It is approaching the 20th anniversary of Manchester United‘s historic Treble triumph, which saw Sir Alex Ferguson’s side win the Premier League, FA Cup and the Champions League.

An extraordinary unbeaten run of 33 matches saw United sweep all before them to achieve something no English club had done before.

Using the starting line-up for their dramatic Champions League final win over Bayern Munich in the Nou Camp, we tell the story of what happened next to each of the players and what they’re up to now.   

STARTED IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

Peter Schmeichel

The giant Dane was a colossus during the Treble season, making a number of important interventions during the 56 matches he played that season.

Particularly memorable is the stoppage-time penalty save he made from Dennis Bergkamp in the FA Cup semi-final replay with Arsenal.

The Champions League final, in which he wore the captain’s armband in Roy Keane’s absence, proved to be Schmeichel’s last as he moved to Sporting Lisbon that summer.

With his natural authority, Schmeichel would easily have gone into management but he has instead worked as a television pundit, including for the BBC.

Schmeichel’s forays into television have also included appearances on Strictly Come Dancing and The Weakest Link… plus a programme called The Schmeichel Show on the controversial Russia Today network.

Gary Neville

Right-back Neville played 54 club matches during the Treble campaign and established himself as a reliable figure in the United back line – as he would be for the next 12 years.

Neville only scored seven goals during his career at United but one of those came in a 3-1 home win against Everton at the end of March.

He worked effectively in tandem with his England colleague David Beckham on the right flank, often providing support and overlapping runs.

Following retirement, Neville has proved himself one of the most insightful pundits in the game with his work on Sky Sports.

A foray into management with Spanish club Valencia proved unsuccessful though he was a member of the England backroom staff under Roy Hodgson.

Neville is also one of the co-owners of National League club Salford City along with fellow ‘Class of 92’ graduates Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville and, as of last week, David Beckham.

Ronny Johnsen

Norwegian centre-half Johnsen played a major role that season, lining up alongside either Jaap Stam or his compatriot Henning Berg at the heart of United’s defence.

During the semi-final against Juventus, he even covered in midfield, and he completed the whole of the final alongside Stam.

Johnsen left United in 2002 and retired in 2008. Since then, he has worked as a pundit for Norwegian channel TV2 and as one of United’s ambassadors.

He considered making the leap into management but that hasn’t materialised. Enjoys cross-country skiing in his spare time.

Jaap Stam

The defensive rock upon which this United side was built, big Dutchman Stam had arrived as the most expensive defender ever at £10.6million the previous summer.

It proved money well spent with Stam tormenting rival attackers during the 51 matches he played, scoring memorably in a 6-2 away win at Leicester, his only goal for the club.

Stam’s time at United ended acrimoniously in 2001 when Ferguson took exception to remarks made in his autobiography, selling him to Lazio for £16m.

It was one of the rare occasions when Ferguson later admitted he had made an error of judgement and United certainly struggled to re-find someone of his poise and presence.

After hanging up his boots, Stam entered management, first in various coaching roles and then with English Championship club Reading between 2016 and 2018.

In his first season, Stam guided the Royals to the play-off final, only to lose agonisingly on penalties to Huddersfield Town at Wembley.

His second season was less successful and Stam was sacked in March 2018. He is now in charge of the Dutch Eredivisie side PEC Zwolle.

Denis Irwin

It’s little wonder Ferguson regarded Irish left-back Irwin as one of his greatest pound-for-pound signings.

United’s Mr Dependable made 529 appearances over 12 years and won 19 honours with the Old Trafford club.

He excelled during the Treble season, bombing down the left flank in support of Ryan Giggs and taking a number of penalties.

After concluding his playing days with a couple of years at Wolves, Irwin has since worked as a presenter on United’s in-house MUTV channel as well as a pundit on Irish network RTE.

Also an ambassador for the club, this consummate professional and unsung hero remains popular with United fans around the world.

Ryan Giggs

The ultimate one-club man, Welsh wing wizard Giggs played a remarkable 963 matches and scored 168 goals for United over a storied career spanning 24 years.

There were numerous highlights during that time but many came during the Treble campaign – who will ever forget that slaloming solo goal against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final?

Curiously, Ferguson asked Giggs to play on the right-side of United’s midfield in the 1999 final as part of a reshuffle that saw Jesper Blomqvist on the left and Beckham in the centre.

It was Giggs’s mis-hit shot that fell to Sheringham to sweep home United’s dramatic equaliser at the beginning of stoppage time.

After retirement in 2014, Giggs was United’s caretaker manager following the dismissal of David Moyes in 2014 and then right-hand man to Louis van Gaal for two years.

That coaching experience came in handy when he was appointed manager of the Wales national team in January 2018.

David Beckham

Beckham responded magnificently to his national villification during the 1998 World Cup with a series of outstanding performances during the 1998-99 campaign.

His crossing and passing were instrumental to United’s attacking threat, not to mention his prowess from free-kicks.

Becks scored a crucial equaliser against Tottenham to secure the Premier League title on the final day and delivered both corners in that dramatic Nou Camp finale.

After retiring in 2013, Beckham has certainly been as busy as you’d expect for one of the most recognisable figures in the world.

Whether it’s his charity work for UNICEF, modelling for a range of lucrative sponsors, various TV and film appearances or starting up his MLS franchise in Miami, Beckham has plenty going on.

Nicky Butt

An uncompromising midfielder, Butt played 47 times during the Treble campaign, taking the place of Roy Keane in the Champions League final with the Irishman suspended.

Butt left United for Newcastle in 2004 but is now very much back at the club in his position as Academy director.

He had originally returned to coach the reserve team in October 2012 before taking on his current role in February 2016 following the departure of another former player Brian McClair.

It allows Butt to preserve United’s proud record of producing players from their own academy, with Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard two of the latest examples.

Jesper Blomqvist

The Swedish winger was bought really as back-up to Giggs but he ended up playing enough games to win a Premier League winners’ medal and then started the Champions League final.

But the 67 minutes he played in the Nou Camp before being replaced by Teddy Sheringham proved to be his last for United as injuries struck.

Initially post-retirement, Blomqvist worked as a pundit in his native Sweden but now he is the owner of a pizza restaurant on Lidingo Island in Stockholm.

Perhaps the seeds were sown during his long injury lay-off when he presented a show called ‘Cooking with Jesper’ on MUTV.

Dwight Yorke

Yorke, signed for £12.6m from Aston Villa at the start of the Treble season, proved one of the missing pieces in the United forward line.

The smiling Tobagonian scored 29 goals in all, forming a deadly strike partnership with Andrew Cole that saw United past a number of tricky obstacles.

Retiring from football in 2009, Yorke took his coaching badges and was involved in occasional punditry work for Sky Sports. He was assistant manager to the Trinidad and Tobago national side in 2009 and 2010.

Things haven’t been too good for Yorke lately as he was the subject of a bankruptcy petition by HM Revenue and Customs last year which he narrowly avoided by paying a £1.5m tax debt.

Andrew Cole

The other half of that highly effective strike partnership, Cole found the net 24 times in the Treble year, including the lobbed winner against Tottenham that secured the Premier League title.

The England international ultimately left United in 2002 after eight successful years in which he scored 121 goals for the club.

Post-playing, Cole completed his coaching badges with the help of MK Dons, Huddersfield Town and then United.

Cole has suffered from health problems in recent years after contracting a virus on a trip to Vietnam as a United ambassador in 2015 and required a kidney transplant to save his life in April 2017.

Now back in better health, Cole has joined the coaching staff of League Two club Macclesfield Town, where his former England team-mate Sol Campbell is the manager.

USED SUBSTITUTES IN THE FINAL

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

The man whose outstretched leg in stoppage time in the Nou Camp capped United’s extraordinary Treble season.

Happy-go-lucky Norwegian striker Solskjaer had never complained about playing the super sub role from the moment he arrived at Old Trafford in the summer of 1996.

And though most of his appearances during the campaign came off the bench, Solskjaer still scored 18 goals – many of them absolutely priceless.

That immortal moment in the Champions League final aside, he also scored a stoppage time winner against Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round and four goals in just over 10 minutes in an 8-1 win at Nottingham Forest.

Having assured that he would never have to buy a pint in the vicinity of Old Trafford ever again, Solskjaer stayed with United until 2007, scoring 126 goals for them in all.

And, as you might of heard, he’s just returned there in some kind of managerial capacity.

Teddy Sheringham

Like Solskjaer, Teddy Sheringham found his opportunities limited following the signing of Dwight Yorke but, goodness me, did he make an impact when called from the bench.

Two minutes before Solskjaer’s winner, it was the England forward who swept home United’s equaliser in the Nou Camp.

Sheringham also came off the bench to score United’s opening goal in the FA Cup final against Newcastle United and duly won the first major silverware of his career at the age of 33.

The autumn of Sheringham’s career proved to be a long one, his fine scoring record during 2000-01 leading to a Footballer of the Year accolade.

Sheringham moved into coaching following retirement, working with the strikers at West Ham and then spent a few months with League Two Stevenage.

Until the start of last year, he was in charge of Indian Super League club ATK in Kolkata.

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES IN THE FINAL

Raimond van der Gouw

The Dutchman spent six seasons at Old Trafford, firstly as understudy to Peter Schmeichel before challenging Mark Bosnich and Massimo Taibi for the gloves following his departure.

Van der Gouw helped out coaching United’s young keepers during his time with the club and was a hugely popular figure around Old Trafford.

He played eight times during the Treble campaign, deputising for Schmeichel in the League Cup and when he needed a breather in league competition.

Van der Gouw is currently the goalkeeping coach at Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem, the club he played for before coming to United.

David May

The defender was famously prominent in United’s Champions League celebrations despite not playing a single minute in the competition all season.

May did, however, make a handful of appearances towards the end of the season when Ferguson rotated the squad amid a congested fixture list. One of these was in the FA Cup final win.

He would remain a bit-part player at United until 2003 and ended his playing days in non-league with Bacup Borough.

May is now commonly seen as a presenter and pundit on the club’s in-house MUTV channel.

Phil Neville

Another member of the ‘Fergie Fledglings’ along with his brother Gary, Phil Neville had already become the ultimate utility player by the 1998-99 campaign.

Highly valued by Ferguson because of his ability to play anywhere across the defence or midfield, Neville played regularly that season, though often from the bench.

By the time the younger Neville sibling left for Everton in 2005, he’d won six Premier League titles, the FA Cup three times and, of course, the Champions League. Phil was also capped 59 times for England.

He is now the manager of the England women’s team and also one of the co-owners of Salford City along with several other United team-mates.

Wes Brown

Having made his breakthrough into the United side at the end of the previous campaign, academy graduate Brown was causing ripples and 1998-99 would prove a breakthrough season.

The youngster was a natural centre-back but also played at right-back and really his first full year at United, which saw 21 appearances, couldn’t have gone much better.

Brown would remain at the heart of United’s back line until 2011, playing 362 games in total, while also representing England.

Last season, aged 38, Brown was playing in the Indian Super League for Kerala Blasters, who were coached by former United man Rene Meulensteen. Dimitar Berbatov also played for them.

Brown hasn’t officially hung up his boots but does work with the Manchester United Foundation.

Jonathan Greening

The midfielder was largely a fringe first-team player but still made seven appearances for United during the Treble season.

Greening collected a Champions League winner’s medal but later admitted he ‘felt a bit of a fraud’ given he hadn’t played a single minute of the European campaign.

But he went on to forge a successful career at West Brom, Fulham and Nottingham Forest among other clubs.

He can now be heard on BBC radio and podcasts and is also head of player development at the i2i Soccer Academy based in York.

PLAYERS WHO MISSED THE FINAL

Paul Scholes 

Scholes missed the Champions League final through suspension after collecting a yellow card in the second leg of the semi-final with Juventus, though he was part of the celebrations in his club suit.

It was an undeserved ending to a terrific season for such a gifted midfield player, who was instrumental in so many of the 51 matches he appeared in.

Scholes scored the match-sealing second goal in the FA Cup final against Newcastle United and scored 11 goals in total throughout the campaign.

He remained a United player until 2013, winning heaps of silverware with his one and only club and even coming back out of retirement to add an 11th Premier League title to his collection.

Scholes, such a quiet and private individual off the field as a player, transformed into a highly opinionated television pundit for BT Sport after retirement.

But he admitted that he missed the matchday buzz and took over as manager of League Two side Oldham Athletic – whom he supported as a boy – earlier this month.

Roy Keane

Keane produced one of the most selfless performances ever seen on a football field after receiving a yellow card against Juventus, producing a superhuman effort to drag his team-mates to the final.

There had been so much heroic about captain Keane throughout the Treble year, with the Irishman playing 55 of the 63 games in all competitions.

Having done so much to keep United in contention for all three prizes, Keane’s season was curtailed as he went off injured in the FA Cup final and then missed the Nou Camp finale.

He remained at United until the 2005-06 season and then retired after a brief spell at Celtic.

A born leader, it was little surprise Keane went into management, taking charge of Sunderland and Ipswich Town before serving as assistant to Martin O’Neill with the Republic of Ireland.

He is now working alongside O’Neill at Championship club Nottingham Forest.

And never one to pull a punch, Keane has worked as a hard-hitting pundit on ITV’s coverage of the Champions League, World Cup and European Championship.

Jordi Cruyff

Signed from Barcelona in the summer of 1996, Cruyff, son of Johan, suffered with injuries and was only around for half of the Treble season before being loaned to Celta Vigo.

The Dutch player hung up his boots in 2010 and entered coaching, first with Valletta in Malta before working as sporting director of Cypriot club AEK Larnaca and Israelis Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Cruyff now works in China as the coach of Super League side Chongquing Dangdai Lifan.

Henning Berg

The Norwegian defender had been a United regular after arriving in 1997 but the signing of Jaap Stam restricted his appearances and injuries also got in the way.

While he missed some of the bigger games, Berg still played in 29 matches during the season and earned the full set of medals.

Berg has worked as a coach and manager since 2005 including a brief but calamitous spell at Blackburn Rovers in which they won just one of 10 matches.

He is not in charge of the Norwegian top division team Stabaek.