Euro crisis only hits the red half of Manchester

MANCHESTER is slowly coming to terms with the double it never wanted — but with both United and City out of the Champions League Alex Ferguson has the biggest headache as he decides whether his rebuilding job needsrevamping, refurbishing or simply a complete overhaul.

Nobody could have predicted that both Manchester clubs would fail to reach the last 16 of the Champions League but now they are out it is interesting to see just how differently the two are judged.

The Manchester Evening News headline on Thursday read simply ‘Nightmare’ as it reported on an evening of European football drama that left an entire city, red and blue, slumped in depression. But reaction since then has been polemic — sympathy and predictions of future success for City but cries of crisis for United. The Sun even dared to run a headline asking: ‘Has Fergie still got the strength to tackle United problems?’ — surely a rhetorical question if ever there was one.