United reign far from over

THE prophets of doom who would consign Manchester United to the scrap-heap will find no comfort here.

If the season just ended can be judged a ‘failure’ then it is time to despair.

What is most surprising is those most strident in their criticism of United’s season are their own fans.

In a curious way this is a manifestation of a superiority complex that does United no good and is totally unjustified.

It is as if United had a God-given right to expect to win everything.

Such an attitude is not alone unfair to United, it is unjustified.

Not for 20 years have the English clubs figured with any consistency in the Champions’ League.

United’s win in 1999 climaxed an incredible season when they won Premiership and FA Cup titles, as well, for a remarkable treble.

They showed marvellous competitive spirit to dominate in England but even their most fervent fans must concede that they had more than a fair share of luck in winning in Europe.

That was confirmed by their inability to repeat that success.

This inability to build on this second victory in Europe (the first was in 1968) contradicts, to some extent, the experiences of many previous winners.

The English enjoyed their most successful spell in Europe between 1977 and 1985 when English teams reached eight of the nine finals and won the trophy seven times.

Liverpool featured in five finals and won four, Aston Villa won their only final in 1982, Nottingham Forest won twice in a row in 1979 and 1980.

The giants of Europe have all done what Liverpool did in that period - reach multiple finals.

Real Madrid, Ajax and Bayern Munich all enjoyed spells when reaching the Champions’ League final was par for the course.

That was never the case with the United of 1999, so, the question is why the doom and gloom because they failed to win either Premiership or Champions’ League this season?

The reality is that United went through a period of evolution as all teams must from time to time. They had to repeatedly re-cast their defence and cope with the arrival of a new goalkeeper in Tim Howard.

In midfield they had to learn to do without Roy Keane for much of the season and play to a new system that had five in midfield and a lone striker in Van Nistelrooy. Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand missed vital matches through suspension. Wes Brown, Solskjaer, Van Nistelrooy and Silvestre were out for weeks recovering from injury.

United were second best to Arsenal over the season in every sense yet they never lost to the Premiership champions. They finished third in the League and won the FA Cup and if that represents failure then where are we headed?

The day when any one team dominates all competitions is the day when football loses its appeal. The success of the Premiership season is that the trophies were spread. It is just a pity that more teams were not strong enough to challenge for success.

But United fans have no grounds for complaint; rather they should celebrate Cristiano Ronaldo’s debut season at Old Trafford.