The 2012/13 Premier League season marked the end of an era for Manchester United and for English football.
Since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, Sir Alex Ferguson led United to complete dominance in this.
The red devils won 13 league titles, becoming the most successful ‘first division’ team with 20 league titles overall, compared to huge rival Liverpool’s 18.
Legendary Scottish manager Sir Alex Ferguson announced that at the end of the 2012/13 season, he would leave Manchester United and retire.
After 26 years at the helm of Manchester United, Ferguson leaving the club was sure to be a huge hole to fill.
10 years later, United have failed to win the Premier League, nor the Champions League since.
An array of talented managers have come and gone, with the likes of Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal, both unable to reproduce the dominance and dynasty Ferguson created whilst at the club.
Since Ferguson’s retirement, standards in and around the club have dropped, and expectations have hit unimaginable lows.
With inefficient recruitment plaguing United’s effort to sign players, the quality of signings have dropped, with the club bringing in subpar players to wear the iconic jersey.
In this article, we’ll look back at the 2012/13 squad, who last brought pride and expectation when playing for this famous club.
- Goalkeeper – David de Gea
- Right Back – Rafael
- Centre Back – Rio Ferdinand
- Centre Back – Jonny Evans
- Left Back – Patrice Evra
- Centre Midfield – Michael Carrick
- Centre Midfield – Tom Cleverly
- Midfield – Antonio Valencia
- Midfield – Shinji Kagawa
- Forward – Wayne Rooney
- Forward – Robin van Persie
Goalkeeper – David de Gea
De Gea is the only one in that starting eleven still currently at the club. The Spanish shot stopper is still present manager Erik ten Hag’s first choice goalkeeper.
De Gea has picked up 542 appearances since his arrival in 2011 winning 190 clean sheets. The Spaniard has won the Sir Matt Busby player of the year award four times and the Premier League golden glove twice, winning his second in this year’s 2022/23 season.
Right Back – Rafael
Rafael made 170 appearances for the red devils, spanning from his arrival in 2008, to his departure in 2015.
Upon leaving the club, Rafael moved to Lyon for £2.5m. The Brazilian played there for five years, consistently making first team appearances before he was shipped off to Basakeshir FK in 2020.
However, Rafael only stayed one season before leaving to return to Brazil and play for his current side Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas. Since returning to Brazil, the 32-year-old has played 28 times.
Centre Back – Rio Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand joined Ferguson’s men in 2002, in a big £30m move from rivals Leeds United.
He became a stalwart in United’s defence making 455 appearances for the club before leaving as a club legend in 2014.
Ferdinand joined newly promoted Queens Park Rangers on a free, led by his former West Ham manager Harry Redknapp.
However, Ferdinand made just 12 appearances for the hoops, before retiring in 2015.
Ferdinand has since gone onto to be a consistent pundit for BT/TNT sports.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrrbTW32BtE
Centre Back – Jonny Evans
Jonny Evans started in the United academy.
He moved to Royal Antwerp on loan for a year, before being loaned out to Sunderland twice.
However, after this, Ferguson kept Evans in the squad.
The Northern Irish international made 198 appearances for the club, before being sold to West Brom in August 2015, for an initial £6m.
Evans played at the Baggies for three seasons before they were relegated in 2018.
After this, Evans moved to Leicester for around £3.5m.
The former United academy player has made 150 appearances since joining the King Power.
Evans remains at Leicester currently.
Left Back – Patrice Evra
Patrice Evra started off his United career in 2006, signing from Monaco for £5.5m.
Evra made 379 appearances scoring 10 goals and assisting 38 in his eight years at the club.
The French international made 33 appearances in his final season at the club under David Moyes’ management.
In 2014, Evra joined Juventus for £1.2m.
The Frenchman stayed in Turin for two and a half seasons before returning to France in January of 2017, to join Marseille on an 18 month contract.
However, his time in France turned sour after the fullback mutually terminated his contract in November 2017. This came after Evra kicked out at a fan and was banned by UEFA for seven months.
Evra finished his career returning to England to play in East London for West Ham.
The Frenchman only made five appearances whilst playing for the Hammers though.
Evra retired after this.
Centre Midfield – Michael Carrick
Michael Carrick joined Manchester United from Tottenham Hotspur in 2006 for as much as £18.6m.
Carrick spent 12 years at the club, making 464 appearances, scoring 24 goals and assisting 36.
His latter years came under manager Jose Mourinho who saw the potential in his future as a coach and invited him to become his assistant manager upon his retirement as a player.
Carrick continued as a coach at United throughout Mourinho’s reign and became increasingly prominent under ex teammate, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s leadership.
When Solskjaer was sacked, Carrick took charge of United for three matches, winning two out of the three.
Due to his loyalty to Solskjaer, Carrick left United as a coach completely upon the arrival of interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
With Middlesborough struggling, Carrick was hired as their manager.
Since his arrival, the former English midfielder surpassed expectations, sealing fourth spot in the Championship and into the playoffs.
However, a narrow defeat to Coventry prevented Carrick from taking Middlesborough up this season.
Centre Midfield – Tom Cleverly
Tom Cleverley started out in United’s academy before sealing loan moves to Leicester, Watford, and Wigan.
The 2012/13 season was Cleverley’s most prominent, making 32 appearances for the side.
After Ferguson retired, Moyes continued to use Cleverley consistently.
However, with Moyes sacking, Cleverley’s exit was also looming.
The English midfield was loaned out to Aston Villa for a season, before being let go to Everton on a free in July of 2015.
Cleverley played for Everton for a year and a half making 42 appearances before being loaned back to his former side Watford.
Eventually Watford bought him permanently.
At Watford, Cleverley has made 181 appearances overall, but in the 22/23 season has only made four appearances.
Midfield – Antonio Valencia
Antonio Valencia joined United from Wigan Athletic in the summer of 2009 after the world record sale of Cristiano Ronaldo. Valencia joined initially as a right midfielder but gradually was moulded into a right back.
He signed for as much as £16m.
The Ecuadorian made 339 appearances at United, scoring 25 and assisting 62.
In July 2019, Valencia joined LDU Quito on a free transfer.
He only made 32 appearances for the Ecuadorian side before his contract was mutually terminated due to complicated issues.
In January of 2021, Queretaro FC signed Valencia.
However, just four months later the Ecuadorian retired.
Midfield – Shinji Kagawa
Shinji Kagawa signed for United from Borussia Dortmund in July 2012 for an initial £12m that could have potentially risen to £17m.
The talented Japanese only made 57 appearances for the red devils scoring six goals and assisting 10.
The young midfielder was sold back to Borussia Dortmund just two years later.
Kagawa made 216 appearances for the German side, scoring 60 goals and assisting 55.
After four and a half years in Germany, Kagawa was loaned to Besiktas in January of 2019.
The following summer, Kagawa was sold to Real Zaragota.
Whilst in Spain, Kagawa made 36 appearances.
His time at the club was cut short after their failure to gain promotion meant they couldn’t afford to keep the Japanese midfielder.
PAOK Salonika snapped up the former United midfielder in January 2021.
Kagawa played for PAOK for a year before joining Sint-Truiden on a free transfer.
Similarly, Kagawa played for Sint-Truiden for a year and then went back to Japan to sign for Cerezo Osaka.
He’s currently played 144 times scoring 58 goals and assisting 17.
Forward – Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney joined United as a world class talent from Everton at just 18. He signed for a huge £30m.
Rooney made 559 appearances for the club, cementing himself as a club legend in the process.
The Englishman also earnt the captaincy role after Nemanja Vidic’s departure in 2014.
Rooney scored 253 goals and assisted 145 in his 13 years at the club.
In July 2017, Rooney returned to Merseyside, re-joining his boyhood club Everton on a free transfer.
Rooney stayed for a year before moving to D.C. United in the summer of 2018.
In January 2020, Rooney joined Derby County.
Whilst at Derby, Rooney became player manager and then eventually retired to become permanent manager.
Rooney came close to doing the impossible in keeping Derby up following their major points deductions.
However, the Rams just didn’t have enough and were relegated.
Subsequently, Rooney left to manage his former side D.C. United.
Forward – Robin van Persie
Robin van Persie signed for United in a £24m move from big rivals Arsenal in August of 2012.
The Dutchman hit the ground running scoring 26 Premier League goals and assisting 15 in his first league season.
Van Persie was instrumental in United’s final title winning season, ultimately earning a guard of honour from his former side.
After 105 appearances and 46 goals, the Dutch striker left to join Fenerbache.
He spent two and a half years in Turkey making 87 appearances before returning to Holland to play for Feyenoord.
At Feyenoord, Van Persie played 122 times, scoring 46 goals and assisting 16.
Ultimately, he retired at Feyenoord.