Welcome Matt Wills, our newest blogger who will be your Thursday entertainment. Matt has come up with an idea and it begins with a fictional conversation to set the scene…

15th July 1997

Manchester United manager, Alex Ferguson sits in a Marseille café and tentatively awaits the arrival of one of his former players. Eric Cantona strolls into the café, his white summer shirt with collar upturned, ‘Le Roi’ sits down and acknowledges his former manager. A few weeks earlier, after guiding the Man Utd youngsters to another league title, Eric Cantona abruptly retired from Professional Football and returned to France. Alex is here to try and change his mind….

‘Eric, how are you?’
‘Good, good. I am surprised to see you here.’
‘Eric, listen, I’m here to talk some sense into you. Don’t retire, there’s still so much for you to offer United.’
‘I’m tired, I don’t want it anymore. The press, the away fans, the critics.’
‘What about our fans, The Stretford End, the red shirt, the fans adore you, you gave them something to be proud of again. Let me ask you, when were you last happy?’

Eric twitches – his eyes glaze a little – ‘1994’

’94? When we did the double?’
‘Nearly the treble’ Eric adds.
‘Aye, we nearly did it, that’s true.’
‘That team was C’est Manifique – silk and steel – I missed it. Robbo, Hughes, even Mike Phelan. And singing with Status Quo.’
Alex chuckles ‘Grand times. But what would it take to you make you come back?’
‘Another chance of the treble’
Alex lights up. ‘We could do that, the kids are progressing and we’ve got some cracking new players’
‘No, I want the old team back together. Resign Hughes, Ince and the others – then I’ll play again.’
‘Eric?! That will take a hell of a doing?’
‘It’s the only way I’ll come back.’
‘Ok, ok – I’ll speak to Martin and see what I can do.’
Eric smiles and gets up to leave. ‘Oh, and one more thing – you have to step aside and let a young lad from Cornwall manage the team…’
——————————————————————————————————————————————-

So there we are. Can I do what Fergie couldn’t with the class of 93/94?

I’d tried something similar on Championship Manager 03/04, playing as Ajax and trying to resign the players from the 95 Champions League squad and win it again, but it was a nigh on impossible task, but with CM97/98 and the editor, it might just be possible…

I’ve dived in the editor and checked the 93/94 squad on Wiki and put any current player not in the squad onto a free transfer, including Phil Neville and then brought back 93/94 squad. Bryan Robson was brought out of retirement and Eric I had to add in, but the game seems to have saved his history, so that’s handy – everyone else is still in the database 4 years later. So here’s the squad I have –

I’ll be going for treble glory, but it won’t be easy. The 93/94 first eleven almost picked itself week in week out. Schmeichel in goal, a back four of Parker, Bruce, Pallister and Irwin, Keane and Ince in the middle, the Welsh Wizard on the left wing and the Siberian Express on the Right, with the Silk/Steel combo upfront, Hughes and Cantona.

On the subs bench, Les Sealey and Gary Walsh will battle it out for the No.13 Jersey behind the Great Dane. Bryan Robson gets a chance to replay his last season for Utd (If we make the FA Cup Final, he’ll definitely be in the match day squad – you really got that one wrong Fergie!). Then we have Leee Sharpe (that’s not a typo, name changed to spare him missing the season through injury), Brian McClair and the versatile Dion Dublin. There’s a few unknown youngsters in there (Colin McKee, anyone?). Plus the likes of Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Paul Scholes – all great players by now, but only making the odd appearance in 93/94.

So, my plan is simple – try and win the treble with the classic lineup – easy right? Utd are in the Champions League, so I can use those games for the youngsters and reserves, as Utd didn’t make much headway in that in 93/94, plus I’ll need to rest the ageing legs of Bruce, Parker and Robson – they are all 4 years older after all!

I’ll also keep an eye on what happens to all the players Fergie let go at the request of Eric, after all, I won’t be signing anyone. So here we go – C’mon you reds, c’mon you reds, the team every defender dreads…

You can follow Matt on Twitter @Matt_C_Wills

My new book The World According to CM01/02 is available now!