Vintage year for a non-vintage team

HOW quickly some timely victories can change the big picture — especially when time is running out.

In this neck of the woods, we’re well used to hearing the national team manager intone the mantra: “show is show but result is result”. You mightn’t expect the manager of Manchester United to sing the same tune, and certainly not for public consumption, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Alex Ferguson is humming a version silently to himself as he contemplates the remarkable prospect of a second treble in a dozen years.

Even just a few weeks ago, it was the prize that dare not speak its name and while, of course, dreaming and doing are two very different things, United’s comfortable passage to the semi-finals of the Champions League means that the dizzying summit is suddenly in plain sight.