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The Treble: Ten years on
"Happy days, I have so many memories of that season which was made up of glorious bits of magic, accompanied by heart-stopping anxiety."
- Sir Alex Ferguson
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Treble: Sir Alex column
Ten years on from '99, Sir Alex says the absolute ecstasy of the season's finish remains a vivid memory, and an unmatchable achievement...
There's hardly a week goes by when I don’t think about some aspect of that momentous achievement in 1999 when we won our 'unique Treble'. And in many ways it still seems unreal because you need so much to go right for you to be successful in three separate and very different competitions.
You need not only a good team but also a quality squad so that you can keep your line-up fresh as you hit the crunch time of playing two key matches a week in the later stages. Even if you have got these basics on your side, you then need not only to avoid injury to top personnel, you need lady luck, if not actively on your side, at least not working for your rival!
We enjoyed all these things 10 years ago and by sheer force of character the players took advantage to win the Premier League by a point from Arsenal, collect the FA Cup by beating Newcastle 2-0 and then astound Bayern Munich with our injury-time double for a sensational 2-1 victory.
Happy days, so many memories made up of glorious bits of magic accompanied by heart-stopping anxiety. I recall with delight the way Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke seemed to score for the pure fun of it and it gave me great comfort to know that I also had Teddy Sheringham and Ole Solskjaer waiting desperately to add their scoring skills, which of course they did with great aplomb on the last lap, culminating especially with their last-gasp goals that won us the Champions League in Barcelona.
And how could I ever forget the marvellous goal scored by Ryan Giggs against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final replay? But it was a team built around some strong characters, like our great goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and, of course, the equally commanding captain Roy Keane.
The anxiety came in the closing stages when, with the treble at our feet, we faced difficult away games at Middlesbrough and Blackburn. I knew that if we could get through those successfully it would give us the momentum to not only clinch the League title at home to Spurs but also give us a great chance in the other two competitions.
And that is how it worked out, as we secured our Treble, a remarkable and memorable achievement which I still believe will not be repeated during my lifetime.