Fergie focused on getting title back

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has made reclaiming the Premier League title “priority number one”.

With the waves of the Indian Ocean crashing within earshot and the sun blazing out of a blue sky seldom seen in this soggy Irish summer — even though it is winter in Durban — it seemed a world away from the travails of an arduous Premier League campaign.

Yet the manner of last year’s crushing disappointment; two Manchester City goals in injury-time, the last of which came after the final whistle had gone on United’s season, has meant what lies ahead has never been far from Ferguson’s mind. So it was that, ahead of the first of six pre-season matches, against South African outfit AmaZulu, Ferguson laid bare his vision for the next 10 months.