time.

What a perfect weekend.

The music scene was flying.

We had all the best bands around the world were all local.

Added to that, football, we were taking off.

Goes for the chip, and, oh, exquisite!

The city was upbeat.

You realise that something special is going on,

something's really, really happening.

Definitely did feel that the pressure was off.

And the shackles were off.

He's made an opening, can he finish it?

He can!

Every time we went up against opposition,

we'd look across and believe

that the opposition were beaten in the tunnel.

We had that... arrogance, really,

and that confidence that we were gonna win games.

We felt unbeatable.

Oh, c'est magnifique!

We felt unstoppable.

Irwin!

Oh! An absolute rocket from Cantona!

United, champions again.

And this time winners, of the League and Cup double.

The winner of the PFA Player of the Year Award

for 1994 is...

Eric Cantona.

Well done.

You thoroughly deserve that. Really, well done.

Well done.

I'm very happy and very proud to get this prize tonight.

And I would like to say, first,

I owe all my success to Manchester United.

To my manager, Alex Ferguson.

My coach, Brian Kidd.

All my team mates, the staff, and the fans.

After that I would like, uh, congratulate

all the people from football in England.

Even the player who didn't vote for me.

For... for all the pleasure they give me

to play in this magnificent football.

English football. Thank you very much, to everybody.

Always around that time, January, Selhurst Park.

They're the.. These are the games that win you leagues.

We knew it was gonna be tough.

You know, it's blustery, it's pouring down, it's windy.

Bobbly pitch. Not great conditions to play in.

Whenever we went away to away grounds,

you hear the sound of the crowd and the baying of the crowd.

That was just to-to irritate

and try and get a reaction out of the players.

Some of the abuse that we used to get was ridiculous.

It's a cold and windy winter night

here in South London.

This will be a test of United's credentials.

It was a frustrating game. Uh, Palace were frustrating us.

We weren't playing flowing football.

Cantona, strongly dispossessed

and claiming the foul.

But not getting it.

But what you don't see, for the first 60 minutes,

is Eric getting kicked.

Shaw comes right through him.

You gotta let it go over your head,

but sometimes it gets a bit much for you, doesn't it?

I was injured,

so I was listening to the game on the radio.

I always felt I could read when his eyes used to go black.

So when those occasions occurred, I always felt,

"OK, Eric, don't worry about it. I'll-I'll sort this guy."

"You go look for space over there while you calm down."

Cantona gets to his feet, quite gingerly.

Long clearance from Schmeichel.

And a problem off the ball immediately.

Cantona and Shaw tangle once more.

And the referee is coming over

and immediately shows the red card!

Cantona is dismissed!

Where can there be a place in the game

for a man of such extravagant talent?

A man of such wicked temperament?

For the fifth time

as a Manchester United player, Eric Cantona is sent off.

Sir Alex isn't even looking at him.

So, I don't know if Eric's caught, sort of,

the sight of the manager not even looking at him,

and that, sort of,

added a little bit more fire in his belly.

And then it's just, obviously something's just... switched.

Dismissed and has now...

Oh my goodness me! He just kicked, he's punched a fan!

Eric Cantona has jumped in and scissor, kung-fu kicked, a fan!

Manchester United fans are coming across!

I have never seen as disgraceful incident as that

in all my years in football!

Eric Cantona should be thrown out of the game

for that sort of incident!

He launched himself six feet into the crowd

and kung-fu kicked a supporter who was eye-witness...

I have been insulted thousands of times

and I have never reacted.

But sometimes...

you're fragile.

I think within the changing room,

it was more about the game, the disappointment,

but you knew there was something else that had happened...

that was at the back of everyone's mind.

Uh, back of the manager's mind.

"How am I gonna deal with this now?"

Keep back, please. Can you keep back.

Alex!

The directors of Manchester United are meeting now

to discuss the future of their fallen star, Eric Cantona.

The man promoted as the greatest player in Europe

is tonight best known

for the most outrageous piece of behaviour

in the history of the British game.

Should Eric Cantona be banned for life?

No, he shouldn't. He's got to be banned

and he's got to be disciplined.

But it would just be such a waste.

What happened last night was a stain on our game.

The Football Association has this evening

charged Eric Cantona of Manchester United and France

with misconduct that has brought the game into disrepute.

Neither explanation nor apology so far today

from Eric Cantona, the man who, this time, it seems,

has simply gone too far.

What do you think's gonna happen?

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

Manchester United has today suspended Eric Cantona

from all first team matches

for the remainder of the 1994/95 season.

Most Manchester United fans

will clearly wait for Cantona.

But will Cantona wait for them?

When he was similarly punished in France, he quit the game,

saying it was all beneath him.

Eric Cantona should be suspended forthwith

from all football activities,

up to and including September 1995.

He has given a statement to the police,

he has been charged.

The charge is of common assault.

Magistrate Jean Perch ordered he go to jail.

Cantona's barrister argued

that they sent Cantona to prison

not because of the seriousness of the offence,

but because he was a public figure.

Stuart, from the gallery,

I think we're talking about him almost coming in any moment.

Yeah, gallery, this is it.

First of all, I've got a brief statement in English

and then Eric Cantona would like to say a few words.

Eric Cantona's appeal

against the custodial sentence of 14 days was allowed today

and a community service order of 120 hours substituted.

Eric Cantona would like to say a few words.

My mind was clear, this was my time.

This was my message.

When the seagulls...

follow the trawler,

it's because they think

sardines will be thrown into the sea.

Thank you.

I don't regret it.

I have one regret...

I would have loved to kick him even harder.

I was banned for nine months.

I was very upset and...

and sad and disappointed.

They wanted me to be an example, I didn't want to be an example.

I'm just a human being.

That was a very difficult summer.

They'd lost the title on the last day by a goal.

They lost the FA Cup final.

And then some of the players left.

How do you let players like Mark Hughes, Paul Ince

and Andrei Kanchelskis, who, all three of them

would have been in every starting eleven.

Why do you let them go and don't sign any other players?

And I asked him this, "Why?" And he said,

"If I develop players through my academy,

if I don't make room to them, uh, for them in my first team,

they will stagnate and it's been a waste of time."

If a youth team gives you one player

that gets into the first team each year, that's fantastic.

But we had, probably, eight broke into the first team.

I remember him telling me,

"I think my lads are good enough,

so I'm gonna promote them."

Beckham, Scholes, Butt, the Nevilles.

All Manchester United fans.

And the Boss kept telling us about them all the time.

If they've got the temperament,

they've got a good chance.

There's only one way you're gonna find out, playing them.

They're good players, but...

It was a massive thing.

I mean, even, I think, as players,

you're thinking, "What are you doing?"

We'd come through the youth team.

We'd come through the reserve team.

We were a... a very close family.

The players come through the academy.

If they are good, they will be better than any kind of player.

Because they will have the soul of the club.

And the identity of the club.

Ferguson did what he thought was right for the team,

and therefore the club.

He wanted to build a young team,

not unlike Matt Busby.

You could see what he was trying to do with the youth team

and especially when he brought Brian Kidd into the club.

Get all the best young players around the Northwest area.

The emphasis went more back with development

and particularly the, uh,

local development.

You know, the Greater Manchester area.

Which was my role, I was given that role,

local talent, really.

That's the heritage at Manchester United.

You know, and Sir Matt built teams, like Sir Alex did.

You know, they rebuilt teams there.

That's what he was doing then.

It's not easily replaced, these iconic figures.

Eric Cantona has said he wants

to leave Manchester United and English football.

The FA inquiry into his appearance in a friendly game

against Rochdale last month

appears to have triggered his request to leave.

I played with the... with the reserve team.

We closed all the doors, and, uh...

I was not allowed to play with a shirt of Manchester United.

So I play with the reserve team, with that shirt.

Closed everything. It was just a friendly game.

But a journalist was on the top of the...

of a tree outside and he took a picture.

And, uh, unfortunately, he didn't fall.

And the day, after it was in the paper

and the FA wanted me... to ban me even more.

Tonight, the star himself is reported

to be in Paris contemplating an uncertain future.

A spokesman for Manchester United said tonight,

the board had considered Cantona's request carefully,

but had decided they were not prepared to release him.

Whether they can keep him here against his will,

contract or not, is another matter all together.

The siege mentality, we just, uh...

we just circled the wagons

and everybody went inside and then all stuck together.

The manager protected players at our club, you know.

Because we all know that when the manager was there

for the years that he was and the success that he had,

it was because when you're a Manchester United player

and something goes on in the club or in your personal life,

you are treated like family.

The Boss had gone to reassure him.

We was all behind him.

He was loved.

I had a chat with Eric yesterday morning.

I listened to him and I can understand exactly

what he's saying.

He trained so hard in the pre-season

and then all of a sudden it was taken away from him.

You hear things and...

gradually you're not seeing as much as... much of him.

Um...

So then you start to wonder, you know, does he need this?

You know. Is he gonna go off somewhere else?

Many United fans see Eric Cantona

as the lynchpin of Manchester United.

Do you see him as essential to United?

Yeah, I think so.

In fact, what I-I-I'm probably weak on

is, maybe, big game experience.

With players like Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes,

the two Nevilles, David Beckham.

Can you win the title next season if Eric stays?

Oh, yes. I'm absolutely certain of that.

Can you win it if he goes?

We would have to get a really good replacement.

He found the right words, like always.

I loved him and I respected him like a father.

When a manager does something like this...

to his player...

for sure the player will give his life to the manager.

And to the club. And to the fans.

Everybody.

Is he gonna play on Sunday?

Yes.

- Definitely. - From the start?

Right from the start.

Welcome the King back in style!

Get your Eric the King souvenirs!

Ooh, aah, ooh, aah, Cantona!

God is back, he's appearing at Old Trafford today.

Miracles don't happen that often.

What do you think about today?

Well, like every football fan in the country, Martin,

I'm really excited about the return

of the league's most talented footballer.

I think it gave us as a club and the team a real boost

to have Eric back on the pitch.

Cantona...

Puts it away. The script is written. He's back again.

Two-two.

The fans were behind me.

The-the-the... Everybody at the club.

In some clubs, maybe they would have sacked me,

and Manchester United offered me a new contract.

That's the difference between Manchester United

and the other ones.

Played across. Oh, it's flying in.

And United have closed the gap at the top of the table.

This combination of what was there,

what came in and then Eric returning...

it just made us an incredible team.

Footballer of the year.

He came back to drag United from nowhere.

To see Eric back playing, the excitement.

It gave us that extra push that season.

James gets there, just, first... Cantona!

United have done it. League and Cup double winners again.

This double, for me, means a lot.

It was a double, uh...

with a new generation of players.

Ferguson thought he was going to create this empire.

Cos most people don't think about creating an empire,

they just think about, "How do I win the next game?"

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

We have asked you to come along today

so that we may announce

that Eric Cantona has indicated his wish to retire from football

with immediate effect.

I didn't see it coming, personally.

Um, and I was devastated when, when I heard the news.

I couldn't comprehend how someone at such a young age,

with so much talent would just leave the game and...

it was sad for us because, you know, he was our talisman,

he was our leader.

It was really difficult to understand

as a player and as a team mate.

But, I think once Eric makes his mind up, you know,

he's that type of person that, you know,

no one could change that.

The last game of the league that season,

he rented a restaurant locally.

For me and Jordi and Eric and our families.

We had a good time, great night.

Celebrated winning the league again.

It was two days after, I listened to the radio

and it was announced that he'd retired.

And he never mentioned one word to us.

We were dancing, having fun.

Four o'clock in the morning, we went home and not one word.

And that was Eric in a nutshell for you.

I love the game.

I love the fire inside of me.

I love the adrenaline, I love... I love that.

I played it as, like a kid. It was my dream.

When this dream became like a routine,

I don't want to play football like this.

I want to be faithful to myself

and to the... to the fans and everybody.

And there is so many things to do in life.

I don't have time to waste.

It is time to pass the baton on to the next generation.

My phone rang.

"David, it's the Boss."

And I was like, "OK, hi, Boss. Uh, are you OK?"

And he said, "Yes, we're, we're signing, um, Teddy Sheringham."

"And he's gonna take the number 10 shirt."

And I was like, "Boss, I wanna keep the number 10 shirt."

"I like wearing the number 10. I enjoy wearing the number 10."

"Can I keep it?"

"Nope. Teddy's having it. Don't worry about it, son."

Phone down.

I was devastated for the whole... the whole summer.

And then I went back into pre-season

and the manager pulled me into his office

and he was like, um, "How you feeling?"

I was like, "Well, you know, I'm OK, Boss."

I would never turn round to him and say,

I'm-I'm, you know, a bit upset.

He said, "Oh, by the way, um,

yeah, you're gonna have the number seven shirt this year."

And all of a sudden I went from being devastated

to being one of the happiest people.

Because, as a United fan, you grow up

knowing that that number seven shirt has been worn by

George Best,

Bryan Robson,

Eric Cantona.

As much as I...

as I was gonna miss Eric,

I was kind of happy that I had the number seven shirt.

And then kind of nervous that I had to live up to anything

that he came close to.

You join us here on this parade in North London

where you can see Arsenal...

That year was a tough year for us.

It was a really tough year.

'97-'98 was a, you know, a fiasco.

What we were up against was an incredible team.

Didn't end up winning anything. That was a... a major blow.

Whenever you're not successful

of winning a league, winning an FA Cup...

it's always tough at United.

But that came from, you know, being a youth team player.

You know, defeat or...

having no success hurt.

It always hurt us, deeply.

It's together we experience pain and glory.

We...

we fall and rise... together.

We had to make adjustments.

We had to change.

We knew what we had to do.

We had to come back stronger and...

and that's what the manager prepared us for.

The manager was a genius at getting into your head.

Erm, he made us all believe that everyone hated us.

All of the fans hated us.

He made us believe the referee didn't like us.

The mentality, he had us in like siege mentality.

"No-one likes you. Everyone wants to beat Man United."

Right, OK.

What he instilled in his players, week in, week out.

"You make sure you fight till the bitter end."

That is a problem for them, by the way.

We get the ball transferred into these areas there.

I don't think they've a chance against us.

That particular season epitomises

how Sir Alex Ferguson worked as a manager.

Obviously, going into that season,

we'd had the disappointment of... the season before.

There was a lot of doubters out there.

As a team, I don't think we wanted to go through

another season of disappointment.

That's a dangerous ball in and, ah, it's there!

United with a last-minute winner.

I'd never felt like that playing football before.

That's when the pressure was really, really on.

It was that little bit different.

Just that little bit different.

Two heavyweights go toe-to-toe,

and the atmosphere is electric.

Oh, magnificent from David Beckham!

Bergkamp strikes from distance!

It wasn't just a football match, it was a battle.

Cynical from Keane.

And he's off. The red card for Roy Keane.

Penalty... saved by Schmeichel!

You just felt, after that semi-final win that,

yes, there is something special we can do.

Giggs... still going.

And twisting defenders on the run. Oh, what a finish!

We played some of the best football...

that we'd played in some time.

We did play like a team possessed.

The focus on Europe became more intense.

I think that was... that was always our goal... you know,

to be successful in Europe.

The manager always spoke about us as a team,

as individuals being successful in Europe.

Keane! It's 2-2!

Cole will finish it off.

Manchester United are in sight of the European Cup Final.

Full speed ahead, Barcelona!

We kept winning, simple as that.

That's what it's about. You get in that momentum

whereby you're winning week in, week out.

It was one of those superhuman feelings...

that the whole team believed that...

"Nah, this is gonna be our year."

And I just felt that everything that year...

came down to the last 11 days.

We'd done a couple of doubles,

but nobody had ever done... a treble.

Eleven days to fulfil a collective dream.

Manchester United

- on the verge... - -Just 11 days.

He's found Cole. Lovely control.

Can he lift it over? He has!

What a finish! It's gone right to the final whistle

on the final day of the league season.

And Manchester United have regained their crown.

I don't think any of us were tired at that point

you know, because we were running on adrenaline.

Part two of Manchester United's pilgrimage

to the promised land.

Scholes slides it through.

Sheringham. Oh, what a start!

Whenever you, er... had spare time

or you were ever just sat at home...

not letting yourself drift off

to thinking about winning the treble.

That was my like... cos you could quite easily think...

"We could do something unbelievable here."

We knew it was all leading up

to that final game.

We'd never played in, you know, a Champions League Final before.

You know, to play at the Nou Camp,

to play against... the mighty Bayern Munich.

And it was probably one of the only games...

in my career that I was slightly nervous for.

You just kept thinking about the game.

And that was probably the biggest in my career.

"Oh, come on, please. Just get the game over with."

"I just want to play the game."

The one game in my life I can honestly say...

yeah, I was nervous. Cos I'd never been here before.

I was going into the unknown.

This is our moment...

to seek out greatness.

The footballing fates await.

And then finally, you're actually there.

It was like, "Oh, my... come on."

"This... this is a dream come true."

Who are we? What are we about?

How much are we prepared to invest in this?

- How far are we prepared to go?

It's a chance of a lifetime.

We weren't playing well. We didn't have that flow.

We didn't have that fluidity that... we so...

we normally have.

People weren't doing their jobs right.

Giggsy weren't running past people.

Becks weren't putting great crossing in.

Yorke and Coley weren't linking up.

I was giving the ball away.

The back four were getting beat at the back.

Basler. Oh, deflected it in!

Sir Alex has come up to me and he said,

"Ted, if the score stays the same,

if it's still 1-0 after 15, 20 minutes,

you'll be going on. So make sure you're ready."

They hit the bar. They hit the post.

They had real chances.

We've still got a chance. We can't play any worse.

We gotta play better.

We were a team that... were prepared to take risks...

er, to gain, or claw something back.

I'm ready here. This is what I've been preparing for.

Always believe.

Three added minutes.

Even though there was only... three minutes left,

we knew that... we just needed that one opportunity.

In towards Schmeichel.

That group of players refused to be beaten.

Giggs with the shot. Sheringham!

From tragedy... comes triumph.

From disaster...

comes glory.

Beckham. Into Sheringham...

And Solksjaer has won it!

Kings of Europe again.

And nobody will ever win a European Cup Final

more dramatically than this.

This is a story of a community.

A tribe.

The years pass, the tribe evolves.

Power fades and perishes.

The empire grows, the dynasty expands,

but the soul remains intact.

What does your tribe say about you?

About your heart. Your head. Your soul.

What touched my heart,

and I'll-I'll never forget is the scenes...

when we got back to Manchester.

We did it... for them.

Turning into Deansgate will live with me

for the rest of my life.

When... you see the oceans of people...

you realise how much it meant to so many people in Manchester.

I'd like to think that in its foundations...

it is an ordinary club doing its best.

Football has that power.

It has that power to change people's lives.

There was many reasons why Manchester United

were successful at that time.

You know, Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager, the boss...

bringing the youth team players through that he did.

Those players before us...

you know, to understand the history, the city.

The club, the fans.

To give everything on the pitch.

And then Eric.

And when you're a Manchester United player...

there's nothing more important than being...

taught by players like Eric Cantona.

To understand United is to understand

the fundamental aspect of the human mosaic.

What thrills us. What scares us.

What makes us feel alive.

Maybe I should wear my collar... collars up for this interview.

We had to wear club blazers.

Eric would turn up in crushed velvet jackets

and open-neck shirts,

while we were all stiff-collared and club ties.

If Eric... put on a black bin bag,

somehow he would put something on the bin bag

to make it look like a designer bin bag.

We all tried to do the collar thing,

and we all thought that we could get away with it

but erm, none of us could, you know?

It never looked as good. It never...

we always felt like, that we were...

copying Eric, and not in a cool way.

So, you know, we tried it in a few games,

but then it was like, no.

Just let Eric do that.

We used to go to the local pub.

And erm... and of course, the typical British they are,

the round was four pints of Guinness, four lagers,

five... five pints of bitter. And, of course, for Eric,

a glass of champagne.

Everybody's grateful for what Eric did for the club

because, even now, what...

23, 24 years after he's left...

people still sing his song.

That's how special he is to this club.

He was with us for five full seasons.

We won the league in four of those seasons.

We did the double twice.

We... We lost one season.

While I was banned.

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