End of what era, exactly?

SOME are laughing and some are weeping but one way or the other, the plight of Manchester United has left few football fans untouched.

And even the most scrupulously neutral would find it hard to disagree with this damning summation of the descent of Man United: "This United side may have been the most expensive, yet it was probably the least impressive side, the least in keeping with United's traditional class and style." And the depressing conclusion? "There can be no disguising the scale of the restoration job that lies ahead."

But before you start leafing back through this week's Benfica match reports to find out more don't. The quotes actually hail from June 1990, and are the gloomy thoughts of Michael Crick and David Smith, authors of a book entitled 'Manchester United The Betrayal Of A Legend," whose updated edition also promised "latest takeover developments."

Note too that the pair were writing in the immediate aftermath of United's FA Cup final win, a 1-0 replay victory over Crystal Palace after Mark Hughes had rescued a 3-3 draw for the Reds with just eight minutes of extra time left in the first game.

"The 120 minutes," the authors wrote, "had been rendered all the more nerve-racking by the desperate need shared by both Alan (sic) Ferguson and thousands of United fans to salvage the club's flagging reputation."

I think you'd have to say that the boy 'Alan' done well. Just three years later three years, indeed, after Fergie had managed to save his job, never mind the club's flagging reputation, when relegation-threatened United started that successful cup run with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest I was in the press box at Old Trafford on the night United brought home the league title for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century.

Blackburn Rovers were their opponents that night and though the visitors briefly threatened to rain on the Mancunian parade by taking the lead, United eventually ran out comfortable 3-1 winners, the whole ground rocking in celebration of a championship triumph for which they had been waiting since the glory days of Best, Charlton and Law.

Not to mention the supreme commander himself. After the game, I was taking my place in a packed loo when I had to shuffle sideways to make way at the urinal for someone else. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that it was none other than Sir Matt Busby.

Frankly, it didn't seem the right place for a congratulatory handshake, let alone an exclusive interview so, as they say in all the best newspapers, I simply made my excuses and left. Still, it was nice to know that the acknowledged father of the club had lived long enough to see the glory, glory days back in his beloved theatre of dreams.

He didn't, however, live to witness United turn that restoration into something approaching dominance of the domestic game. Nor was he around to see United finally match his famous side's 1968 European Cup triumph with, on the face of it, an even more staggering achievement in pulling off the treble in 1999.

I say 'on the face of it' because, while no-one could dispute Alex Ferguson's achievement in sharing English football's crown jewels with Arsenal for the best part of a decade, Europe continued to prove stubbornly resistant to United's charms. '99 was an exception all of which makes this week's talk of the end of an era seem more than a shade overdone.

For all the great nights of drama which they have enjoyed in Europe, United have never come close in their history to rivalling the continental superpowers of Milan or Madrid or Ajax or even Liverpool in their prime. So yes, United have failed to reach the knock-out phase for the first time in 10 seasons but since, with that one exception, the knock-out blow was subsequently delivered to them, the European roll of honour will remain undisturbed by the club's premature exit.

Of course, it didn't help United that they went out of Europe in the Estadio De Luz in the week after George Best died, ensuring that memories of his scintillating display in the same venue in 1966 would cast the new generation's failings in an even more sombre light. Not too many were inclined to point out, however, that United duly went out of Europe that time too, beaten 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final by Partizan Belgrade.

In fact that season, although United had been chasing the treble of League, FA Cup and European Cup, they ended up with nothing.

"I was at my lowest ebb since the Munich air-crash," Matt Busby later recalled, "and it was in my mind to turn my back on football altogether.

"It seemed the fates had conspired against the club and myself and I remember telling Paddy Crerand, 'We'll never win the European Cup now'."

United fans currently in search of solace might do well to ponder those words, though it's more likely they will be moved to reflect on how much they could do with the likes of Best, Charlton, Law and Crerand in the current side.

As it is, United have foolishly mislaid their own candidates. They missed Roy Keane badly in Lisbon and, though few are prepared to admit as much, they have missed David Beckham ever since Ferguson decided that he too was surplus to requirements. Ronaldo may be eye-catching but even with only one good foot Becks was a much more reliable supplier of ammunition, not to mention a live threat whenever a free kick was given within shooting range.

With Scholes and Giggs less influential than they used to be and that frail defence always in danger of being breached, this is a United side in which far too much responsibility for inspiring the team has fallen on the broad but young shoulders of Wayne Rooney. Along with the dependable Van Der Saar, Rooney represents Fergie's best bit of business in recent years but even this boy-wonder can't turn things around on his own.

So, yes, there is a restoration job to be done. And whether Alex Ferguson is still the man to do it is already a subject for lively debate, not least, one suspects, in the Glazer household.

But talk of the end of an era in Europe is rather missing the point. The urgent priority for United now is to keep the home fires burning, prevent a slide from turning into an avalanche and trust that football's wheel of fortune will spin their way again.

Meantime, as it has done for the best part of 50 years, Europe will get on fine without them, thank you.