It has been 10 whole years (sorry to remind you) since Manchester United broke English footballing records by clinching the club’s 20th league title in the 2012/13 season.
Fittingly, the league title turned out to be the final trophy won by Sir Alex Ferguson and the 13th Premier League trophy won by the legendary manager since the Premier League was established in 1992/93.
Research from betting.com reveals that United used 25 players in their title-winning league campaign a decade ago, with 16 of those names featuring in at least half of the 38 league games played in the season.
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See how United’s record-breaking 20th league title-winning squad ranked for appearances and goals in 2012/13.
During Ferguson’s final season as United manager, Robin van Persie was very much the main man, having featured in all 38 of the Reds’ Premier League matches, and scoring an astonishing 26 goals in the process.
The Netherlands international had only been signed from league rivals Arsenal at the start of the 2012/13 season for a fee of approximately £24 million, and very much proved to be Sir Alex’s last important signing for the club. Some of Van Persie’s most important goals came at the tail end of the season, including a hat-trick at home to Aston Villa which sealed the title and a goal away from home to tie with Arsenal.
Only three more players - Michael Carrick, Patrice Evra and Antonio Valencia - made more than 30 appearances in the league that season.
Of the 25 players to have played in a Premier League match for United a decade ago, only two names are still registered as a player for the club. They are, of course, Phil Jones and David de Gea.
The 2012/13 campaign turned out to be the first and only Premier League title-winning season for both de Gea and Jones, who both joined at the start of the 2011/12 season in which United missed out on the title on goal difference to neighbours Manchester City.
By contrast, only one member of Fergusons’s final Premier League-winning squad also featured in the manager’s first. As the club’s all-time record appearance maker, Ryan Giggs was the only man to have featured in all 13 of Ferguson’s Premier League-winning squads.
Paul Scholes might have achieved the same feat, however, the midfielder did not make his full United debut until the 1994/95 season. Scholes announced his retirement from football at the end of the 2012/13 season, coinciding with Ferguson’s farewell to the club.
Scholes is, however, one of six players from the 2012/13 Premier League-winning squad to have since gone on to have a career in coaching or management, having briefly taken charge of both Oldham Athletic and Salford City in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
The list of names who went into coaching from the 2012/13 Reds squad includes Michael Carrick who had a stint as caretaker manager at Old Trafford and is currently leading Middlesbrough’s promotion push in the Championship. There’s also Wayne Rooney who is currently active in management as the head coach of MLS side, D.C. United. Rooney also famously managed Derby County in the Championship.
Both Darren Fletcher and Giggs enjoyed roles as part of the United coaching staff, with Fletcher having a stint as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s assistant in 2021, while Giggs performed assistant manager duties for Louis van Gaal between 2014 to 2016 after having a brief spell as interim manager following the departure of David Moyes.
Van Persie has also stepped into coaching following his retirement in 2019. The former striker has been the assistant manager at his boyhood club Feyenoord - where he both started and finished his playing career - since 2020.
Nearly half of the 2012/13 squad have retired from playing, with 12 players having hung up their boots at some point in the last decade. Four of those names have followed in the footsteps of Old Trafford legends Roy Keane and Gary Neville and enjoyed careers in punditry or commentary.
Both Scholes and Rooney have worked around their busy careers in coaching to provide regular punditry for the likes of BT Sport, Amazon Prime and Sky Sports. Meanwhile, Evra and Rio Ferdinand have each established themselves as regular pundits on Sky Sports and BBC Sport.
13 of the players to have featured in the record-breaking 20th league title-winning squad are still playing football. Five of those 13 names are still playing in the Premier League, including striker Danny Welbeck, who has enjoyed a career rival at Brighton, plus defender Jonny Evans at Leicester City, Ashley Young at Aston Villa and De Gea and Jones who remain at Old Trafford.
Some United fans may be surprised to learn that the playing careers of Shinji Kagawa, Javier Hernández and Nani are still ongoing. With a combined age of 103, it is safe to say that each of these players who are fondly remembered at Old Trafford are reaching the twilight of their careers.
Mexican striker Hernández has been playing with LA Galaxy since 2020, while former Japan international Kagawa returned to the club where it all began, Cerezo Osaka, in January 2023. Elsewhere, former Portuguese prodigy Nani’s career has taken him to Australia where he represents Melbourne Victory.
The other members of the 2012/13 title-winning team who continue to play football are Chris Smalling at Roma, Tom Cleverley at Watford, Nick Powell at Stoke City, Brazilian right-back Rafael at Botafogo, and extra brownie points for any Reds fans who can remember Alexander Büttner, who currently plays for second-tier Dutch side De Graafschap.
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