How Manchester United celebrated becoming the 1992-93 Premier League champions

May 04, 2024

Twenty-six years.

That’s how long Manchester United, England’s best-supported club, went without winning the league between 1967 and May 2, 1993. On Monday, May 3, 1993, United played Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford in a league match that became both a celebration and a cathartic release after years of frustration.

It had been a three-way title race involving United, Aston Villa and Norwich City in the first Premier League season. United’s neighbours Oldham Athletic — now a non-League club — went to Villa Park that Sunday with the home side needing to win to keep their championship dreams alive.

“Oldham were up against it but they were fighting relegation and had something to fight for,” United’s then-captain Steve Bruce tells The Athletic. “I watched the game on television. I remember it like it was yesterday. Oldham won (1-0), and we were champions.”

What happened next became the stuff of legend.

“Most players didn’t have mobile phones but just came straight to our house to celebrate,” Bruce explains.

“Steve Bruce and his wife Janet had a friendly and open house,” says defender Paul Parker. “I lived over the road and often popped around after training for a chat. It was the natural venue for a party to celebrate winning the league.”

“Sky rang me on the landline and asked if they could come and film me,” Bruce continues. “I was going to be a pundit (after retiring as a player; he was 32 at the time) but went into management. Maybe I should have been a journalist — it would have saved me a lot of hassle.

Paul Ince, Mark Hughes, Lee Sharpe and Ryan Giggs with the Premier League trophy after the match against Blackburn (Photo: John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

“Sky had a satellite truck on the street outside — satellite dishes and aerials everywhere. I thought I’d better ring the manager (the legendary Alex Ferguson), because it was all over the telly. He told me that we could have a couple of drinks, but to make sure everyone was done for 10. This was about 7pm, but I think he’d had a few drinks himself after he’d finished playing golf. If he’d told me off, I was going to say, ‘You said 10am!’.”

Parker recalls that “people began to gather at Brucey’s. Only a few at first, but one by one the whole team arrived. Eric Cantona came in a taxi from his hotel in town and Andrei Kanchelskis was the last to show. Supporters gathered outside and there were some TV cameras and press photographers. For a little while, we forgot about the game the next day and the drink meant we didn’t tend to worry about it too much”.

It wasn’t just Sky journalists watching proceedings.

“I was nine years old and put to bed at the neighbours over the road,” Alex Bruce, Steve’s son, who would follow him into a professional playing career, tells The Athletic. “I was sitting on the window ledge with Kasper Schmeichel (son of Peter, and a title winner with Leicester City 23 years later), another neighbour, and we watched the chaos outside. It was mesmerising. And we knew we’d be going to watch our dads against Blackburn the next day.”

A crucial lesson had been learnt after losing the last First Division title to Leeds United a year earlier. Winger Lee Sharpe remembered how much it affected the team: “There was a nervousness towards the end of that season because we didn’t believe we could win the league. Outwardly, people were saying, ‘We’re going to win it’; subconsciously, there was too much pressure. The disappointment made the players more determined.”

When the team demonstrated its resolve by finally clinching the title, Sharpe didn’t waste time in celebrating what he calls “my most memorable trophy” and his response to the news from Villa Park became the stuff of legend.

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“I was sat in the house with my mum, dad and brother (John, who was a youth player at Manchester City). We jumped around when the reality sunk in that the league had been won for the first time in 26 years.

“I called a few of the lads but their home phones were engaged. I thought, ‘What do I do now?’. It wasn’t like I’d been in the situation before. My dad said, ‘Let’s drive down to Old Trafford. There’ll be a few people down there’. I got out of the car at Old Trafford and there were perhaps a thousand fans around. After 10 minutes, there were 10 times that.

Brian McClair, Paul Parker and Giggs toast United’s first league title in 26 years (Photo: John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

“I was picked up and thrown up in the air by supporters on the forecourt and security had to rescue me. They took me into the stadium because the situation was becoming dangerous. I had to sneak out the other end of the ground and get away. One of the best days in my life nearly ended being one of the worst. I didn’t get hold of the other lads until late and I was one of the last to arrive at Brucey’s house. Most of the players were half-cut (pretty drunk) but I was driving so I didn’t drink much and left about midnight.”

“We had a great time and it was a great time,” says Steve Bruce. “There was so much pressure on us. Man United not being champions for 26 years… incredible. My neighbours came to the party — Janice and Phil from across the road. They brought a bottle and joined right in. Everyone brought drinks, it was spontaneous. There were probably 60 at the party. Every player came.

“I went to bed at two, maybe three. I was woken up when I heard this clinking noise — bottles being put away. I thought, ‘Surely someone is still not at it’. I went downstairs. It was 7am. Bryan Robson, the captain of England no less, was tidying up with his wife Denise. Robbo was mopping, Denise doing the dishes. They’d slept in the spare room, though I’m not sure they went to bed. I need to ask them.”

Peter Schmeichel warming up before the Blackburn game in a T-shirt marking United’s triumph (Photo: Mark Leech/Offside via Getty Images)

Bruce, his fellow central defender Gary Pallister and goalkeeper Schmeichel were the only ever-presents that season, appearing in all 42 league games.

“Blackburn were a good side, but I was always convinced we’d beat them, even though some of us were a bit ropey,” says Bruce. “But it was an evening game and most of us had a little sleep in the afternoon. The manager was in great form, he didn’t tell us off for the party, but he was absolutely determined to win.”

Pallister was feeling the effects: “We met in the grill room at Old Trafford and the manager came in, looked at us, smelt the alcohol, and shook his head.”

Sharpe points out Alex Ferguson’s team talk that night was tailored to take account of the fragile state some of the squad were in. “The manager kept it brief. He said, ‘You’ve just won the league. The fans have been great, so let’s go out on a high. We don’t want to lose this game. And I don’t even want to know what went on last night’. Then he smiled. It was probably the only time that he didn’t mind us having a drink the night before a match.”

Sir Matt Busby watching United lift their first league trophy for 26 years (Photo: Rui Vieira/EMPICS via Getty Images)

“It took an age to get to Old Trafford because supporters clamoured around our cars near the stadium, scratching them with their belts,” says Parker. “The boss gave his pre-match speech and one picture shows me yawning, so that shows how I felt. That was countered by the buzz of adrenaline and the fact we could relax and play without fear. All the games before that had been tense because of their importance.”

Blackburn took the lead after just eight minutes and, as Pallister points out, Ferguson may have feared the worst. “It took us a while to sober up, then we started to play.”

“We only started to knock the ball about a bit once we’d gone a goal down,” agrees Sharpe. “The atmosphere was special and we really soaked it up on the lap of honour. We all went out after the match together for a second night of celebrations.”

“You could almost touch the relief inside the stadium,” says Pallister. “The biggest club in the country had not won the league for 26 years, so a lot of it had built up. We’d reach the promised land.”

Pallister was the only United player who had not scored that season.

“The lads decided that I would take any free kicks and we got one in injury time — which I hit and it went in. I loved that,” he said.

“Me and Pally had a £100 bet about who would score the most goals in the season and I was leading with a solitary goal,” says Parker.

“When he scored near the end I was the only player who was gutted. I’ve never been so close to winning a goalscoring competition in my life! Then again, there was little chance of Pally paying up. He would have bought me a box of crisps or something.”

The result could still have been different.

“I actually caught (Blackburn forward) Kevin Gallacher in the match and he should have had a penalty,” says Parker. “Maybe the ref didn’t see it. A defeat would have taken the shine off our celebrations so we made sure we got our act together after going a goal behind.

“I played in the 1993-94 double-winning season, but the celebrations couldn’t compare with ’93 because everyone had waited so long. The ground was full of Cantona flags and it was one hell of an evening. It still means a lot to me that I was one of the few to win the first Premiership trophy.”

“I’ll never forget Sir Matt Busby enjoying himself too,” says Bruce.

Busby died eight months later, aged 84. He’d led United from the horrors of Munich in 1958 to their previous title in ’67. Now he could see that the long wait was over for the next one, but nobody could foretell the remarkable run of titles and trophies that was to follow.

(Top photo: Neal Simpson/EMPICS via Getty Images)

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