‘CLASS OF 92’ BEN’S TORMENT
IF Jose Mourinho needs to explain to his players what it means to play for Manchester United, then he should give Ben Thornley a call.
Thornley had a dream of graduating with the rest of the club’s fabled Class of ’92, but it was shattered by a horrific knee injury at the age of 18.
For a player touted as the next Ryan Giggs (below), it was the toughest blow.
Thornley, raised in the United heartland of Salford, was persuaded to sign for the club at 14 when Sir Alex Ferguson and Brian Kidd called on him one night at his family home.
He became part of a formidable team that included Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Robbie Savage and Keith Gillespie that lifted the 1992 FA Youth Cup.
But Thornley’s life was changed forever in the spring of 1994 by a tackle from Blackburn defender Nicky Marker in a reserveteam game.
Club physio Rob Swire described the inside of the teenager’s knee as looking like a plate of spaghetti Bolognese such was the extent of the ligament damage.
And the watching Ferguson was so outraged that he urged Thornley to launch a successful legal fight for damages against both Marker and his club.
Thornley has now written a book about how his dream was snatched away in an instant.
Every single member of the Class of 92 has taken time to describe the player Thornley was – and should have been.
Mourinho should make it essential reading for any United player who doesn’t realise how blessed they are.
Thornley, who now works for the club’s TV station, added: “Do I envy lads like Becks, Gary Nev and Scholsey, who went on to win Trebles, Doubles and league championships? Of course, I do.
“But those lads are still my mates. And if you ask any of the lads I grew up with what mattered most, they’d all tell you money came a very distant second to representing United.”
■