It was quite the way to announce yourself. In front of the Stretford End, Manchester United supporters looked on as the ball hit the back of the net. The new boy beamed as he soaked up the adulation of the crowd. The future looked bright.
Enough about Michael Knighton. For the potential new owner of the club was not the only man to make the headlines at Old Trafford on a sunny August day in 1989. The opening day of the season was memorable for anyone associated with the club, yet for one man making his debut it was the dream start.
Neil Webb looked the ideal signing for United. A graceful midfielder in Brian Clough's underrated Nottingham Forest team of the late 80s, Webb had already earned 18 caps for England - he was the 1,000th player to represent his country - and Alex Ferguson could understandably see the benefits of pairing Webb with international colleague Bryan Robson.
Webb's fee would be decided at a tribunal, with United offering £900,000 and Forest demanding £2.2 million. Eventually, the three-man panel set Webb's value at tribunal record of £1.5 million. "Manchester United were disappointed," Clough revealed. "But if they want to sell Webb back to us for £1.7 million we will buy him back tomorrow."
There could be no doubting that the club had backed Ferguson in the transfer market. Webb and Mike Phelan - signed from Norwich for £750,000 - would make their debuts against champions Arsenal at Old Trafford, with Gary Pallister, Danny Wallace and Paul Ince arriving shortly after the start of the 1989/90 season. The expectation and pressure on Ferguson to deliver United's first title since 1967 intensified.
If Ferguson was busy adding players to his squad, the same could not be said of George Graham at Arsenal. After clinching the title in dramatic fashion at Anfield in May, the Arsenal manager only made one signing in the summer - Icelandic midfielder Siggi Jonsson - with the Guardian's David Lacey noting that, "Arsenal still set a lot of store by careful team building."
Graham's shrewdness in the market plus Arsenal's productive youth system had reaped dividends with the fairy tale ending the previous season. Yet many Arsenal fans were frustrated with the lack of transfer activity, reasoning that adding strength to the squad was a tried and tested system at Liverpool in past campaigns.
The club were busy on the pitch during pre-season. A tour of Scandinavia was followed by the Makita tournament - Arsenal defeated Liverpool 1-0 in the final - and an unofficial world championship match followed against Argentinian champions Independiente in sweltering conditions in Miami. Six days later, Arsenal lost against Liverpool in the Charity Shield.
Although losing the Charity Shield was hardly end of the world stuff, the performance of Arsenal was a slight concern for their fans. "Arsenal were almost totally anonymous," Frank McGhee noted in the Guardian, and with Steve Bould out of the season opener at Old Trafford, the champions were vulnerable.
Arsenal's cause was dealt a further blow when captain Tony Adams became ill the night before the match, his 19 minute appearance neatly reflecting the fortunes of his team. Adams allowed Steve Bruce to head home the opener after 90 seconds - "United's dream start to the season, and hopefully to a new era," as Bob Houston described it in the Observer - and in the 16th minute he conceded a penalty.
Luckily for Adams, John Lukic easily saved Brian McClair's poor penalty - at least the Scottish forward managed to keep this spot kick on target - and when David Rocastle equalised in the 21st minute it appeared that Arsenal had weathered the storm. Yet in a second half of nightmare proportions, Arsenal completely folded.
Mark Hughes brilliantly turned David O'Leary and fired under Lukic to give United the lead just after the hour mark. Arsenal's keeper had come into the match under a spotlight, with Graham actively pursuing a move for QPR's David Seaman, but Lukic performed admirably as United piled on the pressure. Yet he was left flapping fresh air during Webb's moment of brilliance in the 79th minute.
There appeared to be little danger when substitute Gus Caesar headed clear Bruce's long ball. Dropping to the left corner of Arsenal's penalty area, Webb cushioned the ball softly on his chest, before unleashing a right-footed volley towards Lukic's right hand post. Lukic scrambled across and swished his hand at the ball, but Webb's strike arced over the keeper's hand to send the Stretford End into raptures.
Webb jumped into the arms of Robson, a pleasing sight for England manager Bobby Robson who was watching on from the LWT studios after his flight from Heathrow had been cancelled. "Neil Webb with a classic volley to embroider his first league game for Manchester United, " commentator Martin Tyler excitedly stated.
"That is international class. That's what United paid a million and a half pounds for," Tyler added. Turning to salute the Stretford End, Webb had made a fine first impression. When McClair superbly added a fourth just four minutes later, Arsenal's defence of their league crown had got off to the worst possible start.
"We got what we deserved - nothing," Graham declared after the match. Arsenal winger Perry Groves in his autobiography, We All Live in a Perry Groves World offered one possible reason for the thrashing: "I think we were still fucked from that week in America." The team bounced back, unbeaten in their next seven matches. But just four wins on the road in the league killed any hopes of retaining their title.
Sadly some of Webb's moment was overshadowed by another man who had scored in the same goal that day. Michael Knighton seemed extremely happy to take all the limelight as he juggled a ball and slammed it into the goal in front of the Stretford End prior to the match. "I just thought, What a knob," Groves succinctly explains in his autobiography. Within a few weeks, many were sharing this view on Knighton.
"But at least Knighton took less time to find the net than Garry Birtles," Lacey joked in the Guardian. "Yet while Old Trafford fans shared Knighton's delight at the result it is a little premature to be talking about new eras." This comment in his match report was prescient. Soon, United's season was unravelling and Ferguson's time at the club was in great danger.
Webb won further honours at United - the European Cup Winners' Cup and League Cup - but he left the club after a row with Ferguson at the end of the traumatic 1991/92 season. Some feel he never truly recovered from the injury picked up on England duty, his time at United a case of what-if. But not many people were doubting the wisdom of Webb's move to Old Trafford after his debut and that memorable volley.
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