‘United is all about winning – but this team is so far away from that’

Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, the duo whose goals fired the Class of ’99 to the treble, pull no punches about today’s side

Twenty-five years after scoring all those goals to help Manchester United become the first English club to win the treble, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole are still bouncing off each other.

They are back together in Manchester for the premiere of 99, an intimate documentary series that will air on Amazon Prime Video next week and reveals the personal struggles, doubts, dressing-room conflicts and miraculous moments behind a legendary season that culminated in an unforgettable night in Barcelona.

It is a captivating watch and, even now, you can see a mixture of emotions – pride, relief, joy, gratitude – bubbling up in Yorke and Cole as they reflect on one of football’s most extraordinary roller-coaster rides.

What is clear is the “Calypso Boys”, as they were fondly dubbed, have lost none of their chemistry. They finish each other’s sentences like they once did attacking moves, the conversation moving at the sort of pace and energy with which they danced around defenders until all that misty- eyed reminiscing leads us to a stark appraisal of the current team. Neither can conceal their sadness – tinged with anger – at what the club have become.

“Of course it’s hard,” Cole says, solemnly. “It’s hard because I never saw Manchester United in this posi