Paul Lake looks back on how Manchester City beat Manchester United in the 1986 FA Youth Cup final and what it still means
It felt like a weird glitch in English football that 2023 was the first time Manchester City and Manchester United met in the FA Cup final.
Two powerhouses in English football each tasted success in the competition in the first decade of the 1900s and have gone on to many more victories, yet never faced off in a final until three years ago. Similarly, it is remarkable that Thursday will see only the second Manchester derby in the FA Youth Cup final .
You have to go back to 1986 for the one and only time that two of the best academies in the game contested the showpiece fixture in youth football, when City ran out 3-1 winners over two legs. Football has changed significantly in those 40 years, but the pride in the trophy has not. Paul Lake was one of the City stars from 1986 that ensured they made a name for themselves even when the first team wasn't.
Click here to find out the latest Manchester City news in our daily newsletter 'When you sign as a scholar, as an apprentice, you recognise the importance of what the FA Youth Cup is, it's the pinnacle really ,' he told the Manchester Evening News .
'Winning the league and the FA Youth Cup were the two things that every single youth team regarded as being their North Star, what they really wanted to achieve. That was success.
'And obviously you don't recognise it when you're in the throws of playing it as a 16-year-old, but for the club it's also massive in terms of recruitment. If you're that successful team, the better players are maybe going to want to come and sign for you. Back in 85, 86, around that time, the Manchester City first team wasn't particularly successful.
'In spite of that the youth team was incredible and you know when I came to Manchester City we had players in Paul Moulden, Ian Scott and Steve Redmond that were regarded as being the best players in their position in the country, you had players like David White and Ian Brightwell, who, were so, so strong and so consistent. ' City knew they were favourites going into the final against United, but that brought its own pressure.
Trying to become the first group of young Blues to lift the FA Youth Cup also rested on their shoulders. And then there were the stadiums. Until 2021 the FA Youth Cup final was a two-legged affair, meaning that Lake and his teammates had the first leg at Old Trafford in front of around 7,500 supporters before the return at Maine Road in front of 18,000.
There were more fans than either set of players were used to being in front of, and even the media coverage was something that had to be dealt with. After a 1-1 draw at United where City didn't give the best account of themselves, the young Blues rose to the occasion under the roars of Maine Road the following week.
'We were stronger than United. But there's also an expectation . And it's the first time we've really experienced that kind of pressure, knowing that you are the better team on paper - and you know you don't win games on paper,' said Lake.
'There was nearly 10,000 at United, but it was more like nearly 20,000 at Maine Road. We've never experienced that before so again your family is in the audience and everyone's talking about you. All the papers are talking about you and it's all new territory for us.
And you add to the mix the fact that you go in as nailed-on favourites and you have to perform to the standards that are set by Tony Book, Glenn Pardoe with Ken Barnes.
'We go to the first game and we drew 1-1 at Old Trafford and United gave a good account of themselves. The second leg comes back to Maine Road and you know that was the first time we could win the FA Youth Cup. It would have set a precedent and a standard for us to follow that we were the trailblazers in that regard.
So there was lots of pressure and we always felt that if we turned up with our A game we would beat anybody.
'That was how we approached the second leg, we we were on the front foot from the start of the game. We closed down, we worked hard and obviously we did score early in the game with David Boyd, an excellent winger we got from Scotland.
'When you think about it, every single player in the team, apart from a couple that had injuries, made it as professional footballers. So you think about that percentage of players in the whole squad that made it as pros to show you how strong we were and so how difficult it would be for United to try to get a result against us.
' As well as winning the club's first Youth Cup, it was a golden generation of City youngsters. Seven of the team went on to make their first team debut including David White and Steve Redmond and five started in the 5-1 thrashing of Sir Alex Ferguson's United in 1989.
As they played their way into the senior side, the homegrown talents began to appreciate even more those that had come before them - just as Lake recognises how difficult it has been for every youngster in the City academy since. The goalposts kept shifting as they achieved more in their senior careers, yet the FA Youth Cup was always cherished.
For Lake the trophy is even more special because of the memories he would miss out on making when his career was effectively ended at the age of 21 after devastating luck with injuries. Every player that takes to the grass of the Joie Stadium on Thursday night has their career ahead of them, but needs to cherish the opportunity staring them in the face.
'We all recognised what it meant to play for Manchester City and to wear the shirt and to play at Maine Road and all of the players that have been there before us,' he said. 'Actually, the more that we played the more that we respected Francis Lee, Colin Bell, Peter Barnes, Joe Corrigan, Tommy Booth, Alex Williams - all these players that preceded us, you know, we recognised the importance of that.
'Glyn Pardoe used to always say to us that you can't consider yourself a a first team player until you've played 10 games back to back. These were the kind of mantras that we had in our minds that meant that we couldn't rest on our laurels. You had to have your feet on the ground.
'You know there were expectations from all of us, but we also took a lot of pride in coming from the youth team and being a homegrown player. I mean, you hear the fans singing about one of our own, and we were all that. We all cared and were so passionate about the football club. And it certainly wasn't about the money in those days, I can assure you!
'We look back at that youth team game with a lot of fondness for so many reasons. Because for a lot of us it probably was the kind of standard bearer for success and we had a little taste of that and you know then the next bit of success for lots of us was making it into the first team and then getting from the second division to first division.
'I was then made captain, which was such a privilege and sadly two-and-a-half games later that was the end - the start and the end of my career. For even more reasons than most of the guys, Ian and David Brightwell, David White, played hundreds and hundreds of games for City, I played over a hundred, but then obviously my career was cut short.
So there's a wistfulness about me thinking of that time because that was the last trophy that I really held.
'The dreams were to have a lot more success, which unfortunately, through no fault of my own, never materialised. But it was a special time and obviously you've got the youth team now. It's exciting for these guys and there is an expectation but there's a different element too with a derby game and how they're going to manage themselves when they cross that white line.
'Despite all the things that have changed all the advancements in football, they have still got to cross that white line and be that player, be that teammate, and be that individual. Some things have changed but some things very much remain the same. '
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