Would the 93/94 side have won the CL without the foreigners rule.

Livvie

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We'll never know.

But I reckon they would have stood a good chance.

It was bloody criminal that the team that won the English Championship was not allowed to strut its stuff in Europe.
 
I don`t think so. In the early 90s the PL wasn`t on one level with the very best leagues in europe imo.
 
Undoubtedly IMO.

Think of the team.

Schmikes, Parker, Pally, Bruce, Irwin, Andrei, Keane, Ince, Giggs, Eric and Hughesy.

Great team. We would have won it.
 
Despite the rule, we've managed to match Barcelona (at home anyway) and only came within a point or so from qualifying.

I reckon we could have gone close, Barcelona got to the final that year and were beaten out of sight by Milan.
 
MPTUTD;

Undoubtedly IMO.

Think of the team.

Schmikes, Parker, Pally, Bruce, Irwin, Andrei, Keane, Ince, Giggs, Eric and Hughesy.

Great team. We would have won it.
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<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laugh Out Loud]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laugh Out Loud]" />

Red tinted glasses.

Stop talking shite. We were not anywhere near.

A class Milan side deservedly won it outclassing a team that totally outclassed us.
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Originally posted by One Remi Moses:
<strong>

<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laugh Out Loud]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laugh Out Loud]" />

Red tinted glasses.

Stop talking shite. We were not anywhere near.

A class Milan side deservedly won it outclassing a team that totally outclassed us.</strong><hr></blockquote>


But would we have been outclassed if we could have fielded who we wanted to?
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Look stop talking up a team that wasn't in thesame class as other teams in Europe at the time.

A lovely team which I fondly remember, but not top class in Europe for various reasons.

That rule applied to everyone.

No wonder other fans hate us so much talking rubbish like this.
 
Originally posted by One Remi Moses:
<strong>Look stop talking up a team that wasn't in thesame class as other teams in Europe at the time.

A lovely team which I fondly remember, but not top class in Europe for various reasons.

That rule applied to everyone.

No wonder other fans hate us so much talking rubbish like this.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Oy! Calm down!

It's just a speculative thread about whether the 93/94 side could have done what the 98/99 side did.

Some people think the 93/94 side was the better anyway.
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i think not..


reasons:

kanchelskis wasn't a success in Europe, mainly due to the reason he didn't get the same space..and was usually well marked out of the game.

bruce and pallister, lacked pace, and more importantly were tooooo slllooooooow on the turn

cantona and hughes wasn't as good a partnership as cole and yorke.. infact no where near, the latter's the best i've seen at OT.

lastly.. the 99 team passed the ball more fluently.
 
Originally posted by giggzy:
<strong>i think not..


cantona and hughes wasn't as good a partnership as cole and yorke.. infact no where near, the latter's the best i've seen at OT.

lastly.. the 99 team passed the ball more fluently.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Cantona and Hughes could turn a game. Cole and Yorke were OK if the rest of the team were playing well, but when the chips were down they failed. The CL final being a good example. I remember Hughes doing pretty well against Barca in a certain final.
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Originally posted by Travis Bickle:
<strong>

Cantona and Hughes could turn a game. Cole and Yorke were OK if the rest of the team were playing well, but when the chips were down they failed. The CL final being a good example. I remember Hughes doing pretty well against Barca in a certain final.</strong><hr></blockquote>


but as a combo nothing touches yorke and cole..

simply awesome.
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Originally posted by giggzy:
<strong>


but as a combo nothing touches yorke and cole..

simply awesome.</strong><hr></blockquote>

agreed - a great striking partnership is better than the sum of it's parts , and cole-yorke was that. telepathic at times, both in and out of the sheets. ;)
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The foreigners rule certainly worked against United in the early 90's. But I think the single biggest factor working against United back then was adjusting to the tempo and tactical superirority of many European teams. You have to say, and it may be a moot point, the ban on English clubs from 85 to 90 set back English football significantly. Think about it. English clubs dominated the European Cup in the late 70's and early 80's. Liverpool, Villa and Forest all were European champions. Can we say that English teams have dominated since the ban? One glorious win in 99 is hardly domination is it? United and all the other English teams have been playing catch up ever since 85 and that is what Fergie was on about in 99 when he said he wanted to take this team onto another level.
 
i think the '99 team was better though.. the game looked much better.. we were controlling the domestic and were running rules in Europe.. we even got the FA to go with it.. and best yet, we had so many English players in the team..
 
Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>But I reckon they would have stood a good chance.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Good enough to stand a chance, yes, it's football after all, but Milan were miles ahead of anyone else. I don't think anyone has been anywhere near that dominance since then.

Come to think of it, we all remember how they tried to "buy" their way back... and failed. A lesson for us maybe?
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Milan were unstoppable in those days, we wouldn't have matched them IMO.
Funnily enough, it was the scrapping of the foreigners rule that finally ended AC's dominance, despite their best players (of the Euro winning teams) being foreigners; Desaily, Van Basten, Gullit etc.
 
Originally posted by One_hit_wonder:
<strong>Funnily enough, it was the scrapping of the foreigners rule that finally ended AC's dominance, despite their best players (of the Euro winning teams) being foreigners; Desaily, Van Basten, Gullit etc.</strong><hr></blockquote>

They failed to see the formidable support these had from their own players and went out to buy even more fancy named foreigners to be bigger and better...

They forgot their strength was in the sound, solid and consistent squad they had built.
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Some very harsh views on the earlier team which I don't think are fair.

Remember that there were fewer teams taking part in those days, and that the core of the team (minus Big Pete and Hughesey) had already been successful in Europe, winning the EC Cup Winners Cup, (which was a top-flight competition in those days, and nothing like the retards trophy which is the second european competition these days).

Would we have won the trophy ???..Who knows !

Were we good enough to have made the final stages ? - absolutely.

Were we seriously disadvantaged by the four foreigners rule ?- No question at all.

Were Cole and Yorke a better partnership than Hughes/Cantona ?..do me a favour..they weren't as good as good as Sheringham/Solskjaer at the time, and were pretty rapidly sussed out the following season.
 
Cole and Yorke might have been sussed after a season, but they were fantastic in 1998/9. Never seen another strike duo so good.
 
Originally posted by christiepark_boy:
<strong>Some very harsh views on the earlier team which I don't think are fair.

Remember that there were fewer teams taking part in those days, and that the core of the team (minus Big Pete and Hughesey) had already been successful in Europe, winning the EC Cup Winners Cup, (which was a top-flight competition in those days, and nothing like the retards trophy which is the second european competition these days).

Would we have won the trophy ???..Who knows !

Were we good enough to have made the final stages ? - absolutely.

Were we seriously disadvantaged by the four foreigners rule ?- No question at all.

Were Cole and Yorke a better partnership than Hughes/Cantona ?..do me a favour..they weren't as good as good as Sheringham/Solskjaer at the time, and were pretty rapidly sussed out the following season.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Solskjaer and Cantona would have been an excellent partnership. They clicked right from the off. If you watch clips from 96/97 season there is some superb interplay.
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Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>

Solskjaer and Cantona would have been an excellent partnership. They clicked right from the off. If you watch clips from 96/97 season there is some superb interplay.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yep, and thats during the time Cantona was going off the boil somewhat. We'll never know what a Cantona/Solskjaer partnership with both on their top form could have produced.
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Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>

Solskjaer and Cantona would have been an excellent partnership. </strong><hr></blockquote>

yes that could have been excellent...

cantona's vision and Ole's finishing.
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Wondered that myself many times but I have to say no. Sure the foreign player rule was a handicap but I think the team lacked the experience and know how to really compete with the best in Europe.

Look at the two games against Barcelona. Ok we drew with them at Old Trafford and gave them a real run for their money, but they outclassed us for large parts of the game after they got to grips with our good start.

And then they tore us apart in the Nou Camp. Missing Schmeichel, Cantona and Bruce sure didn't help but the football Barcelona played was on a different level. Patient, controlled and incisive when needed. Our central midfield consisted of two ball winners - Ince and Keane. Barca had Amor and Bakero stroking the ball around with ease while our two boys chased shadows. And the back four just didn't know how to handle Romario and Stoichkov.

With our full team we certainly would have done better but I doubt we would have got beyond the quarter-finals.

As far as I see it, the 93/94 team was built to win the league after so many barren years, the team that came after that (95/96 onwards) was built to win the Champions' League. Thankfully both sides succeeded on both counts! :)
 
I'd have to say no, also.

Most of that 93/94 team just didn't have the experience of playing week in, week out for year after year in Europe. The advantage that gave the 99 team just can't be underestimated.
 
Some posts here don't make sense. Our 93/94 side played in the 94/95 CL season, which was beaten by Barca 4-0 & Gothenburg 3-1. In the same season, Ajax won the trophy beating Milan 1-0, the 4-0 win for Milan over Barca happened the season before.

As for the original topic, the answer is a definite no. We were knocked out of the CL prelims (2nd round) on away goals by Galatasaray in the 93-94 season by the way, we didn't even make the group stages that year.
 
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