Manchester United: The club’s complicated relationship with the Class of 92

In a conversation between Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez and two of the club’s most famous recent players, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes have their say.

In the same ‘Good, Bad, Football’ podcast where they blasted Martinez for taking the mickey before the Manchester derby, both praised the Argentina defender for his performance in the 2-0 win against Manchester City at Old Trafford but questioned his reason for responding.

“Fair play to him,” said But. “He went man-to-man with the best player in the world. So, we come here and say, ‘well done’. Brilliant. Well done.

“I just think if someone gets offended by something on a podcast, or in the media, they come out and say, ‘they can say what they want’ and ‘come to my house’ – grow up.

“If you’re going to be upset about someone saying something about you and you react like that, you shouldn’t be at a big football club.”

Before the game, Butt and Scholes joked with host Paddy McGuiness that Haaland would pick 5ft 7in Martinez up at Old Trafford and run with him.

After the victory, Martinez said: “Everyone knows how to talk on TV, but when you see it. [them] here face to face, no one says anything.”

The dispute is a snapshot of the strained relationship United have with their legendary ‘Class of 92’.

Between them, Ryan Giggs, Scholes, David Beckham, Butt and the Neville brothers, Gary and Phil, made 3,448 appearances for the club. They were the foundation of Sir Alex Ferguson’s second great team which became the first in England to win the Treble in 1999.

Giggs was interim manager for four games following the sacking of David Moyes in 2014. He was a coach and then assistant manager to Louis Van Gaal. Butt, Scholes and Phil Neville all trained under Giggs.

Butt worked as a youth coach before that and was appointed as United’s head of academy in 2016 before leaving in 2021. Few are right to talk about United’s DNA of bringing in young players.

It’s part of the club that he cares about the most. On 15 December, he went out with United officials on a rainy night at Moss Side to train a group of underprivileged children on behalf of the Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation even though his old club were playing Bournemouth in the Premier League a few hours later.

Butt has previously strongly disputed the United boss’ view that youth development is about more than just winning. Recently, he said the team was threatening to cancel his season tickets.

Three days before Butt’s Foundation, Gary Neville was at Old Trafford as United announced they had agreed to become the campus of the UA92 University, which was founded by the Class of 92 in 2019.

It is clear that the bond is still there but their views on United are eagerly sought, especially the negative ones.

In October, Giggs sat down at Old Trafford as a speaker at the Training Ground Guru conference and bemoaned Ruben Amorim’s choice to play wide players on the other side of the pitch with their strongest foot.

They are all regular speakers on match days at the Hotel Football, the hotel they own and is located about 50 yards from Old Trafford.

In the past, the hotel itself was a problem. United have tried to stop its construction, although the club uses it themselves from time to time now.

Then there’s Neville, who as a pundit or pundit for Sky Football – or the hugely successful ‘Stick to the Football’ podcast – rarely has an opinion.

In the press conference at Elland Road that led to his sacking, former United manager Ruben Amorim identified Neville as the most important player in the team.

That is a debatable point. However, unlike former captain Roy Keane, whose criticism of new boss Michael Carrick was then directed at him, Neville was trusted by United to speak to his former team-mate on camera in the Old Trafford tunnel ahead of the derby.

Presenting his UA92 Old Trafford campus plan, Neville gave this to BBC Sport on the theory that the Class of 92 and United aren’t moving on.

“That’s the theory,” he said. “There is no doubt that a few years ago there were causes for concern but that was corrected.

“I don’t think there are any problems now,” he added, adding that the Class of 92 “want the club to succeed” and were “disappointed and frustrated” when they lost.

United CEO Collette Roche had a similar view.

“Many of our former players are in the media and obviously they will have opinions about the football club,” he said. “Okay.

“But the class of ’92 is part of our family so the relationship we have with UA92 runs much deeper than the latest article or podcast.”

The good thing is, as Scholes and Butt suggest, the players ignore you.

The problem is, as Martinez has shown, they don’t.

“We sent each other messages on Instagram a long time ago because he was not happy with something I said,” he said.

“I don’t remember what it was, but he said he has lost respect for me.

“I sent him my phone number, but I haven’t heard anything from him.”