The FA’s loss of control over the game from top to bottom goes back to 1992, when it ceded control of the top flight to the most powerful clubs. UEFA Champions League. Only three other clubs managed to qualify for the competition during this period: Newcastle United (2001-02 and 2002-03), Everton (2004-05), and Tottenham Hotspur (2009-10) – each occupying the final Champions League spot, with the exception of Newcastle in the 2002-03 season, who finished third. Bolstered by this breakthrough, United immediately became the competition’s dominant team, winning seven of the first nine trophies, two League and FA Cup ‘doubles’ and a European treble, initially under a team of hardened veterans such as Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Paul Ince, Mark Hughes, and Eric Cantona, before Cantona, Bruce, and Roy Keane led a young, dynamic new team filled with the Class of 92, a group of young players including David Beckham who came through the Manchester United Academy.