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Manchestereveningnews 4mos ago
I felt like a fraud at Manchester United - but now I don't care
Source:Manchestereveningnews

If you asked 100 Manchester United fans to name a player who featured in the matchday squad in the 1999 Champions League final, it is highly likely the same names would be mentioned on repeat.

The most likely candidates would include goalscorers Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, as well as the likes of Peter Schmeichel, David Beckham, Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke.

The 1999 Treble-winning squad was packed with household names and some of the club's greatest-ever players. It was also managed by the most successful manager to have ever wandered the Old Trafford corridors in Sir Alex Ferguson.

With all of that in mind, it is highly unlikely that any United supporter, when reminiscing about the success of the 1998/99 campaign, would think of Jonathan Greening. Signed from York City following a four-day trial in 1998, the former midfielder, who is now manager at non-league Scarborough Athletic, was named among the substitutes for the historic 2-1 triumph over Bayern Munich at Camp Nou 25 years ago.

A youngster at the time, Greening made just seven appearances during the campaign and did not feature in a single Champions League matchday squad en route to the final. Yet he was lucky enough to bag himself a place on the bench for the biggest match in club football, alongside the likes of Phil Neville, David May, Solskjaer and Sheringham.

Despite not playing at all during the Champions League campaign, Greening was awarded a medal and celebrated on the Camp Nou pitch just as much as those who had played starring roles in helping United complete a hat-trick of silverware. Any youngster in that situation would have done the same, so you can't be overly critical of the now-45-year-old for enjoying himself.

Nevertheless, Greening has admitted that he felt like a bit of a "fraud" for being awarded a medal when he had played no part in the club's European adventure. However, that feeling waned the older he got.

Many years later, Greening admitted: "I've still got my Champions League medal and, the more years have gone by, the less I feel a fraud about having it, as I did back in the day. When I was playing, it was the starting XI and the subs who got medals - they didn't really count the lads who travelled - but these days it's all about the squad.

"If my playing career had happened now, I would probably have three Premier League winner's medals as well because I used to travel to nearly every game in the three years I was at Manchester United.

In a separate interview, Greening added: "Looking back on those 10 or so days back in 1999 in and around the end of the season, the FA Cup final and, of course, the Champions League, it was just such a crazy period. We'd won the league by beating Tottenham on the one weekend, all of us celebrating on the pitch lifting the trophy.

"I was a 20-year-old, playing for the team I supported as a young boy, and I'm celebrating with these players I looked up to for so long - we're all going crazy on the pitch, and then there's the after party. It was just one of the best days ever.

"Winning the FA Cup was such a massive accomplishment for the squad and to be a part of it all was a dream come true - again the parties and the celebrations after that final were unbelievable. I remember thinking 'we can't have a party, we've got the Champions League final on Wednesday!', but everyone was steaming, up all night drinking, celebrating. I couldn't believe it."

Despite making the bench for the Champions League final, Greening continued to struggle for opportunities at Old Trafford, making just nine appearances in the 1999/2000 campaign. That season, however, he did make his Champions League debut, stepping off the bench in a 2-1 away win over Dinamo Zagreb before getting his first start in the competition in the following group game at home to Sturm Graz, where United won 2-1 again.

In the end, Greening left Old Trafford in August 2001 to join Middlesbrough. Stints at various other clubs followed, including spells at West Bromwich Albion and Fulham, before retiring from professional football in 2014.

Although Greening never added another European winner's medal to his collection, he did play in another European final, coming off the bench in Fulham's 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the 2010 Europa League final. The Cottagers were beaten in extra-time following a brace from fellow former United man Diego Forlan.

Despite experiencing that particular heartache, nothing can ever rob Greenwood of his Champions League medal, regardless of how little he did to earn it.