Alan Hansen's big kids

As the 2014/15 football season approaches, it’s worth re-visiting an infamous opening day blunder.

‘It only takes one tree to make a thousand matches, but it only takes one match to burn a thousand trees’. While Alan Hansen was a fine Scottish footballer and is a fine football pundit, his good work is largely undone by two high profile mistakes. In the case of Alan Hansen, it was two matches that burned a thousand trees. Despite his reputation as a solid defender in a successful Liverpool side, he is often remembered as the player who committed the decisive blooper in Scotland’s 1982 World Cup loss to the Soviet Union. And despite his established reputation as a pundit, he is largely remembered for, and haunted by, his 1995 comment regarding the title prospects of the Manchester United squad: “you’ll win nothing with kids”.

Amidst the mockery from his fellow analysts, three words constantly run through my mind:
HANSEN WAS RIGHT.

Well, sort of. I agree with Alan Hansen. I agree that you will win “nothing with kids”. I agree that over the course of the Autumn, Winter and Spring of a football season, you will not win a league title at the top level with a squad of kids. How so? The Manchester United team that prompted Hansen’s famous remarks went on to win the Premier League title that year; hence the mocking.

But while Alan Hansen was right to point out that teams of kids will not win titles, he was wrong about something. He was wrong to call the 1995/96 United team a group of kids. While the squad contained a percentage of high profile youngsters, it is painfully obvious that the team were not, on the whole, kids. That season, 16 players made significant contributions on the field (I’m defining ‘significant contributions’ as 10 starts or more). David May is the least used player among the 16, with 11 starts and five substitute appearances (which still amounts to around a third of the season). 16 players is a handy figure, as it represents the starting 11 plus five substitutes (coincidently mirroring David May’s stats).

Three of the squad turned 21 that season (Butt, Scholes and Gary Neville). Beckham (20), Giggs (22) and Phil Neville (19) also played. Four of the squad were in their peak at 24-25 (Lee Sharpe, David May, Roy Keane and Andrew Cole). The Remaining six players were veterans: Peter Schmeichel and Brian McClair (both 32), Denis Irwin and Gary Pallister (both 30), Eric Cantona (29) and Steve Bruce (a whopping 35). The average age of these 16 at the beginning of the season was over 25, rising beyond 26 by the season's end, of course. Added to this, the next highest contributor (with five starts and one sub) was Paul Parker, who finished the season aged 32. Therefore, roughly a third of the 16 were youngsters, around a third were in their peak and around a third were veterans.

Far from being a bunch of kids, Fergusson had put together a talented mix of youth and experience. Even the 22 year old Ryan Giggs was five years removed from his debut, while the 24 year old Keane showed strong signs of leadership and presence. In truth, if we are to mock Alan Hansen at all, it should be for his use of the word ‘kids’.

So, Mr. Hansen, please accept our apologies for years of derision. You were wrong to call them kids, and we were wrong to mock. Indeed, the only person who emerges as right is Sir Alex Fergusson. The 1995/96 Premier League trophy is confirmation that Sir Alex knew all along that he would win nothing with kids, and evidently, he never had to.