What went right
Glory, glory Man United.
In the early spring, this column suggested a measure of greatness: that the less luck required to achieve your successes, the greater you are. At the time I was suggesting that winning the double that was in prospect could make this United team a greater team than their Treble-winning predecessors. In the end, United 2008 needed luck at crucial moments - away to Blackburn and then in Moscow - that could have tipped everything against them, just as was the case with United 1999.
But there is nothing wrong with luck and it took a truly exceptional team to be in the position for fortune to carry them over the finish line. The strength of the challenges from Arsenal and Chelsea they overcame makes it all the more remarkable. This United side are candidates for the unresolvable debate about who have been the greatest vintage in English club football.
More than anything else, and despite his penalty blunders in the semi-final and final of the Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo once again made an overwhelming case to be Footballer of the Year, a title he took in a landslide. With Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney, he formed an attacking trio that few could handle. They came up with the goals by which the title was effectively clinched (Chelsea would surely not have dropped points against Bolton on the last day had they been in with a shout).
Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were superb in a defence that conceded just 22 in the Premier League and kept Barcelona scoreless for 180 minutes.
Ryan Giggs has had his detractors as time starts to tell, but he scored a famous goal at Wigan. Then, after Ronaldo's miss in Moscow, he - along with Owen Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson - kept his nerve to score from 12 yards. Cue Nicolas Anelka v Edwin van der Sar...
What went wrong
Portsmouth's controversial FA Cup win at Old Trafford denied United the chance of a Treble - a defeat that United took with little dignity.
Injury reduced the impact of Owen Hargreaves and Gary Neville to the role of cheerleader-in-chief, while Louis Saha was as reliable as ever.
Paul Scholes came up with the winner in the Champions League semi-final, but he still can't tackle and scored just one goal in 22 league starts - against Portsmouth on 15 August.
Reasons to be cheerful
Fergie is carrying on, putting off the day when someone has to follow him.
The Glazers - unlike so many new owners - have resisted the temptation to meddle on the playing side and realised that success pays for their debt repayments. Success may mean backing the manager in the transfer market and adding to the debt, but that's a risk they are willing to take.
Doom and gloom
The fans who actually go to games are bearing the brunt of the financial demands imposed by the Glazers' hire-purchase plan. As long as the success continues, the noise of celebration will drown out the complaints; if United falter and still the demands for more money continue, there may be trouble. And all good things come to an end.
United are not a one-man team, but one man has made a substantial difference. Before Ronaldo became the principal source of goals, United endured three barren seasons in the Premier League and Europe, having to take consolation in one FA Cup and one League Cup. His dual role, as the sorcerer and the scorer, has enabled his team to close the substantial financial advantage Chelsea have: the assumption some fans have been making, that he could simply be replaced, is belied by the fact that the Blues have not managed to find someone similar.
In one sentence: United are not a one-man team but it would take two men to replace Ronaldo.
And the moral is...
Never a borrower nor lender be, unless your manager is a winner.
Philip Cornwall
Your Comments
tomhanks
"It makes me laugh all of those chelsea fans saying we are lucky. Lampards goal in CL final is what called luck. Edwin slip of that bad moscow pitch.
If it didn't happen that way, there was no panalty shoot out for that cry baby JT to miss."
wayne4069
"sad sad sad plastic man u fans, you really think you are the best team in england and europe, well you are definately the luckiest!!! just wait until the femme ronaldo goes, and fergy calls it a day! you will be like boro ha ha. come on any team that plays you, your just like the Jocks."
Colly22
"Bluemeanie... pure jealousy from your end, you sad little boy, ha ha Ronaldo (ladyman), what do you call JT then......? na na na he is a little cry baby!!! We are the champions of Europe and of england, we are the best, now until them trophys leave us you cannot deny fact! Look at your run in to the champers final, not really to hard was it! Barca would have romped pass your lot of sad self indulged tosser team! Small club with a big mouth and crying grown men!!! "
AlexO
"All I can say is that "Jealousy is a bad mistress".
Don't worry, there are always winners and losers in a season. One season it's Man Utd, the other might be Chelsea or Arsenal or even Liverpool (trying to be unbiased here).
I don't mind that fans are defending their teams. However, I don't like the people that are just here to stir things up."
azulu
"Bluemeanie, if I were you I'd be the last to call Ronaldo Ladyman, what with a fresh memory of 'BionicMan' short-circuiting all of his fuses with his perma-flow of tears trickling down his face for days.....(s)he should have known not to take the pen with two legs in the first place (Ha Ha)
"
bluemeanie
"Mashman - we may be a small club us supporters never deny it but we're more than a match for Glory Glory Man Utd.
You squeaked to the title you squeaked to the CL and all your glory days are behind you , fergies Fledglings are all old and knackered and their replacements mediocre.
Rooney and Tevez so potent in front of goal they need a ladyboy to get all their goals - a ladyboy who's doing the off."
luvutdh8glazer
"Mashman, although I agree with your sentiments, your comment about ticket prices shows that you are not a regular match goer, ticket prices up by a third since the gnome took over have stopped many fans going or renewing their seasonticket, that in conjunction with the automatic cup scheme have effectively priced me and thousands more like me out of the market to see the team we love. Manchester is a much poorer area than London and cannot support the sort of prices seen at Chelsea or L'Arse, but as we all know, theres always someone willing to take our space so it continues. Mark my words, Freezing prices this year is a way of shutting people up, they will rise next year again!"
Mutid
"chelseablue - "Next season, Chelsea won't lose players to the African Nations Cup and hopefully, they won't lose most of the first 11 to injury for weeks at a time...", BUT they will lose most of their players to Inter Milan and whoever wants the rest that don't want to stick around. Ballack and Sheva were supposed to usher in your "100 Years of Dominance" - instead they ushered in two league titles and a CL victory for us. Happy days!!! Next season could be a rough one for Chelsea as you bed in new players and adjust to a new coach."
Mashman
"I love the Chelsea assumption that if they hadn't had all their injuries they'd have won the league (John Terry missed 24 games, of which Chelsea lost none). If Rooney hadn't got injured in the first game maybe we wouldn't have had such a bad start, if Torres hadn't got injured for parts of the season maybe Liverpool would have gone closer, if Arsenal hadn't lost their right back at Chelsea, Van Persie for most of the season and Eduardo then maybe they'd have won the league. The truth? Good sides are lucky, bad sides are unlucky and Chelsea deserve a Monty Python Foot to be dropped on their annoying and small club.
Sorry about that rant. Good article, though I would like to point out that United haven't put their ticket prices up this year and are still nowhere near the most expensive club in the country."
Mashman
"I love the Chelsea assumption that if they hadn't had all their injuries they'd have won the league (John Terry missed 24 games, of which Chelsea lost none). If Rooney hadn't got injured in the first game maybe we wouldn't have had such a bad start, if Torres hadn't got injured for parts of the season maybe Liverpool would have gone closer, if Arsenal hadn't lost their right back at Chelsea, Van Persie for most of the season and Eduardo then maybe they'd have won the league. The truth? Good sides are lucky, bad sides are unlucky and Chelsea deserve a Monty Python Foot to be dropped on their annoying and small club.
Sorry about that rant. Good article, though I would like to point out that United haven't put their ticket prices up this year and are still nowhere near the most expensive club in the country."
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