Class of ‘92 saved boss in Fergie time
In spring 1995 Sir Alex
Ferguson decided to put his faith in the Class of ’92.
Little did he know that his own Manchester United future would depend on teenage tyros Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Gary and Phil Neville, allied to the genius of Eric Cantona.
Mark Robins’ FA Cup winner at Nottingham Forest in 1990 is hailed as THE goal that saved the Scot’s bacon. But six years later, he found himself facing another crisis when United chiefs answered his demand for a six-year contract with a question of their own. “Have you taken your eye off the ball?” asked Sir Roland Smith.
Ferguson was not in a good place as his bid to become the first manager to defend the Double had ended in failure.
Key players headed for the exit door and it looked like Fergie was losing the plot.
After an opening day 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa, pundit Alan Hansen declared United would win nothing with kids.
But in September 1994, Ferguson unleashed the club’s 1992 FA Youth Cup winners on Port Vale in the League Cup. He recalled: “One MP said I should be banned for life for not playing my strongest team when people had paid £10 to get in. But it was clear
I had youngsters equipped to play at the highest level.”
In May 1996,
United regained the
Double and Fergie went back to Smith with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
But two years earlier he looked finished, wrecked by a devastating knee injury.
Not that the Aberdeen legend realised how serious it was until many years later.
He went on to enjoy six more seasons with the Dons – yet but for the intervention of Alex Ferguson, his football story could have been shorter and less sweet.
A sickening tackle by Liverpool’s Ray Kennedy in a European Cup tie in 1980 left the midfielder facing drastic surgery on his wrecked knee.
The prognosis looked bleak but Fergie shielded his player from the medics’ opinion that he’d kicked his last ball. And after a gruelling recuperation, McMaster was back in action, helping the Dons win more honours including their European Cup Winners’ Cup triumph over Real Madrid in May 1983 and league titles in 1983-84 and 1984-85.
McMaster is remembered as one of the most intelligent and technical midfielders of his era.
But he’s still eternally grateful to Ferguson for saving him from the worst news possible and giving him that second chance.
He recalled: “Sir Alex went to speak to the surgeon who had operated on me and asked for a prognosis.
“The doctor told him that if he was swinging a pendulum then it would fall against me – he said I wouldn’t ever play again.
“Within a millisecond Sir Alex said: ‘Whatever you do doc, don’t tell John that.’
“It’s not a story I’ve told many people but Sir Alex only told me what happened a few years ago.
“I fought back from the injury and proved the doctor wrong so Sir Alex was right to insist that the doctor didn’t tell me.
“Sir Alex knew me inside out. I’m really proud of him that he had that mind set because I may never have played again if I had known what the surgeon had told the boss.
“It’s just typical of how he operates, plus he made sure I received my full bonus which was a massive help. Not many people see that side to him.”
McMaster filled in at left-back that famous night in Gothenburg in May 1983 as goals from Eric Black and John Hewitt dumped the Spanish giants 2-1.
It’s a night that has gone down in history as Aberdeen and Fergie’s greatest achievement.
But McMaster admits that 40 years ago today he tasted his first great football moment with the Granite City club.
Their 5-0 romp over Hibs at Easter Road on May 3 1980 brought their first Premier League win under Ferguson.
It was a watershed that laid the foundations for the club’s glory days at home and across Europe as they ended 15 years of Glasgow dominance.
McMaster said: “It was the start of us terrorising the rest of Scottish football for the next eight years where he won 11