Manchester United 94-96
Manchester United 94-96:
Manchester United were given the honours of PL code "01" with Ryan Giggs taking the first official PL01 number. United received a total of 18 Sculpts. Those were; Peter Schmeichel, Dennis Irwin, Paul Parker, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Andrei Kanchelskis, Lee Sharpe, Paul Ince, Roy Keane, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Eric Cantona, Mark Hughes, Brian McClair, Alex Ferguson and Brian Kidd. However there were a few transfers that united experienced that altered what was released. Hughes, Ince and Kanchelskis were transferred out, although Hughes and Kanchelskis remained in the premier league so their base codes still contain united PL numbers (PL61 & PL161). Andy Cole was sculpted for Newcastle so made up the numbers to 16, David May and David Beckham did have master models but the delays meant they only saw united releases in later kits. Despite May and Beckham suffering delays, the remaining 16 were all released by Corinthian. There's still a few more little tidbits to look into though. Peter Schmeichel's original pose was not the same as what was released although his player card remained unchanged. His original pose was never released due to the the manufacturing difficulties involved with the arm positioning obstructing the tampo prints and also the lack on substaincial contact of the feet to the base causing the figure to be top-heavy and unbalanced. Only two keepers were given this pose with the other going to Sheffield Wednesday's goalkeeper, Chris Woods. Brian Kidd was also the only assistant manager/coach to be released - something I'll look to rectify with other teams.
Kit Usage: Arsenal debuted their new kit at the beginning of the 94/95 campaign in which the defeated Man City 3-0 at Highbury, in which Kevin Campbell opened the scoring within two minutes, before Steve McMahon put the second into his own net and Ian Wright finished city off in the second half. The last use of this kit was on the last day of the 95/96 season against Bolton who fate was already resigned to the Championship, all goals coming in the second half with Bolton going ahead thanks to Andy Todd before David Platt and Dennis Bergkamp rescued all three points for Arsenal. It was actually an important win as both Everton and Blackburn would have finished higher than Arsenal who would have missed out of European competition.
Achievements 94-95:
Premier League: 2nd (UEFA qualification)
FA Cup: Runners Up (1-0 loss to Everton)
League Cup: R3 (2-0 loss to Newcastle United)
Champions League: Group Stages (finished 3rd in the table failing to qualify for the knock out stages)
Charity Shield: Winners (2-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers)
Achievements 95-96:
Premier League: 1st (Champions League qualification)
FA Cup: Winners (1-0 victory over Liverpool)
League Cup: R2 (4-3 aggregate loss to York City)
UEFA Cup: 1st Rounds (2-2 away goal loss to Rotor Volgograd)
A fairly mixed bag for Arsenal finishing mid-table but then entering the UEFA cup quilifying stages by finishing 5th in the 95/96 season. Two swift exits from the FA Cup to lower league opposition is countered by decent runs in the League Cup progress to the Quarter Finals in 94/95 and Semi Finals in 95/96.
Make & Sponsor: Arsenals kit was supplied by Nike and JVC (Japanese electronics manufacturer) sponsored them. This is probably one of the most accurate kits Corinthian produced aside from the fact that the red they used had more of an orange tint to it. The shorts would have been better represented if two fine vertical strips of red ran parallel to each other rather than just one thick vertical line. Aside from this, there really isn't much Corinthian got wrong. Yellow was the tampo print colour chosen for the badge, a metallic gold like that of the French national squad badge would have also been quite a nice touch.
Rating: 9/10
Pack Releases:
Single Blisters: All 8 players were available via single blister purchase
4 Packs:
AR4A: Adams/Merson/Platt/Bergkamp
AR4B: Wright/Kiwomya/Keown/Winterburn (this pack was unreleased)
12 Pack:
N/A
Officially Released
Ryan Giggs
Eric Cantona
Andy Cole
Peter Schmeichel
Dennis Irwin
Paul Parker
Steve Bruce
Gary Pallister
Lee Sharpe
Roy Keane
Brian McClair
Nicky Butt
Gary Neville
Paul Scholes
Alex Ferguson
Brian Kidd
Unreleased
Tony Coton
BHH Repaints
Paul Ince
Andrei Kanchelskis
Keith Gillespie
Phil Neville
Mark Hughes
Dion Dublin
David May
David Beckham
BHH Custom Sculpts
Gary Walsh
Name: Ryan Giggs
PL Code: 01
Pose No: 25
Position: Midfielder
Squad No: 11
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Name: Dion Dublin
PL Code: 14
Pose No: 31
Position: Striker
Squad No: 20
Also View:
Coventry City 94-96
Coventry City 96-97
Name: Eric Cantona
PL Code: 21
Pose No: 2
Position: Striker
Squad No: 7
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Name: Andy Cole
PL Code: 41
Pose No: 5
Position: Striker
Squad No: 17
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Name: Mark Hughes
PL Code: 61
Pose No: 4
Position: Striker
Squad No: 10
Also View:
Chelsea 95-97
Chelsea 97-99
Name: Peter Schmeichel
PL Code: 81
Pose No: 26
Position: Goalkeeper
Squad No: 1
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Denmark 98-99
Name: Denis Irwin
PL Code: 101
Pose No: 14
Position: Striker
Squad No: 3
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Name: Paul Parker
PL Code: 121
Pose No: 9
Position: Defender
Squad No: 2
Also View:
Chelsea 95-97
Derby County 95-97
Name: Steve Bruce
PL Code: 141
Pose No: 1
Position: Defender
Squad No: 4
Also View:
Name: Gary Pallister
PL Code: 161
Pose No: 32/2
Position: Defender
Squad No: 6
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
England 95-96
Name: Andrei Kanchelskis
PL Code: 181
Pose No: 3
Position: Midfielder
Squad No: 14
Also View:
Everton 95-97
A.C. Fiorentina 95-97
Name: Lee Sharpe
PL Code: 201
Pose No: 7
Position: Midfielder
Squad No: 5
Also View:
Leeds United 96-98
Name: Paul Ince
PL Code: 221
Pose No: 30
Position: Midfielder
Squad No: 8
Also View:
Internazionale 95-97
Liverpool 96-98
England 95-96
England 97-99
Name: Roy Keane
PL Code: 241
Pose No: 13
Position: Midfielder
Squad No: 16
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Name: Keith Gillespie
PL Code: 247
Pose No: 12
Position: Midfielder
Squad No: 31
Also View:
Newcastle United 95-97
Name: Brian McClair
PL Code: 261
Pose No: 10
Position: Striker
Squad No: 9
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Name: Nicky Butt
PL Code: 281
Pose No: 18
Position: Midfielder
Squad No: 19
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Name: Gary Neville
PL Code: 301
Pose No: 33
Position: Defender
Squad No: 20/2
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
England 95-96
England 97-99
Tetley Tea Promotional 97-98
Name: Paul Scholes
PL Code: 321
Pose No: 28
Position: Midfielder
Squad No: 24/22
Also View:
Manchester 96-98
England 97-99
Name: David May
PL Code: 341
Pose No: 11
Position: Defender
Squad No: 12
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Name: Phil Neville
PL Code: 501
Pose No: 21
Position: Defender
Squad No: 23
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Name: David Beckham
PL Code: 581
Pose No: 32
Position: Midfielder
Squad No: 28/24
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
England 97-99
Name: Tony Coton
PL Code: Man City
Pose No: 6
Position: Goalkeeper
Squad No: 13
Also View:
Manchester City 95-97
Sunderland 96-97
Name: Gary Walsh
PL Code: N/A
Pose No: 29
Position: Goalkeeper
Squad No: 25/13
Also View:
Middlesbrough 95-96
Middlesbrough 96-97
Name: Brian Kidd
M Code: 02
Pose No:
Title: Assistant Manager
Squad No: N/A
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Name: Alex Ferguson
M Code: 01
Pose No: 17
Title: Manager
Squad No: N/A
Also View:
Manchester United 96-98
Picture of all 26 players/released/masters/custom sculpts
Away Kits: Corinthian released two players in their "cursed" away grey kit. They were Eric Cantona and Ryan Giggs. These were mail away items only available by saving tokens and sending money to cover the postage costs. There were plenty produced and these can still be found easily today. For whatever reason, the kit is painted with the blacks and white home socks rather than the grey. Once I can find a poor conditioned Giggs or Cantona I will carefully strip the top layer to see if these figures were just repainted home kit versions which would explain the socks.
There were many Master Models and Paint Masters made of this kit. To date I have found 3 complete Paint Master versions (Paint Masters being overpainted plastic versions with details applied by the original painters, rather than them being a factory finish and using the tampo printing method). Interestingly the 3 sets differ from one another making some players rarer than others. I have detailed the changes by placing all the releases side by side and placed an asterisk to signify any changes. Unless any more collectors can provide further photographs or evidence, I believe that there is only 2 David Beckhams' (both the same sculpt), 2 Lee Sharpes' and 2 Brian McClairs'. Rarer still are Paul Parker, David May and Phil Neville of which only 1 model exist. These are without a doubt, overpainted home models as can been seen by the incorrect socks for this kit. There are also a couple of differences compared to the released figures. The bases have been repainted so there is no visable tampo print on the underside of the base. The sponsor just has "Sharp" in black font without the "Viewcam". There is also no badge, shirt names or numbers.
I have also found 2 incomplete sets of Master Models versions. What's interesting about these are that they do have the correct socks. These were not purchased as complete teams, but rather 5 collectors providing me with what they had managed to pick up and exposing some doubles. I am assuming that all players were made but I've yet to find any evidence of a Peter Schmeichel. The players uncovered also seem to follow the original 14 players released. I have listed all the figures I have found and greyed-out those that I'm still trying to locate.