The Manchester United thread 2006/2007 - featuring BBB leaving early

[BBB]

that's qg but vidic's head is missing

[RedBlood]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Juni:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by gonch19:

sunday will be amazy.

btw juni, if about, is there an away pub at or around stamford bridge? fancy heading down there on wednesday </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Slug and Lettuce next to Fulham Broadway station is typically the away pub, not strictly but most seem to end up there </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Is that the nearest tube near that shopping center?

Do they have Sky in there if i don't get in i will want to watch it somewhere

[gonch19]

id do anything for an away ticket on wednesday

[RedBlood]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by gonch19:

id do anything for an away ticket on wednesday </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Same

If i don't get in i will wait for the gates to open near the end and go in for the last 10 minutes of celebrations

[ACou2000]

"why sky likes mancs so much?"

"looking forward to Sky's 10 minute celebratory montage of United's glorius season/Ronaldo-best-player-in-world clips.

of course, they outplayed absolutely everyone this season. they totally outplayed us at Anfield.

"

"FFS GIVE Raffa THE MONEY FERGUSONS HAD AN HE WILL DELIVER THE PREM.

point im making is man u have bought the prem."

"

the fans gathering behind that reporter really showed what a classy, intelligent bunch they are."

scousers ftw

[BBB]

bless them :*)

[Nick OGS20]

bought the prem

man i'd love a michael essien calculator for christmas

[BBB]

CHAMPIONIESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[Keyser]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ACou2000:

"why sky likes mancs so much?"

"looking forward to Sky's 10 minute celebratory montage of United's glorius season/Ronaldo-best-player-in-world clips.

of course, they outplayed absolutely everyone this season. they totally outplayed us at Anfield.

"

"FFS GIVE Raffa THE MONEY FERGUSONS HAD AN HE WILL DELIVER THE PREM.

point im making is man u have bought the prem."

"

the fans gathering behind that reporter really showed what a classy, intelligent bunch they are."

scousers ftw </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

hahaha where's that from?

[ACou2000]

have a guess

[BBB]

I'm going for either RAWK or the roatl one

[ACou2000]

Correct first time.

"REDS GO TO ATHENS AND SLAY LIKE ACHILLES

MANCS STAY AT HOME AND PLAY WITH THEIR WILLIES"

[Ratinho]

We got 'Nobody does it better' for our last league winning montage. You got Ronan Keating. SKY obviously love Arsenal more.

God knows what kind of music people will be listening to the next time we win something.

[Confused Clarity]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ratinho:

We got 'Nobody does it better' for our last league winning montage. You got Ronan Keating. SKY obviously love Arsenal more.

God knows what kind of music people will be listening to the next time we win something. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

next time?

[Philip Rolfe]

we got Hoppipolla off Sky last year I think. Yeah, they hate you.

[Poyplemonkeys]

Guys. I know you're relegated and will want to save players for the FA Cup final and whatever but do us all a favour and relegate West Ham Ta.

I'll congratulate you on your double later.

[Nick OGS20]

relegated?!

[Poyplemonkeys]

Gah. Wishful thinking

[ACou2000]

we'll do our part, thing is Wigan will need to win /o\

[Poyplemonkeys]

Against Sheffield United. They have to otherwise they deserve to go down.

[pjburrage]

Thing is if Wigan win, the Blades could go down.

[Philip Rolfe]

Given West Ham already have the worst goal difference and they're playing you it's safe to assume they'll end the day with the worst GD too.

[BBB]

but i want sheff utd to stay up

[BBB]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> James Lawton: Pure desire secures crowning glory for Peter Pan of football

Published: 07 May 2007

At that moment when every small phrase of Sir Alex Ferguson's body language said he knew in his defiantly unfragile old bones that he had completed one of the greatest personal statements in the history of football, when the title he had once believed was nothing so much as his right was won back from the rouble mountain of Stamford Bridge, you were reminded of what it is precisely that makes him utterly unique in the game of today and the past.

It is that he is nothing less than the Peter Pan of football. He acquires years but not age. In 1999, when his young team gathered in the European Cup to go alongside the one won by his admirer Sir Matt Busby 31 years earlier, he ran along the touchline at the Nou Camp stadium like a schoolboy rushing to his summer break.

It was the same at the City of Manchester Stadium on Saturday when United moved eight points clear of Chelsea. He was back in Never Never land.

When his reign at Old Trafford is finally over, when all his triumphs at Aberdeen, where he broke the vice of the Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers, and United are lined up, there will be endless analysis of his phenomenal presence in the front rank of football management.

Was he the most astute tactician, did he have Jock Stein's freakish capacity to go the heart of the weakness of his opponents? Maybe not.

Did he have the grace and the purity of Busby's vision of what the game should mean - and his eye for football genius? Perhaps nobody quite had that.

Did he have the passion and the generosity of Bill Shankly, the other member of the great Scottish quartet to which Ferguson long ago elected himself so irresistibly? In some ways this is the closest match, but then there is a point where the comparisons have to stop.

No one, not Stein nor Shankly nor Busby, was able to maintain the energy and the appetite that Ferguson has carried so triumphantly into his 66th year.

Stein died on the touchline at Ninian Park, Cardiff, while managing Scotland at the age of 62. Shankly, though he would regret the decision until the last of his days, walked away from Anfield at the age of 60. Busby, still haunted by Munich, finally put down the burden of being the Father of United - and some said of all of football - when he was 62.

Ferguson marches on, repelling doubts, indeed making a mockery of all those claims that he should have stuck to his brief conviction that it was time to savour a retirement, watching football at a distance, going to the races and savouring his collection of vintage wine.

His family talked him out of it because better than anyone they knew the essence of him. It was in football and it will always be so.

Despite the crushing disappointment he experienced in San Siro last week, when his most talented players effectively went missing for a night, there was good reason for his elation when on Saturday it appeared impossible for him not to collect his ninth Premiership title.

It was that his triumph over the young pretender Jose Mourinho ran deeper than the mere count of points - or the fact that United had returned to the top with football of touch and ambition which reminded us that in the two years of their dominance Chelsea had achieved nothing more profoundly than a relentless, power-based efficiency.

United have taken the title with a game faithful to the origins of their great tradition, when Busby's great team of Carey and Rowley and Pearson filled post-Second World stadiums with entertainment that seemed expressly designed to colour in brilliantly some of those grey areas imposed by the years of war and dislocation.

Now the pyrotechnics of youngsters like Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and the professional brilliance of veterans like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs have created the promise of still another era of virtuosity.

To do this at 65, to have walked away from the crisis of the Rock of Gibraltar affair and the distractions of war with the ruthless, moneyed faction led by John Magnier, and to have survived the arrival of the bottom-line specialists in sporting empires, the American Glazer family, and move forward to new levels of prestige, is surely Ferguson's crowning achievement. So many thought he was suddenly a dead man walking. He was advised to go gracefully, to acknowledge that for him the tide had turned irrevocably.

It was a position endorsed by the arrival of Roman Abramovich, and nor could it have helped too much to hear the Russian's appointment Peter Kenyon, the man who when he was chief executive of Manchester United was blamed by Ferguson for the bungling of the Ronaldinho signing, announcing that the Premiership would in future be fought out by a "bunch of one." This season Ferguson has not only defied such a smug assumption. He has heaped scorn upon it with the instinct of a natural-born street fighter.

We are talking about a victory far more complete - and significant - in terms of football management than any mere counting of points.

The point is that if Mourinho had prevailed in the league it would still have been at enormous cost to his old image as the Special One. Victory would have come with compromises that you could only believe would been deemed unthinkable by Ferguson.

The Chelsea coach, plainly, has suffered blows to both his pride and his independence.

Abramovich's decision to impose upon him Andrei Shevchencho - and freeze resources which Mourinho deemed essential to overcome the effects of injuries in vital areas of the team - broke the fundamental operating principle of Ferguson, and all the great managers who went before him.

This can be identified easily enough. It is the right to decide on the signing of players and to control the ins and outs of everything to do with the running of the team.

Ferguson, right or wrong, has been able to impose his will. It is the legacy of all his work at United, his extraordinary achievement in turning a club that was dangerously close to being sold for the pittance of something in the region of £12 million into one of the richest sports franchises in the world - and his understanding that he was only as strong as his refusal to compromise on those issues which he deemed of vital importance.

So he made the hugely unpopular decision that it was time to move on the David Beckham celebrity circus. He took the boos and the waves of protest. He broke with Roy Keane, and took another backlash at a time when many of his contemporaries would have kept their heads below the parapet.

He couldn't do that because it was against his nature, against all those beliefs he acquired in the little streets beside the docks and the shipyards of Govan.

Now his reward is another winning battle, another triumph for his belief that age is an impostor as long as you retain the means - and the appetite - to do the job. Whenever it comes, his last victory will be the best. It will enshrine the fact that no football man ever before stayed the course so combatively - or so well. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[ericcantona7]

I want Wigan to go down. Dave Whelan iafc.

[pjburrage]

Berbs, Richards, and Hargreaves linked tomorrow.

Are we counting multiple linkings?

[pjburrage]

Meanwhile the Murdoch papers are saying Hargreaves isn't coming.

[Nick OGS20]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by pjburrage:

Berbs, Richards, and Hargreaves linked tomorrow.

Are we counting multiple linkings? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

can add the different papers i guess.

[thats life]

Congratulations best team by far this season played some awesome football from what iv'e seen on sky (goals scored say's it all)

On a sad note 2007 will be remembered by me (Leeds fan) and you been crowned Champions for the 9th time

Once again Congratulations

[JulesMUFC]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by that's life:

Congratulations best team by far this season played some awesome football from what iv'e seen on sky (goals scored say's it all)

On a sad note 2007 will be remembered by me (Leeds fan) and you been crowned Champions for the 16th time

Once again Congratulations </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

ta

[Saha]

SURELY it was obi mikel who said the calculation stuff

[kingcav]

mikel is king.

[Saha]

Shevchenko's out of the FA Cup Final fwiw.

And can we keep a lid on any cringey plastic trophies? I've seen one or two, and I'd just like to nip it in the bud.

[James07?]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">

The definitely going to be joining Manchester United, no doubt about it, cos the papers say so list

Mikel Arteta - Everton (Guardian)

Gareth Bale - Southamton (Mirror)

Dimitar Berbatov - Spurs (Guardian, Sunday Mirror)

Jermain Defoe - Spurs (Guardian)

Owen Hargreaves - Bayern Munich (Times)

Klaas Jan Huntelaar - Ajax (Guardian)

Nani - Sporting Lisbon (Guardian)

Micah Richards - Manchester City (Mirror)

Steve Sidwell - Reading (Mirror)

Fernando Torres - Athletico Madrid (Mirror)

Running Total: 10

Predicted Final Total

Irish - 170

James07? - 112

bling - 102

pjburrage 99

WSR - 95

theis - 92

alilaw - 89

Nezell - 87

14AlanSmithifb 85

Hero of the day - 83

vanester 82

T!mbo - 80

BBB - 79

gonch19 - 78

Bagpuss 77

Pickles - 74

julesMUFC - 71

ajw2255 - 70

Nick OGS20 - 68

Maverick 64

davidbowie 63

Ryno - 62

ACou2000 - 60

Gregg Carter 59

Jimlad - 56

ericcantona7 - 55

Matt Cavanagh - 54

mark g 52

keyser - 50

player_65 - 46

SLO_Fila 43

Taz Devil - 41

Saha - 39

The_Fish - 37

finneys13 - 36

Master Blasta - 32

EmmYouEffSee - 29

RedBlood - 26

qwerty2k - 17

Razor Eddie 16

? - 15 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

3 additions today, thanks to our friends at the Mirror.

[mark g]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Ferguson gives Glazers £50m wish list

Daniel Taylor

Tuesday May 8, 2007

The Guardian

Sir Alex Ferguson, basking in the glory of his ninth Premiership title, has asked the Glazer family to finance an extensive recruitment programme to help Manchester United maintain their superiority over Chelsea next season. "We have identified three targets," said Ferguson, who wants in the region of £50m to spend this summer.

United have already begun negotiations with Sporting Lisbon for the Portugal international winger Nani, regarded as the brightest young player in the country. Owen Hargreaves, the England midfielder, is expected to join from Bayern Munich despite the two clubs as yet being unable to agree a fee, and United also have a longstanding interest in Southampton's left-back Gareth Bale. Ferguson's success in recruiting those three players will determine whether he goes in for another striker. He is an admirer of Dimitar Berbatov and considered bidding for the Bulgarian before his transfer from Bayer Leverkusen to Tottenham last summer.

Ferguson expects Roman Abramovich to flex his financial muscle at the end of the season and he is asking the Glazers to do the same. "I expect Arsenal to add to their squad, Liverpool to add to their squad and certainly Chelsea will," he said. "We have three targets and the club's owners are aware of who I want. David Gill [the chief executive] is aware too. There is competition for the best players and, if there is competition, they will cost."

United have been reminded of that in their negotiations for Hargreaves and are becoming increasingly frustrated by Bayern's refusal to lower their valuation. "Everyone thinks it is a done deal but you may be surprised," a leading source at Old Trafford said last night. "They are asking for a ridiculous amount of money. It's not certain at all. They want 20-odd million pounds and it's ridiculous."

Despite describing the sale of Ruud van Nistelrooy as "not a big decision at all," Ferguson is still on the lookout for another striker. He is exasperated by Louis Saha's injury problems and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Alan Smith are considered only back-up options. "You look through the world and say to yourself: 'where are all the strikers?' There are not a lot of them going around, believe me."

The task of overhauling Chelsea was, in Ferguson's words, his "biggest achievement" in 20 years as United's manager and he toasted the occasion with champagne at the club's training ground yesterday. Ferguson said he expected both Abramovich and Jose Mourinho still to be at Stamford Bridge next season but he had a warning for them. "I don't think we have an easy task but I do think this team will get better and if they stay together it will give them a real chance," he said.

Ferguson, who will recall the goalkeeper, Ben Foster, from his loan spell at Watford, is wary of losing potential transfer targets to Chelsea. Arjen Robben, Mikel John Obi, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien have all turned down moves to Old Trafford because they could earn more at Stamford Bridge and Ferguson believes there is a definite trend of Chelsea trying to gazump them in the transfer market.

"We are always an attraction for new players because we have 76,000 watching us every week and this club has a celebrity status throughout the world. However, the real competition comes when you have to pay £27m for Essien. Chelsea can do that. We are trying to identify players as quietly as we can so we can do the deals as quickly, and as quietly, as we can."

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[No Longer Bling]

interesting that it suggests were already in for nani, hes thought quite highly of on here isnt he? no idea how good he is but at least they seem to have identified a winger as a priority.

[mark g]

Agreed. Does seem strange (Fergie's fetish for them apart) that we're in for a left back however, unless he can play left wing. Although he does have a habit of seeing young talent he feels is so good he can't miss out on it.

I wonder if he's considering that then he can sell Heinze, i'm assuming Saha will also go, and those two sales will go a long way to paying for a centre forward, who we also obviously need.

[No Longer Bling]

yeah surely bale coming in means heinze out which wouldnt be too bad a deal in all honesty. cult status aside, hes had a very odd season and occassionally bordered on silvestre like. be nice having someone who can take a good free kick in the side too.

[James07?]

Nani as a Giggs replacement / extra wide option with (a sensibly) priced Hargreaves probably enough to keep me happy.

Striker situation is strange. We need 3 (maybe 4) who are good / fit enough for 1st team duty. We’re OK on numbers, but quality isn’t exactly to the fore. So if you assume that Ole is too old, Smith not quite good enough for anything other than cover and Saha too injured then even with Rossi back next year you’re probably looking at moving at least one on to make room for someone that can be relied upon as a 1st choice in either a front two with Rooney or as part of a 3 (or isolated on their own away in Europe).

So, another striker (assuming Saha hobbles off into the sunset) would be the icing on the cake. Louis plus cash for Berbs not such a bad idea.

An attacking midfielder to compliment Carrick / Hargreaves and to become the Scholes replacement plus maybe a right back would be best left for next summer.

No idea why we'd be looking at bringing in any defenders right now. Surely there's actually scope in letting one of Silvestre, Brown, Heinze leave if we get a good price? Would like to see Pique / Evans / Simpson given their chance prior to spending on the back 4.

Selling Richardson to some mugs like Villa or Boro the obvious priority though.

[No Longer Bling]

going quickly off the idea of hargreaves which is a big change of mind for me, boo scum etc. £20m+ is just getting to be a joke, especially when mid centre is not the immediate concern anymore.

thats the sort of cash i would expect to be prizing berbs away or picking up both nani and bale etc.

[The_Fish]

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1827876,00.html

Thats well worth reading.

My favourite bit is:

Once upon a time Ferguson could play 'who blinks first' with fate and win every time, his iron will shaping his destiny exactly as he wanted. Now he is reduced to uttering garbage like "it's like having a new signing" of Paul Scholes, Ole Solskjaer, Gabriel Heinze and Alan Smith, the irrational if-I-say-it-enough-it-might-happen gibberish you'd associate with a serial loser like Kevin Keegan. These days, the man they call The Hairdryer is full of nothing but hot air.

[mark g]

I'd be willing to bet Heinze's form this season is the classic case of a player who doesn't have a pre-season and so is never at his peak all season. I think he'll be back to his best next season, i just dont know who he'll be showing that form for.

[mark g]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by The_Fish:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1827876,00.html

Thats well worth reading.

My favourite bit is:

Once upon a time Ferguson could play 'who blinks first' with fate and win every time, his iron will shaping his destiny exactly as he wanted. Now he is reduced to uttering garbage like "it's like having a new signing" of Paul Scholes, Ole Solskjaer, Gabriel Heinze and Alan Smith, the irrational if-I-say-it-enough-it-might-happen gibberish you'd associate with a serial loser like Kevin Keegan. These days, the man they call The Hairdryer is full of nothing but hot air. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

While there was plenty in that article where there was a split in here over whether he was right or wrong, that bit was pretty much unanimously agreed over. There were so many "it's like a new signing" jokes around that time.

[James07?]

Fair play to Rob Smyth to linking to that in his recent article.

Though, when you read it he hits the spot many times. Makes what has happened this season even more amazing.

Who could have expected Ronaldo to put the World Cup behind him in such emphatic style, for Arsenal and Liverpool to be so lame in the premiership, for Scholes to come back so strong (an extended Bergkampesque indian summer hopefully), Fletcher to grow some balls and for Evra and expecially Vidic to improve so much so quickly?

[No Longer Bling]

can someone link to his new article please?

[mark g]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by James07?:

Nani as a Giggs replacement / extra wide option with (a sensibly) priced Hargreaves probably enough to keep me happy. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

He's not going to be sensibly priced though, that's the issue. I think he'd be a great signing, but it's starting to look like right player, wrong price.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Striker situation is strange. We need 3 (maybe 4) who are good / fit enough for 1st team duty. We’re OK on numbers, but quality isn’t exactly to the fore. So if you assume that Ole is too old, Smith not quite good enough for anything other than cover and Saha too injured then even with Rossi back next year you’re probably looking at moving at least one on to make room for someone that can be relied upon as a 1st choice in either a front two with Rooney or as part of a 3 (or isolated on their own away in Europe).

So, another striker (assuming Saha hobbles off into the sunset) would be the icing on the cake. Louis plus cash for Berbs not such a bad idea. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'd say neccesary rather than 'icing'. while i think we need a Hargs type player, he's got to be third priority behind winger and striker.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">An attacking midfielder to compliment Carrick / Hargreaves and to become the Scholes replacement plus maybe a right back would be best left for next summer. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think that's Fletch. i still think the long term plan for the midfield is Carrick / Hargreaves (type), Fletch backup or pushing for a place. The change in dynamic is then compensated for by playing two out and out wingers, as they have more cover from centre mid in that situation.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">No idea why we'd be looking at bringing in any defenders right now. Surely there's actually scope in letting one of Silvestre, Brown, Heinze leave if we get a good price? Would like to see Pique / Evans / Simpson given their chance prior to spending on the back 4.

Selling Richardson to some mugs like Villa or Boro the obvious priority though. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was forgetting Silvestre. I'm assuming if we get Bale, we get rid of two rather than one of those. Silvestre really ought to go whatever, and i doubt Heinze will be happy with a bit part role behind Evra. Although he may stay another year to see if he can be first choice when fully fit.

[James07?]

Where does United's title victory rank?

Of Sir Alex Ferguson's nine Premiership triumphs, this one is arguably second only to 1995-96.

Rob SmythMay 6, 2007 5:56 PM

He's done it again. Written off criminally at the start of the season, particularly by, errrr, me, Sir Alex Ferguson has proved his greatness once more, this time by taking on the financial might of Chelsea and emerging victorious. It is unquestionably one of Ferguson's finest achievements, but where does it rank?

1) 1995-96 (P38 W25 D7 L6 F73 A35 P82)

Still the most romantic and charmingly unexpected victory of all. Dismissed by both media ("you never win anything with kids") and public (in a pre-season poll in the Manchester Evening News, more than half of the respondents thought Ferguson should quit) and 12 points behind the neutrals' darlings Newcastle in late January, United's mix of youngsters and old heads (Peter Schmeichel and Eric Cantona have never played better) went on a breathtaking run that shattered Newcastle's lead and Kevin Keegan's good humour. In the fearless promotion of youth and the enormous courage to take really big decisions (selling Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis), this bore the hallmarks of Ferguson's entire career.

2) 2006-07 (P36 W28 D4 L4 F83 A26 P88)

The joy of Ferguson's third great team is that they are so different to the previous two: more technical, more fluid, and on course for United's highest-ever points total. As in 1995, he persuaded a wantaway foreign star to stay and then watched him lord over the season with rare majesty; as with Eric Cantona then, Cristiano Ronaldo's performances cannot be a coincidence. But perhaps Ferguson's greatest achievement was to simply believe that he could topple Chelsea, the most formidable opponent he has ever come across. Very few other people did but, as usual, Ferguson was right all along.

3) 1992-93 (P42 W24 D12 L6 F67 A31 P84)

You never forget your first time, even if it does seem slightly perverse with hindsight that the main two rivals were Aston Villa and Norwich. United, affected badly by the heartbreak of bottling the title the previous season, hardly scored a goal until late November, but the signing of Eric Cantona - a classic example of Ferguson's gambler's instinct - changed everything. It seemed to relax Ferguson, too: so tetchy and highly-strung in the 1991-92 run-in, he was a model of calm this time. That transmitted itself to his players, who finished the season with a storming run of seven straight wins to finally end the 26-year wait for a title.

4) 1998-99 (P38 W22 D13 L3 F80 A37 P79)

The Treble season as a whole will never be topped. But while the title triumph came after a wonderfully unyielding race with Arsenal, it was just about par given that United had spent heavily the previous summer on Jaap Stam, Jesper Blomqvist and Dwight Yorke. Ferguson backed his judgment, smashing United's transfer record first for the unknown Stam and then the unsung Yorke, whose purchase at first raised eyebrows and then quickened pulses as he and Andy Cole formed that unforgettable partnership. United's Irresistible Force finally shifted Arsenal's Immovable Object after a sensational race to the final minute of the final day - neither side lost a league match between December and May - before going on to complete that unprecedented Treble.

5) 2002-03 (P38 W25 D8 L5 F74 A34 P83)

The last hurrah of the great midfield axis of Beckham-Scholes-Keane-Giggs (even though Beckham was ultimately usurped by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer). Yet the real title-winner was Ruud van Nistelrooy, who smashed 44 goals in an extraordinary season, including 13 in the last eight league games as United reeled in Arsenal - who had been superior for two-thirds of the season but fell apart under the most extreme pressure - to get "their" trophy back.

6) 1993-94 (P42 W27 D11 L4 F80 A38 P92)

Still Ferguson's favourite side, an intoxicating fusion of testosterone, tempo and technique. A spring blip meant that the title race was closer than it might have been, with Kenny Dalglish's Blackburn hanging around like gum on a shoesole until the last week of the season, but for the most part United, without the 26-year monkey on their back, played some scintillating football. A 5-0 destruction of a good Sheffield Wednesday side stands out, and the first-choice XI (Schmeichel, Parker, Pallister, Bruce, Irwin, Kanchelskis, Keane, Ince, Giggs, Hughes, Cantona) won every single game they played - the last of which, the 1994 FA Cup final, clinched the club's first Double.

7) 1999-00 (P38 W28 D7 L3 F97 A45 P91)

Ferguson's United have probably never played with greater swash and buckle - empowered by the previous season's Treble, they smashed 97 goals in 38 games - but the worthiness of the achievement is compromised by the miserable lack of competition. The title race was all but run when United went for Brazil for the World Club Championship and caught some mid-season sun while their rivals caught a cold: Arsenal, Liverpool and Leeds all queued up to drop points while United were away, and Ferguson's men scorched to the title with four games to spare.

8) 2000-01 (P38 W24 D8 L6 F79 A31 P80)

A record-equaling third consecutive title was strangely unfulfilling - partly because United were soundly thrashed by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final, and partly because it was all done and dusted when they moved 11 points clear on New Year's Day. There was a 6-1 rout of Arsenal, but the season otherwise contained unmemorable excellence, and it was apt that Teddy Sheringham, at his softly-softly best, was United's main man. This was a year when they were so far ahead of the rest that they could win the league on autopilot.

9) 1996-97 (P38 W21 D12 L5 F76 A44 P75)

The lowest points total of the nine titles, which is fitting for an essentially forgettable campaign. With the exception of David Beckham, who had perhaps the best season of his career, United's youngsters suffered an inevitable comedown after the giddy highs of their first full season, and won the title as much because of the failings of others - in particular Liverpool's Spice Boys, who handled top spot like a bar of soap in the bath. United struggled in the first half of the season, losing 5-0 at Newcastle and 6-3 at Southampton, but with Ole Solskjaer a revelation in his first season and Roy Keane visibly moving from very good to great, they slowly overhauled Liverpool, Newcastle and Arsenal. But the campaign was best remembered for a memorable, intrepid run to the Champions League semi-finals.

[The_Fish]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by James07?:

Fair play to Rob Smyth to linking to that in his recent article.

Though, when you read it he hits the spot many times. Makes what has happened this season even more amazing.

Who could have expected Ronaldo to put the World Cup behind him in such emphatic style, for Arsenal and Liverpool to be so lame in the premiership, for Scholes to come back so strong (an extended Bergkampesque indian summer hopefully), Fletcher to grow some balls and for Evra and expecially Vidic to improve so much so quickly? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Fergie, obviously

[James07?]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I'd say neccesary rather than 'icing'. while i think we need a Hargs type player, he's got to be third priority behind winger and striker. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Can't agree with that. It wasn't a lack of goals or options that left us so outclassed in Milan. It was a set of tactics and formation designed to cover the gaping hole in front of the back 4.

[mark g]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by James07?:

Fair play to Rob Smyth to linking to that in his recent article.

Though, when you read it he hits the spot many times. Makes what has happened this season even more amazing.

Who could have expected Ronaldo to put the World Cup behind him in such emphatic style, for Arsenal and Liverpool to be so lame in the premiership, for Scholes to come back so strong (an extended Bergkampesque indian summer hopefully), Fletcher to grow some balls and for Evra and expecially Vidic to improve so much so quickly? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Fergie?