United fuelled by Fergie’s fire

TEN league titles in the bag, a Champions League trophy already tucked away and another one tantalisingly close to being secured.

If Alex Ferguson ever wanted to choose the perfect moment to walk away from Manchester United, it might just arrive next month if he looks out across Red Square with a second European Cup in his grasp.

That is the script, anyway, the romanticised ending to a 22-year epic that has seen Ferguson build an empire at Old Trafford that has long since outstripped the one created by Matt Busby. But in reality? Rewind to Ferguson’s early days at Old Trafford, when the club was in the ever-growing shadow cast by Liverpool, and you get a sense of what really drives the Glaswegian.