The Class of ‘92 (2013)

Absolutely Fantastic

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It was trenchant Scottish football analyst Alan Hansen who famously said "You'll never win anything with kids" after Manchester United heavily lost their first Premier League game of the 1999 season, when manager Alex Ferguson replaced almost half his team with young players in their early 20's who'd come through the clubs own youth academy seven years before (apart from Gary Neville, who was actually Class of '93). However with Ferguson's tough-love style of management and chaperoned by United greats like Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Peter Schmeichel, talented youngsters like David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs all came of age as the side famously picked itself up and completed a celebrated treble of the championship, FA Cup and in particular the European Champions League, the last after a gap in the club's history of 31 years, when they scored twice in the last five minutes to steal victory from the jaws of defeat against a superior Bayern Munich team on the night.This documentary offers individual profiles of the players, mostly, as you'd expect, involving lots of mutual admiration, with reminiscences of their early days at the club and focusing in particular on the matches that proved crucial at the season's climax as they chased their three trophies.The three other players of the six featured, the defensive Neville brothers and midfielder Nicky Butt, for me weren't anywhere near the same class as the other three, but to be fair they all became international players too and certainly fitted well into the club set-up. They all, too, seem like decent blokes, genuinely friendly amongst each other, even latter-day multi-media superstar Beckham and there are some fascinating clips of them all getting their start in the youth team. Nice too, to see the youth team coach getting his due here. The story of the team's fantastic season and the part this group of young talent played in it is pretty well-known and apart from one or two shaggy-dog stories about initiation ceremonies and avoiding strict boss Ferguson's attempts at imposing a curfew, little new was revealed of what went on behind the scenes, I felt. What happens in the dressing room stays in the dressing room I guess. I'm not sure either the attempts to align the club's rise in fortunes with the emergence of "Madchester" music of the time with Oasis, Stone Roses and even the Blair government of the day were convincingly made, leading to some odd interviews with the Roses bassist Mani and ex-P.M. Blair himself, "getting down with the yoof" as they say. The Gallagher brothers were mad Man City fans anyway.I actually felt there was a better story in the background, if they'd made a film about the boys from 1992 who didn't make it, here regathered with the super six for a just-for-the-cameras reunion kick-about. The absence of key figures as interviewees of the likes of Ferguson and Keane was noticeable plus I've no idea what Zinedine Zidane was doing in the mix either.Nevertheless I enjoyed this red-tinged wallow in nostalgia as it was unquestionably a great team and I got to see again some great football moments like Beckham's famous half-way line goal against Wimbledon or even more so, Giggs' amazing solo effort against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final. I might have preferred a little more of that over some of the mutual backslapping waffle which over-proliferated things elsewhere, but this was almost as entertaining a ninety minutes as the team itself used to serve up back in the day.

as a Liverpool fan I still struggle to re-live that FA cup defeat, back in '99. But this is an amazing story of sport. Very well told, filmed and directed. 6 kids with whom 'you cannot win anything' ended up winning, yes, everything. Funny, moving, entertaining. You get to know a lot about the character of the players portrayed (especially the ones who kept a lower profile than others. And a very good insight on Fergie's United. You may love or hate him, but when it came to managing a football club you'll struggle to find many more on the same level as the Scot. One point deducted, so 9 instead of 10 for the bits with Tony Blair. But that's me, not being able to listen to the sound of his voice. Perfect otherwise

It's flawed. It would be very easy to see this documentary through rose tinted glasses and praise it to the hilt, but I came away from it wanting more of some parts of this incredible story of six young footy players, but also wanting less of other unnecessary distractions.The story is a classic, no doubt. Love or hate Manchester United, the 98/99 season had most of Europe's footy supporters gripped on the antics of this old football club from an old industrial town in the north of England, both of which had looked to have long seen the best of their glory days come and go. Some wanted to see their opposition fail in achieving what even the pundits thought was impossible when the film's namesake began to make themselves known. Others wanted to see just how far this roller coaster ride could go and whether these young kids that seemed to dominate the back pages of the tabloids could live up to the hype.The film mixes the on pitch dramas with the real life own accounts from all six players of life growing up with Manchester United, including very amusing recollections of how Scholes developed his devastatingly accurate passing on the training grounds and Sir Alex emptying a late night house party in seconds whilst looking for a young Ryan Giggs. There's also quite a heart felt piece from David Beckham and how he tried to cope with the lowest part of his career. Even now, well over a decade later, it's clear to see how close these six are not only as team mates but also as lifelong friends, coming to his defense of the criticism against him.The problem is the film doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. One minute it's charting the first steps of their professional careers, then in the blink of an eye we're treated to a piece of on pitch action from much later on in their careers. As a fan, that's not much of a problem as what is shown from the on pitch escapades are all memorable moments from that era of the club. But for the neutral viewer, there is no clear cut time line. What you would think would be the natural culmination of their story, the 98/99 Treble winning season is told chronologically, but it's scattered into small sections that the film seems on occasion to randomly jump into. I would personally liked to have seen a much smoother progression through the timeline.There are a few too many very strange contributions from ex Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Some very thinly disguised (and quite cringe worthy) comparisons to his own political ideas for Britain at the time, which just seemed completely unnecessary and very out of place for a film focusing on one of football's most dramatic stories.The Man United fans will enjoy it for the interviews and the memories of the 6 grown men as they look back on their incredible journey into adulthood and sporting super stardom. But for anyone else, I can't see it having much appeal. There's probably too much in there that fans of some other clubs just won't want to remember, where as it's probably too focused on the 6 men who will only be heroes to those Man United fans who saw them play during that era for it to be of much appeal to the casual football fan.This is main problem the film encounters. There just isn't enough for the neutral viewer. The club was much bigger than just those 6 lads and no more so was that true than of the Class of 92 era. The heroics of big Peter Schmeichel, the brutality and determination of Keano, the brilliance of King Eric, the Cole and Yorke strike partnership, the managerial mind games, the relentless late comebacks from being behind in a match but to name a few are all either missing, or are unfortunately a blink and you'll miss it affair. Perhaps the biggest issue that I have with the film is the lack of material from their biggest influence, Sir Alex Ferguson. The little of him that there is totals probably less than a minute of material. It's a shame as together they were all instrumental elements in getting these 6 young players names into the football history books. I enjoyed it as a Man United fan, enjoying the trip down memory lane and listening to the players tell their story was both interesting and amusing. But unless you are a fan and want to see your boyhood heroes together again one more time talking about old times and what it meant for them, there isn't really much here that isn't already documented just as well, if not better in many other club DVD's and online fan videos. 3/10 for the none fans.6.5/10 for the fans.

This can be a special film for just about anyone and not just football or Manchester United fans. You'll get lost in the feelings of the players as they relive a very monumental period of time in their lives that they shared together. It gets easy to forget that they have moved past those years long ago and can now only look back as some moments seem eternal. The historic significance of their football aside, what makes this film extra special is that all of them had the same expression as they did during their youth while rewinding back to relive what now feels only like a dream. Their nostalgia, euphoria and inspiration is contagious. Simply exceptional and everyone should watch it.