Manchester United's Treble Winners of 1998-99: Where are they now?

Manchester United’s treble-winning season of 1998/99 will always remain afresh in the minds of their fans. Considering that the team aren’t really experiencing their glory days at the moment, it always gives great pleasure thinking about the heydays of the club. Continuing on that line of thought, let’s take yet another trip down the memory lane and look at the 1999 treble-winning squad of Manchester United. Those were the days of United’s supremacy in Europe and how good does it feel even today to see Solskjaer score the winner? Well, let us take a look at how what the members of that illustrious team are doing now.

#1 Peter Schmeichel

Quite possibly the greatest goalkeeper to have played for Manchester United, Schmeichel had an amazing career with them. Bought for a paltry £505,000, his transfer was described as ‘Bargain of the Century’ by Sir Alex Ferguson.

He made the all-important save in the FA Cup semi-finals from a Dennis Bergkamp penalty minutes from the final whistle and helped take the match into extra time, where we would then go on to witness one of the greatest goals in the history of United.

When Solksjaer scored the winner for United, Schmeichel famously did a cartwheel in celebration as the crowd went berserk. However, that would be his last night at Manchester United as he left the club and went to Sporting CP. He came back to English football once again with Manchester City but retired soon after in 2003.

Following that, he has made investments in a couple of football clubs but more recently, he has become a television pundit. He is also doing promotional work for Carlsberg.

#2 Gary Neville

Gary Neville was Manchester United and England’s right-back for a good period of about 10 years, when he commanded the right flank and gave the maximum, both going forward and while defending. Not the most talented of players, he made sure that he would achieve all the success that he did due to his hard work.

Arguably the top Television Pundit across Europe, Gary Neville’s post-playing career has seen resounding success. Having retired in 2011 following various injuries, Neville’s illustrious career at Manchester United may have well set him up for a coaching tenure at Old Trafford but that wasn’t the case.

He took another path and went to become an analyst, and has in recent memory become the best one. His observations and commentary as an analyst and pundit have been quite brilliant and has seen him garner respect and appreciation for the ability to remain unbiased. His presence on Monday Night Football as an analyst makes the show an intriguing watch.

While that is one side of his post-playing career, another is his role as the coach of the English National team under Roy Hodgson. Initially having joined the squad prior to Euro 2012, Neville has seen his position extended and still continues it.

Apart from these, he has ventured out on the business front by purchasing Salford City along with his teammates from the Class of ’92. More recently, he joined hands with Ryan Giggs to construct a Hotel outside Old Trafford. It has been named ‘Hotel Football’ and was inaugurated on 2nd March, 2015. All of these put together sure make it an interesting life for Neville post his football days.

#3 Jaap Stam

Often regarded as one of the best defenders to have played for United, Jaap Stam was at the club for just three seasons. His departure came as a result of a disagreement with Sir Alex over the release of his autobiography. This was a classic case of a player failing to heed SAF’s restrictions and was shown the exit door immediately, no matter his talent.

However, following United, he had stints with Lazio and Milan before joining Ajax. Upon retiring at Ajax, he became a scout for Manchester United in 2008. After three years at the job, he moved to PEC Zwolle as an assistant coach for two years. Since the 2013-14 season, he has been at Ajax as an assistant coach.

#4 Roy Keane

Roy Keane’s finest performance on the football field came against Juventus in the second leg of the semi-finals. Knowing that he was ruled out of the final owing to two consecutive yellow cards, he gave it his all to help United go through. And we could say that he was greatly missed in the final of the Champions League, considering how Bayern dominated.

Keane’s aggression and ruthlessness on the field saw him become one of the best defensive box-to-box midfielders of that era. However, his post-playing days have been a lot less impressive considering he hasn’t really achieved that much on the managerial front.

He managed Sunderland for a couple of years before switching to Ipswich Town and then subsequently took up the job of Assistant Manager with the Irish national team. At the start of 2014, he joined under Paul Lambert as an assistant manager at Aston Villa but eventually quit to devote time to his national duties. While doing that, he has also been a regular analyst for ITV and now BBC.

#5 Paul Scholes

Paul Scholes was integral to United’s treble in 1999, as he formed a great partnership with Roy Keane, and was part of the most successful years in Manchester United’s history. He retired, for the second and final time at the same time as Sir Alex, and has lived his post-playing career in the same manner as before, keeping it understated.

Under the shadow of Sir Alex’s retirement, Scholes gradually descended into the horizon hanging up his boots once and for all. And to set himself up well for a post-retirement career, he too chose to go the ‘Gary Neville’ way and became a television pundit on BTSport.

Although not quite the level of Neville, Scholes has put up some good opinions and analysis without really flinching to support United. His analysis career has extended into him becoming a columnist for The Independent.

As mentioned earlier, he too was one of the stakeholders in the purchase of Salford City and continues to be involved in their set up. But, he has mentioned that he does see himself attaining a coaching role one day, hopefully at Old Trafford.

#6 David Beckham

Even back then, David Beckham was the epitome of a sporting celebrity. His performances on the field, however, were no less as he ended up second in the 1999 Ballon d’Or race.

Following the treble-winning season, Beckham’s relationship with the manager worsened. And in 2003, he moved to Real Madrid following the infamous shoe incident. Though he was a big name there, Beckham’s career never quite reached the heights it had at Manchester United.

However, Beckham became more of a football ambassador during his stint with the LA Galaxy, effectively increasing viewership of the sport in those regions. And after that, he had a short stint with PSG before retiring from football in 2013. Recently, he announced his interest in owning a team in the MLS. Also, he continues to be a massive ambassador of football and sport across the globe.

The ‘Beckham’ brand still has its reach around the world making Beckham one of the highest paid earners in sport. He has also been involved with UNICEF for quite some time and has other initiatives such as the ‘David Beckham Academy’ and is looking forward to opening a mobile football academy in the future.

#7 Phil Neville

The less accomplished of the Neville brothers, Phil Neville wasn’t exactly the first-choice player in any of the positions in the treble-winning season. Yet, he made 44 appearances totally and was a vital member of the squad, which speaks of his quality on the field.

A versatile player who could play anywhere across the defence and midfield, Neville’s career eventually ended at Everton in 2013. And after that, he took the more conventional way and went on to become a coach.

He helped the coaching staff of the England U-21 team for a European Championship qualifier in 2012, and joined the coaching staff for the actual tournament in 2013. Following that, he took on his first club assignment when he joined David Moyes’ backroom staff at Manchester United.

However, Van Gaal’s arrival saw him leave the club and he has been a television pundit since then. He too was one of the players involved in the purchase of Salford City and aims to develop the club to get them into the Football League.

#8 Ryan Giggs

Ryan Giggs is probably the only person to have stayed connected to the on-field events at Old Trafford since his retirement. Giggs was instrumental during the treble season and will always be remembered for that magical goal against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-finals. One of his unspoken accomplishments is that he gave the assist to Teddy Sheringham, who scored the equalizer that night at Camp Nou.

Having won his second Champions League title in 2008 and also created multiple individual records, Giggs descended into the shadows only last season after a short cameo as interim manager for four matches.

He was made a player-coach in Moyes’ tenure but has gone on to become an assistant manager under Louis van Gaal. As mentioned earlier, he is one of the people to have joined hands with his Class of ’92 teammates to buy Salford City, and they own 50% stake in the team while having also built ‘Hotel Football’ along with Gary Neville.

#9 Dwight Yorke

If Solskjaer was the baby-faced assassin, then Yorke was ‘the Smiling Assassin’. A natural goalscorer with instinctive finishing, he formed a revered partnership with Andy Cole. Yorke was one of the best players that season and was the top scorer with 18 goals in the league and important ones in the Champions League against the likes of Inter and Juventus.

After three seasons with United, Yorke changed over to Blackburn and then to Birmingham. Eventually, he moved to Sydney FC in a bid to promote their league in Europe after he was offered a huge deal. But, he made a less successful return to Sunderland in 2006 before drawing curtains on his career in 2008.

He has a B Licence badge for coaching and also works as a Pundit for SkySports.

#10 Ole Gunner Solskjaer

“And Solskjaer has won it!” rang Martin Tyler’s words across the globe as Manchester United won the Champions League to complete the treble back then. Unlike many people in this list, Solskjaer remained to see out his playing days at Manchester United and retired in 2007.

Even as a player, he had been working on his coaching badges and continued to do that. He took over as the Reserve Team Coach at United and was in that job for nearly two years.

Then, he returned to Norway to take over as the manager of Molde FK. He had a successful run over there winning two league titles in consecutive seasons and winning the domestic Cup once as well.

Following that, he took over as the manager of Cardiff City, where he had a forgettable stretch. Given his team’s poor performances and eventual relegation, he was sacked in September last year owing to poor run of results in the Championship.

Ever since, he has yet to take up any managerial post. However, he has been looking over an academy for youngsters in his hometown back in Norway.

#11 Teddy Sheringham

He completed United’s famous quartet of strikers that formed an amazing frontline. While Solksjaer took the moment of winning to his credit, Sheringham was the person who scored the equaliser that night at Camp Nou and brought United back to life in that match. Not to mention he assisted Solskjaer’s goal as well.

However, he left the following season to join Spurs and then subsequently, went on to play for other clubs before finishing his career at Colchester United in 2008.

After retirement, Sheringham took to playing Poker on a regular basis and has played various competitions worldwide. And more recently, he joined as an attacking coach for West Ham United. He has enjoyed a good stint so far with West Ham performing well in the 2014-15 season. Sam Allardyce, in particular, praised his impact on the team back in December.