THE VITALS:

Team: Manchester United

Brand: Nike

Era: 2006-07 (Used for the 2006-07 Barclays Premiership season, and the 2007 FA Cup Final)

Name/Number: Rooney #8

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt comes to you in very good condition with the material, sponsor decal, Nike swoosh and club crest remaining in fine stead. There is however, some slight greying of the white hoops and collar, and the name and numbering does show some heavier wear in parts.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Extra Large

Pit to Pit Measurement: 23 inches

Shirt Length: 29.5 inches 

Made in the Nike ‘Sphere Dry’ mould that was introduced ahead of the 2006-07 season; this shirt provides great dimensions for a size extra large fitting football shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

In the first Manchester United shirt to sponsored by AIG, the past would be evoked by Nike as the 2006-07 offering paid tribute to the ‘Busby Babes’ and their first European frontier in the 1956-57 season. The simple and classy design paid homage to the styles of yesteryear; using just a simple white v-neck collar and hoops on the sleeves, meanwhile, a pale gold trim separates the sleeves and main body of the shirt. The coup de gras however, is the club crest that housed in a white shield, giving the shirt a truly majestic feel! The shirt would be memorable as United reclaimed the Premier League after a 3 year separation from the title, and in addition, would reach the UEFA Champions League semi-final for the first time since the 2001-02 season, and also reach that season’s FA Cup Final!

THE SEASON:

Although they would have to see Chelsea win the league, Liverpool win the FA Cup and Arsenal and Middlesbrough reach European final’s; there would be plenty of positives to take from the 2005-06 season for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side as they won the Carling Cup and finished in 2^nd place. They would enter the new season with the talismanic Ruud Van Nistelrooy as he completed his awaited transfer to Real Madrid; Michael Carrick however, would arrive as the club’s high profile signing as he took the abdicated number 16 jersey that once belonged to Roy Keane.

The season opener with Fulham on August 20^th 2006 was a sign of things to come as the new look attack buzz-sawed through their bogey side in recent times by a 5-1 scoreline! United would 4 out of their opening 4 outings in the league. Not even aberrations against Reading and Arsenal could stop their momentum as they put together a 7 match winning run that included an emotional return for Paul Scholes against Liverpool on October 22^nd, where he netted the games opening goal in the 2-0 win.

United would host the champions: Chelsea on November 26^th, and the two sides would battle to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford to keep United’s 3 point lead at the top in tact and would end 2006 having reached the Last 16 of the Champions League and at the top of the league with a 2 point cushion.

After a January 21^st defeat to Arsenal, United would embark on another 7 match winning streak, and by victory number 7 at home to Blackburn Rovers on March 31^st; United found themselves with a 6 point lead at the top of the Premier League, a place in the semi-final of the FA Cup and had reached the quarter final of the Champions League for the first time since 2003!

Allocating resources across 3 competitions and a belief that the league title would be theirs inevitably saw their league form tail off a little, however, in the Champions League; they would make their fans dream of the possibility of a treble when they trounced Roma 7-1 on April 10^th to book a place in the Champions League semi-final, and then 4 days later, they would join Chelsea in the final of the FA Cup; the first to be held at the new Wembley Stadium.

On the weekend of May 5^th; United would finally end their 3 season wait for the  Premier League title as they defeated Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium, however, the treble dream ended 3 days earlier, as they were beaten 5-3 on aggregate by AC Milan. The league season would end with a 1-0 defeat to West Ham United on May 13^th, and then the season would end on something of an anti-climax, as they lost to Chelsea 1-0 in extra time in the final of the FA Cup.

The notable players that season were:

Wayne Rooney, Alan Smith, Henrik Larsson, Louis Saha, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Park Ji-Sung, Kieran Richardson, John O’Shea, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Mikael Silvestre, Wes Brown, Patrice Evra, Gabriel Heinze, Edwin van der Sar, Tomasz Kuszczak