HOW 1995 BECAME DEFINING MOMENT FOR FERGIE... AND THE CLASS OF ’92

Little did he know that his own Manchester United future would come to depend on teenage tyros like Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville. Mark Robins’ FA Cup winner at Nottingham Forest in January 1990 has become steeped in legend as THE goal that convinced United’s directors not to sack the man who would become the most successful manager in the club’s history. But the reality is that, just six years later, the Scot found himself facing another make-or-break moment when his bosses answered his demand to be given a new longterm contract with a question of their own.

“Have you taken your eye off the ball?” asked Professor Sir Roland Smith, after Fergie had been summoned to the chairman’s Isle of Man home to discuss his request for a six-year deal.

Smith’s suggestion that Ferguson should come back next year was not what the 54-year-old was hoping for.

And chief executive Martin Edwards added insult to injury by warning Ferguson there would be no cushy boardroom job for him at the end of his tenure.

“We don’t want a repeat of the Matt Busby syndrome,” Edwards is reported to have said. It is fair to say that Ferguson was not in a good place. His bid to become the first manager to defend the Double had ended in failure.

A 1-1 draw at West Ham on the final day of the 1995 Premier League season meant that Blackburn, led by boss Kenny Dalglish (left), were crowned champions – despite losing at Liverpool.

And, six days later, United were beaten 1-0 by Everton in the FA Cup Final.

In the desolate dressing room at Wembley, Ferguson warned that any players who had let their team-mates down would not be around much longer.

Just a few days earlier, the manager had shocked his board of directors by announcing that he planned to sell Paul Ince.

The England midfielder might have been at the top of his game, but Ferguson felt he had literally become too big for his boots.

Ince had christened himself ‘The Guv’nor’. His nickname was even stitched into his Predator boots.

As Ferguson explained in his autobiography, Managing My Life: “I had observed Paul closely for the past five months and decided his attitude and performances had altered to a degree that I could not tolerate.

“This Guv’nor thing should have been left in his toy box.”

So Ince was sold to Inter Milan for £6million – and fans’ favourites Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis were to follow through the exit door.

Ferguson wanted to keep Hughes, but the Welshman was now 31. He had been left on the bench in the