Prophets of doom silenced

FROM champs to chumps and back again. Alex Ferguson has spoken often of the intensive spotlight his team must continually perform under but rarely can such polarised opinions have been produced in such a short space of time.

At Maine Road, on Saturday November 9, Ferguson took the unprecedented step of publicly lambasting his Manchester United team in the wake of their miserable derby-day defeat.

After accusing the players of letting down the coaches, the fans and themselves, Ferguson, never a man to take defeat lightly, finished with the chilling warning: “We will get a reaction from this all right.” Britain’s most successful manager has achieved his aim again.