Manchester United's Greatest League Cup Hits of the Sir Alex Ferguson Era

The League Cup was rarely Sir Alex Ferguson's highest priority during his time in charge of Manchester United.

Indeed, in 1994, his selection policy was so controversial that when United played Port Vale there was genuine outcry. As Mark Ogden wrote for the Telegraph in 2013:

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An otherwise unremarkable tie earned its place in folklore because Ferguson prompted the local MP to condemn his team selection in parliament because, to paraphrase, it was cheating the Staffordshire public to rest United’s big names in favour of unknown youngsters such as Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt and David Beckham.

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Of course, the youngsters he blooded during that campaign went on to have a pretty big say in United's future. And that was not the only high point of the club's relationship with the League Cup during Ferguson's time in charge.

All of the following greatest hits come from the period under the legendary manager's stewardship, and several of them had a significant bearing on the club's fortunes.

Current United manager Jose Mourinho won the competition in the opening season of his first spell in charge of Chelsea, and plenty of silverware followed in its wake.

The Red Devils begin this season's campaign against Northampton Town on Wednesday night. Whether success in this competition can kick-start the stuttering giants in the broader sense is open to debate, but at least this game can help get their season back on track.

Before that, though, let's take a look back at some of United's best moments in the competition's history.

Blowing the Gunners Away: Arsenal, 1990

A glorious peak of the early Ferguson era, United showed a nascent glimpse of the brilliance of what was to follow with a 6-2 victory over Arsenal in November 1990.

Lee Sharpe scored a memorable hat-trick, but as Rob Smyth noted for the Guardian in 2008, "the real facilitator was Danny Wallace."

Wallace told Andy Mitten of ESPN FC: "That was my best United game. Me on the left, Sharpey on the right. He scored three, but I scored one and was involved in four other goals." 

Wallace played at centre-forward, something Smyth called "probably the biggest tactical masterstroke of Ferguson's career." Smyth also said the forward "played like Romario."

Wallace and Sharpe were both brilliant, and for young fans used to seeing United struggle, it was an exhilarating, thrilling result and performance. Arsenal were a team built on stern, tough defending, and seeing them completely overrun was shocking.

In the end, Arsenal won the league comfortably that season, conceding just 18 goals in the 38-game campaign. United eventually lost the League Cup final to Sheffield Wednesday.

But this game served as a foreshadowing for a changing of the guard; Ferguson's United were beginning to mean business.

On the Cusp of Greatness: Nottingham Forest, 1992

Fast forward a little under two years, and things were looking pretty rosy. United had won the FA Cup in 1990, and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1991. Their trip to Wembley Stadium to face Nottingham Forest in April 1992 came as they were in serious contention for their first league title in 25 years.

That title would have to wait, as United blew their chance and Howard Wilkinson's—and Eric Cantona's—Leeds United took full advantage. A season later, Ferguson would have the Frenchman in his lineup as his team broke its two-and-a-half-decade-long hoodoo.

However, before that there was an opportunity for more silverware—winning having become a habit following the FA Cup and European glory. The game was not a classic, but Brian McClair combined well with a young Ryan Giggs to score the winner.

By quirk of fate, Roy Keane and Teddy Sheringham—two men who would have a significant say in United's future—lined up for Forest that day.

For Ferguson and United, though league disappointment was to follow, this win ensured another season with a trophy. League disappointment would soon be a thing of the past.

Relearning Winning Ways: Wigan Athletic, 2006

JON SUPER/Associated Press

United celebrate against Wigan.

In the current context and with the benefit of hindsight, the notion that United were in some sort of crisis in 2006 seems pretty laughable. After all, they were only three seasons out from their last league win and were on the verge of winning five of the next seven titles.

They missed out on the two they did not win by a point and goal difference.

In 2006, though, it was not clear which direction the club was heading in. They seemed to have invested enormous faith in the potential of two teenagers, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo—in the case of the latter in particular it was not yet clear whether end product would follow from his obvious talent.

The League Cup final of 2006 was the first time the two of them would win silverware together with United—it certainly wouldn't be the last. They were superb as Wigan Athletic were easily brushed aside, 4-0.

It was a game which marked the changing of the guard as Ruud van Nistelrooy was left out. That decision changed the whole style of United's attack. In spite of the Dutchman's individual balance, the team built in the wake of his departure was much more fluid, much more dynamic. It was also much more successful.

That all started against Wigan at the Millennium Stadium in 2006. The Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, and bigger, better things, were once again just around the corner.

Ben Foster's Video iPod: Tottenham Hotspur, 2009

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Ben Foster celebrates with his team-mates after United won the League Cup in 2009.

"The future is his," said Sir Alex Ferguson, per the Guardian, after Ben Foster's excellent display ensured United won the League Cup in 2009 on penalties. 

Of course, the future wasn't his, rather it belonged to a young Spaniard who was on the verge of being called up to the Atletico Madrid first-team squad. However, Foster did use a futuristic method to ensure victory.

Per the Guardian, he said: "I did a bit of research for the penalties. We tried to find out everything we could about Spurs beforehand and, just before the shootout, I was looking at a video on an iPod with Eric Steele, our goalkeeping coach, and Edwin [van der Sar]."

It worked, as he dived the right way to keep out a strike from Jamie O'Hara. Less than a year after Moscow, a penalty shootout victory was United's once again. The future might not have been Foster's, but League Cup glory was.

Keeping the Noisy Neighbours at Bay a Little Longer: Manchester City, 2010

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Rooney is held aloft after his injury-time winner.

The rampant rise of Manchester City was clearly under way by the time the two teams met in the League Cup semi-final in January 2010.

The 2009/10 season produced some cracking Manchester derby encounters—Michael Owen's last-gasp winner and Paul Scholes' injury-time strike decided the outcome of the two league matches. In the League Cup it was Wayne Rooney's 92nd-minute winner that did the job.

City held a 2-1 lead from the first leg, prompting Phil McNulty of BBC Sport to write that "Carlos Tevez tormented former club Manchester United."

It was Tevez's 76th-minute goal at Old Trafford which put the tie on the brink of a draw and extra time. Scholes and Michael Carrick had given United the 3-2 lead on aggregate prior to that.

But City had still not quite broken out of the shadow of their rivals by this point. As McNulty wrote, "Ferguson danced with delight in the dug-out as City were forced to put their plans to topple their illustrious neighbours on hold."

United would win the competition again that season—their second in a row—but they have not done so since. While Mourinho will have bigger ambitions for the club, some happy League Cup memories to add to the collection would go down well this season.