Crystal Palace can draw line under Manchester United's golden era as they plot 1990 revenge

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Tony Evans25 April 2016

When Crystal Palace last faced Manchester United in an FA Cup Final 26 years ago, the world was a different place. The Soviet Union was still the biggest enemy of the western world and its fate was in the balance. One of football’s biggest empires was at the crossroads, too.

United and their manager Alex Ferguson — still a commoner in those days — were on the brink. They could have collapsed as easily as communism. People inside the boardroom at Old Trafford questioned whether the Scot was the right man to take the club forward.

Instead, a replay victory at Wembley over a Palace team that contained Alan Pardew propelled United to a period of unparalleled success. Three years later the north-west club would win the Premier League — their first title since 1967 — and the rest is history. Glorious history.

No manager or club has dominated the English game the way Ferguson and United did for two decades. The Scot played to his own rules and Old Trafford became the Kremlin of the domestic game. Palace missed the chance to end all this before it began.

One day someone will write a counterfactual timeline where the south London side win at Wembley in 1990. In that parallel universe, Mark Hughes mishits his shot in extra time, the game remains 3-2, the Cup goes to Palace, Ferguson is sacked and the history of the Premier League goes down a different route.

That way, the Eagles could avoid being one of the supporting cast in United’s rise in the 90s. Palace were the fall guys in some of the biggest stories of the era. Eric Cantona’s kung-fu kick at Selhurst in 1995 is still an iconic moment in modern football history. Roy Keane’s stamp on Gareth Southgate in that year’s FA Cup semi-final replay may not have the same resonance for the wider audience but it is still reviled in the Holmesdale Road end. It came just three days after the death of Paul Nixon, a Palace fan who died after trouble between supporters before the first game at Villa Park.

Even Keane, a man who has used a callous lack of repentance to bolster his own legend, admits he regrets his behaviour on that depressing night in Birmingham. Times have changed. Winning the FA Cup 26 years ago was a big deal. The football public had a stronger emotional attachment to the Cup than the league. The nation would stop for Wembley’s showpiece day in May. Television coverage would start before noon and the Cup Final put the spotlight on players and managers in a way that no other game did. Winning the trophy could save a beleaguered manager’s job. No one connected with United will admit they considered sacking Ferguson back then. In the context of what followed, how could they? But they did. Replacing the Scot was a very real possibility.

Louis van Gaal does not have the same luxury. The members of United’s plc board are not football people. The ‘romance of the Cup’ means nothing to them. They see only the bottom line. The oldest club trophy in the world does not bring anywhere near the revenue the Champions League generates. The Dutchman will stand or fall on whether United finish in the top four.

He almost admitted it after the victory over Everton on Saturday. All season, while speculation about his job has rumbled on, Van Gaal has answered questions in a direct and combative manner. After United earned their place in the final, Van Gaal was downbeat. Asked about his thoughts on next season, the Dutchman said: “It’s not for me to judge but the board.”

There are bigger problems at Old Trafford now than there were in 1990. No one at the club is sure about the next move. Ferguson rebuilt the youth system and was certain the benefits would begin to show before long. Van Gaal has been forced to push young players into the team, despite spending £250million during his tenure. Jesse Lingard and Tim Fosu-Mensah have excelled but it is the result of desperation rather than any plan. United are more vulnerable now than at any time since 1990.

There is a pleasing symmetry about Palace’s FA Cup Finals against United. The first was three years before Ferguson won his inaugural title, now it is three years since he won his — and the club’s — last. Pardew’s team can never turn back the clock but Palace would enjoy drawing a line under Old Trafford’s golden age after missing the chance to strangle it at birth.

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