All’s Wel for happy Fergie

WHEN Manchester United review this season, the significance of this demolition of Stoke City will be impossible to ignore.

Not only was it the day Cristiano Ronaldo finally blew off the cobwebs and rediscovered the touch that made him the most feared footballer in Europe last season, it might just also go down as the game in which Danny Welbeck made the progression from boy to man in a United shirt.

This was the afternoon when it all came together for Alex Ferguson’s team and, fittingly enough, it coincided with the Old Trafford manager’s 50th anniversary of his entry into professional football.