WHILE MANCHESTER UNITED FC may have endured a relatively underwhelming 2015, the Class of 92′s stock has risen higher than ever in the past 12 months.
A group of ex-Man United players comprising of Ryan Giggs, David Beckham (who is considered a member of the group but has no stake in Salford FC and other projects), Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville, all were part of some of the Red Devils’ best moments in recent memory, including the famous treble-winning triumph in 1999.
It has been an eventful year for the collective — the story of their takeover of Salford City FC was made into a three-part documentary series (see video below), they saw the club impress both in the league and FA Cup, while they also opened up Hotel Football and did their image no harm by helping a group of homeless squatters recently.
Not only have they expanded the brand, but they have done so with a touch of class befitting the values that Alex Ferguson consistently tried to instill in all his Man United players.
It has also been an eventful year individually for the Class of 92 members — Paul Scholes has been making waves as a pundit, Ryan Giggs has been occupying the difficult task of Man United assistant boss, the Neville brothers have both joined the coaching set-up at Valencia with Gary recently installed as manager until the end of the season, while David Beckham has been kept busy working on his burgeoning Miami MLS franchise and planning charity events.
As if they didn’t have enough on their plate already, last year, the group formed a link with Salford University in Manchester. Simon Chadwick, who will to take up a role as ‘Class of 92′ Professor of Sports Enterprise, Centre for Sports Business at the university in January, believes their ultimate aim is to make a lasting impression on the local community.
What the Class of 92 are trying to do is engage not just with Salford University but with various organisations across Salford from Salford City through to Salford University and so on and so forth. This is them giving something back to the community, as they were obviously very successful and became famous footballers.”
The collaboration is ultimately beneficial to both parties. Students at the university will have opportunities to work on some of the Class of 92 projects, for instance, the Class of 92-branded luxury sports fashionwear, while the university has the bonus of being closely associated with such a successful and popular brand, enhancing its own reputation among prospective students in the process.
Professor Chadwick is not surprised by the success enjoyed by this group of famous ex-footballers, since their brand came to prominence amid the release of a 2013 documentary film highlighting their achievements within the game and focusing on the close bond that they all still seemingly share to this day.
In any industry, you need a very strong brand, which is visible and means something to people,” he says. “For football fans in general and Manchester United fans in particular, and arguably sports fans beyond that, this particular generation of players evokes very strong thoughts and very strong feelings, so in many ways, it is a classic brand. Classic brands mean something to people, and I think the Class of 92 means something to people.
“They’ve managed to package their post-career playing activities in a way that means something to people and has some value. Certainly, in terms of what they’re trying to do commercially, it does give them a competitive advantage.”
One important factor to consider is their relationship with Peter Lim, the Singaporean billionaire who bought a 50% stake in the Class of 92 in 2014. Lim is understood to be close with the Neville brothers in particular, and was instrumental in their respective appointments onto the Valencia coaching staff, given that he owns the La Liga club.
Lim is also reportedly a big Manchester United fan, but otherwise, he remains a largely mysterious figure about whom not much is known in this part of the world.
The Peter Lim brand doesn’t have the cache or the kudos that the Class of 92 brand has,” Chadwick explains. “I think it’s a very good way of bringing together business acumen and commercial ambition under this brand that they know and understand and actually feel something about.
“This is why it’s a particularly interesting brand. There is that point of engagement there already with customers.”
Lim, who is one of the world’s top 100 richest business people according to Forbes, has been described by the publication as a ‘consummate deal-maker’. He has close ties with Jorge Mendes, the renowned agent of Cristiano Ronaldo among others, who is widely considered to be one of the most powerful men in football.
“From what I can understand, he’s very good at spotting opportunities and bringing people together to try to achieve the commercial goals that he has,” adds Chadwick. “Notwithstanding the fact that he is a Man United fan, what he’s doing with the Class of 92 is entirely consistent with the way he goes about business generally, getting them together with a common goal in mind and taking advantage of the opportunities commercially that are associated with that.
“Salford City are not in the Premier League, they’re not in the Champions League, they’re probably never going to make billions of pounds of profit, but I think Salford City is a very good showcase for their relationship and for the Class of 92 brand.
“And as you know from the recent documentary series, a lot of people perceived that in a very positive way, so as a branding exercise, the Class of 92 is doing exactly what Peter Lim and the guys wanted it to do in the first place — to evoke a positive response from customers and the kind of people who may go to see Salford City, may stay at Hotel Football, may eat at Cafe Football, and whatever comes after that.”
Part of the Class of 92′s unique appeal is that they represent the end of a certain era of football. It seems unthinkable nowadays that a group of young and primarily locally-based footballers could all break into a top side’s first team at around the same time and help guide the club in question to success after success.
“You’ve got some clubs out there that are trying but it never seems to quite work out — the one that springs to mind straight away is Arsenal. Wenger always acquires young British talent — Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain spring to mind. But there’s still this dependency on big names from overseas, so I just don’t think it’s happening at Arsenal or United. It was really era-defining, the Class of 92, and we may never see it again.
When you consider Man City, you’ve got middle-east investment money. In the Premier League and in global football generally, this is the trend, and so there’s probably a certain amount of nostalgia among a lot of football fans for this Class of 92 era.
“There’ll have been lots of young kids and teenagers who now, 20 years on, are in their last 20s, early 30s and are starting to have families themselves. They’re taking them to football games. And so all those stories that your dad used to tell you when you used to go to football with him… These stories, myths and legends are going to build up around the Class of 92.”
Their success is epitomised by Gary Neville, a bright and ambitious individual who gets up at no later than 6am every day and is willing to try his hand at virtually anything, from punditry and coaching to business projects and community work.
As a result, despite all Neville achieved as a player with United, his similarly successful post-football career means he is now more popular than ever.
Never as talented as some of his more illustrious teammates like Ruud van Nistelrooy or David Beckham, Neville has continued his habit of getting the very best out of his abilities since leaving behind a distinguished playing career.
The Man United legend’s appointment as a Sky pundit in 2011 was met with a frosty reception in certain quarters, with several Liverpool fans threatening to cancel their subscription to the channel as a result of this controversial hiring. Yet by the time he announced the decision to leave the station earlier this month, Neville was widely credited with having revolutionised football punditry with his astute observations and forensic analysis.
Having previously antagonised many non-United supporters, perhaps most notably when Neville provocatively celebrated a crucial goal in front of Liverpool fans, he has ultimately become admired and even loved by the majority of football watchers across Britain and Ireland.
What’s happened now is he’s almost become a renaissance man,” Chadwick says. “He’s become a very well-respected newspaper columnist, he’s become a very well-respected TV pundit. Obviously, his coaching work with the England national team (is respected). There was the thing with the hotel in Manchester where he let people stay there over the winter.
“This guy is the antidote to some of the corporate football we see out there — football with a human face. I don’t think you can underestimate the power Gary has had in the way people perceive and engage with the Class of 92 now.”
Neville’s background has undoubtedly played a significant role in his recent successes. His late father, Neville Neville, as well as being a former British league cricketer, was also a successful businessman. Not even the most talented athlete in his own family growing up, Gary Neville ultimately forged a career from cultivating an acute sense of self-awareness and strong knowledge of his footballing strengths and limitations.
“The way in which Gary Neville talks about (his brother) is that Phil was always the much more accomplished sportsman. Obviously, his sister is an international netball player as well. He’s from good stock, so in many ways, it’s not a surprise what has happened.
What’s probably more of a surprise for most people is that Gary, as a pundit or a businessman, is very different to what Gary as a player was. In terms of what he’s been doing, it’s consistent, because he’s been doing good stuff.
“But the consummate ease in which he’s done it and the way he’s made this transition (is impressive) — football is littered with former professionals who have tried to run businesses and failed, former players who have tried to become coaches and failed. And yet for Gary, the transition seems to have been much smoother and more coherent than many of his peers.”
And finally, on a related note, does Chadwick — whose work involves an understanding of sports management and the business side of football — believe Neville’s beloved Man United can continue to succeed off the pitch when they are continually struggling on it? Despite the Red Devils’ largely indifferent form since legendary manager Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, it was revealed earlier this year that the club were optimistic about potentially overtaking Real Madrid as the world’s richest team.
All the research indicates that success on the field is very important. United commercially, particularly in terms of generating revenue, remain in a fairly healthy position. Their healthy position is, to a certain extent, being sustained by United’s history of success.
“Short to medium term, there’s no need to panic, but the club’s managers will be mindful of the need to be successful and there has to be a point where Manchester United do start winning the league again, they need to start winning in the Champions League and so on, because in the commercially lucrative marketplaces of the world, like China, success is very important. In such countries, fans don’t have a brand loyalty to particular clubs that endures in the same way as local fans.
If United are not successful, (many overseas fans will) switch to Bayern Munich or Barcelona. So my advice, and I’m sure United know this, is that you can’t rest on your laurels. It’s an intensely competitive operating environment. It’s highly dynamic with global pressures and global influences. And this is why we saw a bit of a spending spree last summer. My view is we’ll see another spending spree in 2016.
“United need to modernise, they need to refresh, but more importantly, they need to start winning again.”
