Manchester United ’99 documentary is a refined hit of nostalgia to distract from the club’s current woes

Sign up for Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter delivered straight to your inbox for free

Sign up for Miguel Delaney’s free weekly newsletter

There was a time when the period dramas that TV executives rushed to commission involved the writings of Jane Austen, not the musings of Phil Neville. Although that time was the 1990s, a decade that saw a growing industry in Manchester United nostalgia. Which, since the last quarter of a century has taken them from “football to hell” to “football to hell,” may not be surprising. The past is infinitely preferable to the present for them.

After Netflix’s David Beckham documentary comes Amazon ’99; made by the same production company, covering some of the same ground, with many of the same faces; most of the stories are familiar, the footage is well-worn, but still spine-tingling. United’s best ever season is set to be resumed, if only to distract them from one of the worst campaigns anyone under 40 can remember. He created various legacies. There was a story last week that criticism of the military-industrial complex of Old Trafford’s big boys could put off potential candidates from wanting to manage the club.

And it feels like we’re never far from ex-Manchester United players rooting for Manchester United to win, watching Manchester United lose and lamenting that Manchester United isn’t what it used to be and saying what Manchester United should be. All this may be a product of 1999. Because much of the third episode – not coincidentally there are three, given that it documents a historic treble – concerns a Champions League final in which Sir Alex Ferguson and- wrong team selection and tactics. , his team played mostly poorly and could have been beaten, but won because it was Manchester United.

Because it would have been Sir Matt Busby’s 90th birthday, because it was Ferguson’s overall ambition, because it was their destiny, their character, their nature. None of these actually offered a formula after Ferguson retired, leaving his faithful so bewildered as their successors struggle. Compared to many more recent teams, United did not triumph because of tactics or footballing philosophy. They won because they did.

Now, a group of middle-aged men – and octogenarian Ferguson – turn back the clock, Mancunian monotones and singing Scandinavian voices reliving the remarkable. “What was the high?” Andy Cole asks. “There was no such thing.” Which, as clubs in other countries have made their own trebles, may not be factually accurate, but which adorn the legend anyway.

Not that he needed it. Many of them remain amazing: Roy Keane’s selfless brace against Juventus, Peter Schmeichel’s save from Dennis Bergkamp’s penalty, Ryan Giggs’ greatest goal of his life, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the New Field. There is the Beckham redemption story, Paul Scholes still haunted by the fact that he, like Keane, missed the Champions League final. It’s as close as it gets to United’s relegation since 1974. If it makes it ripe for reminiscence, perhaps the relationship with the modern game is becoming more distant. It was less sanitized then.

Perhaps in the late 2040s a documentary about Manchester City’s latest highs will reveal that Bernardo Silva hated Ilkay Gundogan who punched Nathan Ake, who refused to speak to Ruben Dias, who told him to Manuel Akanji to go to Switzerland in a sports car. . But probably not.

Yet – and while Solskjaer, whose happy place remains Old Trafford in 1999, talks about them all being colleagues – United’s team spirit came despite or because of personality clashes. There was Schmeichel and Keane, fighting in a dressing room; “Two animals, they didn’t get along,” says Gary Neville. Cole remembers trying to hit Sheringham. The striker recalls a row with Keane. “He said, ‘Why don’t you go back to London in your Ferrari?'” An assist and a goal in the Champions League final later, perhaps even Keane was glad Sheringham didn’t take his advice.

The cast list of interviewees is impressive and extensive. Beckham brings a smiling charisma, Schmeichel honest insight, Dwight Yorke joie de vivre, Sheringham a ready acceptance that some people didn’t like him, Henning Berg about three sentences to show that the filmmakers interviewed Henning Berg. Only one man is missing: Keane, a great contrarian, but perhaps because of his marked reluctance to mythologize. Ferguson, often one to hold a grudge, is ignoring a row dating back to 2005 to pay a lavish tribute to his captain.

The Irishman intimidated the opponents. Most of all, however, it intimidated Jesper Blomqvist, a gentle soul who feels out of place in an unforgiving environment. Nicky Butt recalls Ferguson’s reaction to the 1998 defeat to Monaco. “It’s your fault,” his manager said. “We’re out of the European Cup because of you.”

Maybe it was a more brutal time, maybe just a very different one. Contrasts are drawn in a group that could cope. Cole regrets a threesome. Phil Neville regrets a foul on Ray Parlour. If Beckham wishes he could go back to when United won the Champions League, Yorke wishes he could party like it’s Christmas 1998; Gary Neville organized the transport and Yorke oversaw the debauchery for an epic night that apparently served as the inspiration for an unbeaten run that began in December and lasted the rest of the season.

Like comfortable viewing, it’s entertaining but unsurprising, lacking the unpredictability that United’s season showed then, but the antidote to their current failings. There are few real revelations, although Gary Neville is surprised to discover that Ferguson handed in and then revoked his resignation at the start of the season. Chairman Martin Edwards appears to claim he motivated the motivator by restoring Ferguson’s focus in a way that angered the Scot into threatening to quit.

Another galvanizing factor was Arsenal’s double in 1998. “The previous season, everyone swallowed the Arsenal Bible,” cried Phil Neville. “Vitamins and pasta, it used to piss me off.” The Bury defenders also had vitamins and pasta, but they didn’t like to talk about it and nobody celebrated them for it.

But then no one believed that United’s height was due to diet or sports science. It was because they were Manchester United. And 25 years on, those looking for a respite from the 2024 team, a happy ending or a truly great sporting story can enjoy clips of historic brilliance as Gary Neville sits by a bath and talks endlessly about the days of glory and about the United States of America. he used to know.

::99 is available exclusively on Prime Video on May 17, when all three parts will be available globally.

If you’re not an Amazon Prime Video subscriber, get started a 30-day free trial here. We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This income helps fund journalism in The Independent.