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Man Utd’s Best Seasons of the Premier League Era—Ranked
Manchester United are the most successful club in Premier League history.
The Red Devils have won 13 titles, all of them during the reign of legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who overcame a difficult start to build the most dominant team the competition has ever seen.
United’s success was built on a remarkable blend of homegrown talent and elite recruitment. The Class of ’92—David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes—formed the backbone, while world-class additions such as Ruud van Nistelrooy, Jaap Stam and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo helped take the club to another level.
When it comes to United’s greatest Premier League seasons, then, the candidates all come from the Ferguson era. But with so much sustained excellence, separating the best from the merely brilliant is no easy task.
Still, we’ve given it a go.
5. All Out Attack (2006–07)
In terms of silverware, 2006–07 wasn’t United’s greatest campaign. They won the Premier League, but finished runners-up in the FA Cup, reached the Champions League semifinals and exited the League Cup early.
What made the season special was the way they played. After a few years spent rebuilding and struggling to keep pace with Chelsea, Ferguson’s third great United side finally clicked, producing some of the most exhilarating attacking soccer of his reign.
With Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo leading the charge, and Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjær providing further firepower, United produced 83 Premier League goals and 123 across all competitions. Rooney and Ronaldo both finished with 23 goals apiece, while Nemanja Vidić, who scored seven goals of his own, and Patrice Evra truly established themselves at the back, helping contribute to an incredible nine United players being named in the PFA Team of the Year.
There were plenty of other reasons for fans to remember the campaign fondly, too. Solskjær made a remarkable return after almost three years out injured, scoring seven league goals, while Henrik Larsson’s brief loan spell added another memorable chapter.
The trophies may not tell the whole story, but this was the season United truly felt like United again.
4. The Ronaldo Year (2007–08)
Manchester United won both the Premier League and Champions League in 2007–08, but this season was ultimately about one man: Cristiano Ronaldo.
This was the campaign when the flashy, occasionally selfish youngster finally became a genuine world-beater. Ronaldo scored 31 Premier League goals and 42 in all competitions, including United’s goal in the Champions League final against Chelsea, before ending the calendar year with both the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards.
It was also, in many ways, a fitting tribute to Ferguson’s genius. The boss had taken an unpolished, occasionally frustrating teenager and molded him into a world-class superstar and genuine team player, without ever taking away the individual brilliance that made Ronaldo so special. Alongside Wayne Rooney and new signing Carlos Tevez, he formed one of the most fearsome attacking trios in Premier League history.
For Ferguson, it was the ultimate proof that he could take raw talent and turn it into greatness.
3. Catch Us If You Can (1999–00)
Fresh off their historic treble (more on that later), Manchester United reached an even higher level of domestic dominance in 1999–00, retaining the Premier League title by a staggering 18 points.
United became the first team to reach 90 points in a 38-game Premier League season, while also setting a new club record for goals scored and wrapping up the title earlier than any previous Premier League champion.
They couldn’t quite replicate the treble elsewhere, partly because they withdrew from the FA Cup to compete in the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship. But in the league, they were irresistible, ending the campaign with 11 consecutive victories and scoring at least three goals in nine of them.
Leading the charge were Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, whose devastating partnership produced 46 goals across all competitions.
2. Record Breakers (1993–94)
United won their first Premier League title under Ferguson in 1992–93, but the following season was even more impressive.
With the arrival of a young Roy Keane from Nottingham Forest, United raised the bar across the board. They scored more goals, collected more points and added the FA Cup to their trophy cabinet, completing the league-and-cup double.
Their 92-point haul was particularly remarkable, setting a record for the highest points total in English top-flight history under the three-points-for-a-win system at the time.
Eric Cantona was even better in his second season, scoring a career-best 18 league goals, while Ryan Giggs was electric and Keane immediately looked worth every penny of his British-record transfer fee.
United hadn’t simply retained their crown. They had built something even stronger.
1. The Treble (1998–99)
Manchester United’s 1998–99 season was about far more than simply winning the Premier League.
In fact, their league triumph was hardly their most dominant. United needed a 2–1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on the final day, with goals from Andy Cole and David Beckham, to finish just one point ahead of Arsenal and seal the title.
But the league was only the beginning. United also conquered the FA Cup, knocking out Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal before beating Newcastle United in the final.
Then came the Champions League. Trailing Bayern Munich until the dying moments in Barcelona, United produced one of the most dramatic finishes in soccer history, scoring twice in stoppage time to snatch the trophy and complete an unprecedented treble.
It would take until Manchester City in 2022–23 for another English club to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season.
United were the first—and 1998–99 remains the benchmark.
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Barnaby Lane, better known as Barney, is a soccer writer for SI FC. With nearly a decade of experience in the industry, he has worked for a range of household-name publications in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and has interviewed some of the world’s biggest athletes—from Usain Bolt and Rafael Nadal to Christian Pulisic (though his favorite interview remains Adebayo Akinfenwa). Barney specializes in Premier League soccer, covering everything from the nostalgia of years gone by to the modern, vastly different landscape of today’s game. He also has experience reporting on La Liga and Major League Soccer, the latter of which he developed a particular affinity for during his university days at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.