Neville expecting more Reds arrivals

Gary Neville has predicted more new arrivals at Manchester United this summer as the Red Devils look to use their Carling Cup triumph as a platform for sustained success.

United’s four-goal show at the Millennium Stadium not only proved enough to beat a battling Wigan outfit, but also stave off the unhappy prospect of successive seasons without a trophy.

The Old Trafford outfit have not endured two barren years on the trot since before Neville moved into the senior ranks.

And, while the League Cup will still be ranked fourth out of four in United’s list of priorities at the start of next season, Neville reckons the competition could prove vital in injecting a sense of belief into Sir Alex Ferguson’s emerging squad.

Contrary to all the doom merchants who claim United’s time at the top is now at an end, Neville is upbeat about the future.

However, after lifting his first trophy as captain barely two months after stepping into the role vacated by Roy Keane, the 31-year-old is honest enough to accept deficiencies in midfield he anticipates Ferguson will address before the new campaign gets underway next August.

“This team has potential,” he said.

“We are not at our peak yet but I have no doubt we will get there in the next couple of years or so.

“I have no doubt either the manager will add to the squad this summer.

“If you look at the midfield, we have been absolutely decimated. We have lost Paul Scholes, Quinton Fortune and Alan Smith, and we also lost Roy Keane. You cannot account for losing so many class players in one area.

“That is why I imagine there will be additions to what we feel is already a strong squad.”

Scholes and Fortune were both in Cardiff to add personal congratulations to team-mates who offered their own tribute to Smith, who opted to stay at home to begin his lengthy recovery from a broken leg.

The ‘This one’s for you, Smudge’ T-shirts, as well as the prolonged chanting in his honour from the United support, may have emphasised the affection held for a player who has never given anything less than total commitment since his controversial £6million arrival from Leeds in 2004.

However, it would also be true to say Smith’s limitations in the midfield role Ferguson asked him to take on during pre-season are also part of the reason why United’s campaign in Premiership and Champions League terms, has been a disappointment.

With Ryan Giggs pulling the strings, the speed and fluidity of United’s play at times was breathtaking and with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo at their effective best, it is not hard to see why there is a confidence inside United circles at odds with the critics who point to falling standards and an erosion of power.

“It is 18 months since we won the FA Cup but you would think it is 10 years the way some people have been going on,” said Neville.

“We understand the criticism comes from being out of Europe and a long way behind Chelsea in the Premiership.

“There have been difficult moments over the past year or so but it isn't as if the lads are not desperate to win matches.

“But people have to understand this is a developing team, which has not yet reached its capabilities.

“As the younger players get older, they will start to gain greater consistency. Now, they also have the confidence of winning a trophy and the thought process which makes you want to do it again and again, which is what this club demands.

“There are only four trophies to be won and we have won one of them. But we all know where we need to be. It is the European Cup and the league championship, that is what Manchester United is all about.”

It is an opinion shared by Giggs, who was with Neville on a three-man shortlist as potential United skipper until Ferguson plumped for the defender.

Both men were part of the famed ‘Class of 92’, which proved to be a bedrock of United’s success over the past decade.

With David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville all departed, the pair, together with Scholes, provide the only playing links between United’s glorious recent past and a bright new future.

Giggs is confident the current crop can carry him at least level with former Liverpool man Phil Neal, the most decorated player in English soccer history with 17 major medals, two more than the United man has now amassed.

“I certainly hope this squad can emulate the ‘Class of 92’,” said Giggs.

“We have got a relatively young team and what this victory has done is give players who have not won a trophy a taste of success.

“The build-up to the final, getting to the final, seeing the crowds in the stadium and eventually winning it, makes you want it more and more. Hopefully it will happen with these players.”