David Beckham was among the legends from Manchester United’s illustrious past at a red carpet event for a new documentary detailing one of the greatest achievements in their history.
In the 1998-99 season, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side pulled off a then-unprecedented Treble, winning each of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League – the first English side to do so.
Since then, rivals Manchester City have also gone on to pull off the seismic feat, doing so last season, yet it is an undeniably impressive accolade in the annals of football history.
As such, Amazon Prime have recently produced a documentary series of the incredible season featuring exclusive interviews with Sir Alex Ferguson, Beckham, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Peter Schmeichel, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and others as they chart that extraordinary season 25 years on.
Beckham led the way at Thursday evening’s event, and posed for pictures with his long-term friend and team-mate Neville on the red carpet.
The duo were joined by the likes of Schmeichel, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham, Nicky Butt, Jesper Blomqvist and Ronny Johnsen on the red carpet in Manchester.
Neville posed for pictures with wife Emma Hadfield, while Sheringham as partnered by Kristina Andrioti.
As well as the Man United legends, Wrexham director Humphrey Ker was also spotted on the red carpet, with his side having just earned promotion to League One.
’99’, which is produced by the company behind the ‘Beckham’ Netflix series, will air on Amazon Prime Video on May 17 and have three parts.
The trailer, which dropped back in April, begins with the climactic moments of the Champions League final in Barcelona when goals by Sheringham and Solskjaer in the dying moments snatched glory from the jaws of defeat.
‘Only this will define you – forever,’ says goalkeeper Schmeichel, before Beckham says: ‘1999 – it had been a hell of a season,’ a reference to his vilification after being sent off for England at the 1998 World Cup.
The Neville brothers, Gary and Phil, plus Ferguson’s assistant Steve McClaren are then seen describing the ‘desperation’, ‘heartache’, ‘pain’ and ‘sheer fear’ of United’s tightrope act in three competitions.
‘There was no time to rest,’ says Ferguson, who was knighted after United’s achievements.
Yorke and Sheringham then appear to talk about the intense rivalry with Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, whom United pipped to the title on the final day and beat in an epic FA Cup semi-final.
There’s a glimpse of Ryan Giggs’ famous solo goal to defeat Arsenal in the semi-final replay and the moments of desperations before the miracle turnaround against Bayern Munich.
Amazon’s blurb for the series reads: ‘The documentary follows the astonishing road to greatness with untold stories from inside the team, revealing the dressing room conflicts, personal struggles and miraculous moments behind the legendary season, which culminated in the most unbelievable comeback victory in football.
‘The series is both a love letter to one of the greatest achievements in world football and the story of a group of players who were recruited, coached and moulded by Sir Alex Ferguson to create history.
‘The documentary also includes never-before-seen archive footage as well as behind-the-scenes candid video from the club and fans.’
