Man Utd’s complicated relationship with Class of 92

Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes have voiced their opinions in the tongue-for-tat conversation between Lisandro Martinez and two of the club’s most well-known recent players.

The pair praised the Argentina defender for his role in the 2-0 win over Manchester City at Old Trafford on the same “Good, The Bad, The Football” podcast, in which they teased Martinez before taking the microphone before the Manchester derby, but questioned his justification for saying what they said.

Butt responded, “Fair play to him.” The best center forward in the world has transformed into a man-to-man. So we enter this area and say “well done.” amazing . He has performed very well.

I just “think” to come out and say, “They can say what they want” and “come to my house,” when someone becomes so upset about something on a podcast or in the media.

You shouldn’t be at a large football club if you’re going to react so badly to someone saying something about you.

Before the game, Butt and Scholes had joked that Haaland would take Martinez, a 5′ 7″, to Old Trafford and run with him.

Everyone can talk on television, but no one says anything when you see them there face-to-face, Martinez said following the victory.

The argument serves as a brief summary of United’s complex relationship with their well-known “Class of 92.”

Between them, Gary and Phil Neville, Gary and Phil, Gary and Phil, and Ryan Giggs, Scholes, David Beckham, Butt, and Gary and Phil, the club made 3,448 appearances. The second great team Sir Alex Ferguson built, which became the first to win the Treble in England in 1999, was built on these foundations.

Following David Moyes’ dismissal in 2014, Giggs served as interim manager for four games. Prior to joining Louis Van Gaal, he had previously worked as a coach. Under Giggs, Butt, Scholes, and Phil Neville all trained.

Before joining United as its head of academy in 2016, Butt held the position of youth coach before leaving in 2021. Few people are more qualified to discuss United’s strategy for bringing young players through.

He cares a lot about it because of the club. Even though his old club was playing Bournemouth in the Premier League a few hours later, he and United officials gathered on a rainy night in Moss Side to coach a group of underprivileged children for Sir Bobby Charlton’s Foundation.

Previous Butt objected strongly to a United official’s assertion that youth development is about more than winning. He claimed the club threatened to cancel his season tickets more recently.

Gary Neville was at Old Trafford three days prior to Butt’s Foundation appearance when United announced they had agreed to use the UA92 University as its campus. The UA92 University was established in 2019 by the Class of 1992.

Although it is obvious that the bond still exists, their opinions on United are eagerly sought, especially those that are negative.

Giggs complained about Ruben Amorim’s preference for playing wider players on the pitch’s opposite side of the pitch while speaking at the Training Ground Guru conference at Old Trafford in October.

Everybody is regularly speaking on game days at Hotel Football, a hotel they co-own, which is a short distance from Old Trafford.

The hotel itself was once the source of conflict. Although the club does occasionally use it on occasion, United made an effort to stop its construction.

Neville, who also contributes to Sky’s football coverage or hosts the wildly popular “Stick to Football” podcast, is rarely lacking in opinion.

Former United head coach Ruben Amorim cited Neville as someone who received too much attention during the press conference at Elland Road that led to his dismissal.

That is a subject of debate. Neville was able to speak with his former team-mate on camera in the Old Trafford tunnel before the derby, unlike former skipper Roy Keane, whose criticism of new boss Michael Carrick was pointed and personal.

Neville presented this to BBC Sport with the idea that the Class of 1992 and United would not be able to join him in initiating his UA92 campus venture at Old Trafford.

He responded, “That’s a theory.” There is no denying that there were some issues a few years ago, but that has been resolved.

“I don’t believe there are any issues right now,” adding that “Class of 92 are” disappointed and frustrated “when they lose,” and “that they are” desperate for the club’s success.

Collette Roche, United’s chief operating officer, shared her opinion.

She said, “Many of our former players are in the media and obviously will have opinions about the football team.” That is acceptable.

“But the class of 1992 is a member of our family, and our relationship with UA92 extends far beyond the most recent headline or podcast.”

Which is fine if the players ignore it, as Scholes and Butt suggest.

They don’t, as Martinez demonstrated, which is the issue.

Scholes remarked, “We exchanged messages on Instagram quite a while ago because he wasn’t happy with what I said.”

He claimed he had lost all respect for me, but I can’t recall what it was.