Manchester United: Sir Alex's Best XI

Over the past 25 years, Sir Alex Ferguson has led Manchester United to an almost unimaginable number of trophies.

Twelve Premier Leagues, five FA Cups, two Champions Leagues, four League Cups, 10 Community Shields, a UEFA Cup Winners Cup, a Super Cup, a FIFA Club World Cup and even an Intercontinental Cup.

Just for the record, that's a whopping 37 trophies in just over two-and-a-half decades.

In that time United have been blessed with a plethora of talent and skill (as well as some rather forgettable duds...here's looking at you, Eric Djemba Djemba).

The arguments have raged on over the season as to who Sir Alex's all-time Manchester United XI should be comprised of.

The reason being because you could quite easily pick a complete second XI on players left off many people's lists that would still have the ability to win the league.

Whatever your view may be, here is my "perfect" Fergie XI.

Peter Schmeichel

Straight away, there is a controversial decision to be made.

Fergie's best United goalkeeper is a spot that could quite easily be taken by two of the finest keepers to ever grace an Old Trafford net.

Peter Schmeichel and Massimo Taibi.

That caught your attention. No, of course the two men in question are the Great Dane and the Dutch wonder Edwin van der Sar.

Van der Sar's mind boggling record of keeping a clean sheet for 1,311 minutes of consecutive football (as well as his overall brilliance as a keeper) mean that he will be remembered through the ages as one of the all time United greats.

However, there was just something about Schmeichel.

On top of his skill between the sticks, his presence on a pitch inspired hope and belief.

Plus, who can forget his back flips in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final!

It's just a shame he ended his career in the wrong half of Manchester.

Denis Irwin

If you looked at Denis Irwin and knew nothing about the game of football, you would never imagine he was at one time the greatest left-back in the world.

The Irishman never exactly looked muscular or powerful—in fact, I wonder if he would have been able to cope at all in the modern game.

However, for his time, he was on occasion a class apart from the rest.

Having spent 12 years at the club before moving on to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2002, Denis will always be remembered as one of the most underrated defenders in Premier League history.

Both defensively and, when need be, attacking-wise, Irwin could cut it with the best of them.

His work with another man who makes this team down the left wing in the late 90s was something that many teams admired and took note of.

He's a very worthy member of Sir Alex's best XI.

Gary Neville

Let's face it, if you're not a United fan you probably don't like this man very much...in fact, you more than likely can't stand him.

However, if you look past his sometimes...chilly nature, Gary Neville was one of the finest right-backs to ever play in the Manchester Red.

Of course, his defensive ability goes without saying—you could always count on Gary to get stuck in with a well-timed tackle when needed.

But what inspired me most about Neville was his captaincy.

The way he could stir up his side and keep them buzzing for the full 90 minutes was a spectacle to behold.

And on top of this, Neville was inferior only to the great David Beckham when it came to getting a ball into the box—something that is usually overlooked when the great man is analysed.

Gary has recently actually managed to win a few haters over with his very adept analysis of Premier League matches.

What has impressed (or rather surprised) me most is his ability to stay neutral when talking about Liverpool and Arsenal.

Rio Ferdinand

Rio was the most expensive Premier League signing in history when he joined from Leeds United in the summer of 2002.

Since then, he's gone on to prove he was worth every penny of it.

OK, let's ignore that sticky patch where he forgot to take a drug's test—but honestly, who hasn't done that at least once in their lives?!

He might not have the brains, but Ferdinand certainly has the skills and footballing know how to make up for it.

Despite getting on in years and having a continuing problem with his back, Rio is still one of the first names on Sir Alex's starting 11 when fully fit—and that says a lot for the man.

Without Ferdinand and the next man in this list, United would certainly not have dominated the middle part of the last decade with as much ease as they did.

Defensive partnerships and understanding are crucial nowadays, and these two had (and arguably still have) it in abundance.

Nemanja Vidic

I have to be honest, when Nemanja Vidic played his first game for us back in the winter of 2006, I was a little sceptical.

He seemed solid enough, but I wasn't sure if he was the kind of player that would have the potential to drive us on and make us the great team we had been three or four seasons prior to this.

My suspicions could not have been more wrong.

Vidic has been the literal backbone of the United defence for six years (although admittedly he has missed the majority of this season due to injury).

In fact, it will be interesting to see what happens when Vidic does get back.

Johnny Evans has suddenly stepped up and taken on the vacant centre-back spot with great aplomb. 

It won't be easy for the mighty Serbian to earn his place back, but I can't realistically see him being left out of the side for too long.

Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes

I felt that I should include these two men together because quite frankly, despite playing completely different roles and positions, the two just go hand in hand for any United fan.

Ignoring for a moment even their technical abilities, these stalwarts have been through three (and arguably four for Giggs) completely different generations of United sides.

The one constant for me growing up and watching United play has been these two men.

I was gutted when Scholes retired at the end of last season—but not shocked.

I was, however, shocked to see him return against City...and then proceed to completely turn our season around.

As for Giggs, well, what he gets up to in his personal life is his own business and nobody else's (not that I'm condoning it).

From a United fan's point of view, I couldn't ask for a more loyal and talented player.

It's amazing when you consider how old these men actually are now that they can still play top quality football in the best league in the world!

Roy Keane

My word, Roy Keane is a scary, scary man.

But that's half of what made him such an amazing player.

Keane had the ability to literally scare his opponents out of tackles. Plus, who can forget the great Keane-Viera rivalry that was ignited amidst the era of United vs Arsenal for dominance of the Premier League.

Keano still gives me the willies when I watch him on ITV's coverage of the FA Cup and Champion's League matches. Am I the only one who thinks he wants to smack Adrian Chiles whenever he speaks to him...?

Unfortunately, Keane's hot temper meant that he left the club on a bitter note at the end of his United career.

However, now that the dust has settled and time has passed, United fans can generally forgive the hot headed Irishman for his actions...after all, it would have been boring if he had politely put in a transfer request!

Cristiano Ronaldo

That's right, no Beckham—get over it.

Ronaldo was without a doubt the most talented player that I've ever seen play for the Red Devils.

Let's not lie, the man practically singlehandedly brought us the 2008 League and Champions League trophies—yes, the rest of our side was quality, but without Ronnie we would never have been the force that we were.

I was truly devastated the day we sold Cristiano to the Galacticos (in fact I distinctly remember I was at Download Festival 2009 when a man in a United shirt was running around yelling it at people...you know, in case you were wondering!).

I actually feel pretty bad for Ronaldo. He is possibly one of the greatest players the world has seen for 20 years, and he happens to be in his prime at the exact same time as a little Argentinian man who some of you may have heard of named Messi.

Because of this, Ronnie will have to go his entire career hearing about how "Messi is better than you." 

That can't be a nice feeling, when you've scored as many goals as he has, to know no matter what you do, you will never be the best.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy

To this day Ruud remains one of the most prolific goalscorers in both Champions League and Premier League history.

In fact, even now, aged 35, Ruud has had a crucial part to play in his current team Malaga CF's attempted push at Champions League football for next season (for those of you who don't know Malaga are a wannabe Man City in Spain).

Yet another fantastic player that Real Madrid stole from us...in reality, we really should hate them. Beckham, Ronaldo and Ruud...

When it came to one on ones, I've never had more faith in a United striker putting it away than I did in this man. 

And who could forget Ruud's ridiculous penalty record?

Plus, he was just a really nice guy! 

Eric Cantona

Yes, no Rooney either—I warned you good players would be left out.

What can be said about this man that hasn't already been?

His cousin Sacha Opinel plays for Harlow Town in the Southern League Premier Division—there's something!

Cantona is another man who will probably be best remembered for actions away from the football pitch—or rather on the pitch, but not involving a football.

To be honest, the general consensus is that the Crystal Palace fan that Eric kicked actually deserved it (apparently he was a convict of some variety?)—but of course this doesn't excuse his actions.

Whatever you think about this great man one thing is for sure. He was an amazing footballer and worth of a place in Sir Alex's all-time 11.

"

I am not a man...I am Cantona...

"