TERRACE TALK: Man United - Too early for any opinion other than ‘wait and see’

Last time we spoke, three weeks ago, I glumly previewed: “Chelsea, Liverpool, City, and Fenerbache are all eminently loseable propositions; any repeated slackness would surely condemn us to another ‘cracked badge week’, as Fergie called them...”

Well, you’ll soon know whether any of the downmarket titles have had their graphics department busy with the badge overnight, after yesterday’s fiasco at the Bridge.

It’s easy to be wise after the event but none of us was really looking forward to Sunday, despite the successful previous matches against the dirties and the turkeys. The whole afternoon had the terrible dread air of a major social event at which both a man’s previous and current wives are going to be in attendance, together with some resentful abandoned children.