THE INDIE
Despondent exits from Old Trafford were not the sole preserve of Ruud Van Nistelrooy yesterday as Alan Curbishley endured the farewell his contribution to Charlton Athletic did not warrant, but which made his decision to leave The Valley after 15 years all the more understandable.
The now former Charlton manager was treated to an exhibition on his final game at the helm, although it was not one he will recall with relish as the exhibitors were exclusively in the red of Manchester United, who bid adieu to their own campaign of internal dispute and belated promise with a flourish to seal second spot and the final automatic qualifying place for next season's Champions' League. Even the disgruntled Dutchman may have wished he had stayed to watch a performance of imagination, pace and, pointedly in Van Nistelrooy's absence, goals.
"The club have bought me a ticket to see my sister in New Zealand as a leaving present but mid-way through the first half I didn't think that was far enough," said Curbishley. "It has been a strange week and I didn't enjoy that."
The pre-match tantrum from the £19m striker may have stunned his team-mates but it did not distract them from the task of tearing apart a depleted Charlton team to record their first home win in three matches and to guarantee second place above Liverpool.
There was a carnival air to proceedings before United had begun their elegant stroll with Sir Alex Ferguson producing one of his customary selection surprises and naming Paul Scholes among his substitutes.
Scholes was not due to return until next season following the head injury he sustained at Birmingham on 20 December that left the former England midfielder with blurred vision. Instead, he delivered a reminder of the distribution United have lacked at critical junctures this season with an impressive second-half performance, although by the time of his arrival the game was already won.
Giuseppe Rossi, whose progress was rewarded by Ferguson with his full Premiership debut and thus demoted Van Nistelrooy, produced a relentless performance alongside Louis Saha but it was another of United's Academy graduates, Kieran Richardson, who delivered the game's outstanding contribution.
THE GUARDIAN
Ruud van Nistelrooy's disappearing act may have been a suitably ignominious way to end what has been a turbulent season for Manchester United, but at least they will go into the summer with one of the consolation prizes.
While second place is "first-last" according to the old Liverpool maxim, the Premiership's silver medal brings automatic qualification to the Champions League. And with more than 73,000 fans shoehorned into the ground, another record crowd had plenty to take their minds off the absent Dutchman on the day Alan Curbishley bade an emotional farewell to Charlton.
United had rolled out the red carpet for the outgoing Charlton manager but the generosity ended after Ferguson invited Curbishley on to the pitch before kick-off to present him with two first-class return flights to New Zealand. In his other pocket Ferguson could conceivably have been concealing a one-way ticket in Van Nistelrooy's name but the United manager will have relished the way his team, minus their leading scorer, found goals so easy to come by against a side who looked ready for their summer holidays.
The match was effectively finished by half-time, United three ahead and coasting, but Ferguson's erratic team went on to equal their biggest Premiership win of the season courtesy of Kieran Richardson's splendid fourth. Curbishley's adieu could even have become a humiliation had the home side not dropped a couple of gears, with Paul Scholes making an unexpected and popular appearance for his first competitive game since December. The pity for Curbishley was that his team could not summon up a better effort as a parting gift.
If his emotions were not so mixed at the end he may have made more, for example, of the absenteeism in defence when Louis Saha flicked in Ryan Giggs's corner for the opening goal. Curbishley was willing to let it go on this occasion but he will not want to see the replays of United's second, when Cristiano Ronaldo had an astonishing amount of time to control another Giggs cross and fire past Stephan Andersen.
They were scruffy goals to concede and it got worse. Jason Euell's own-goal, diverting Saha's centre beyond Andersen, made it three after 35 minutes and then it was a question for Charlton of trying to maintain some kind of respectability for their manager of the past 729 matches.
THE TIMES
Not content with offering Ruud van Nistelrooy a one-way ticket to a European destination of his choice, Sir Alex Ferguson surprised Alan Curbishley yesterday afternoon by giving him two first-class flights to New Zealand. The thought behind it was that it would allow Curbishley to visit his sister when the dust has settled on his departure from Charlton Athletic, but if he had known that his farewell party would unfold in such a manner, he might have wished he had known about them in advance.
There has been much to admire about Curbishley's 15 years and 729 games in charge of Charlton, a period in which they have become an established Premiership club, but fortitude when venturing north to venues such as Old Trafford and Anfield has not been a feature. If the best aspects of Curbishley's Charlton include a willingness to play football the right way and to develop their own talent, the worst were in evidence here as their perennial end-of-season slump finished with an ignominious defeat that smoothed Manchester United's progress to next season's Champions League.
Needing victory to secure second place in the Barclays Premiership, United could hardly have asked for more compliant opponents. If anything, the scoreline flattered Charlton and Curbishley knew it. "It's very disappointing it has ended the way it has," he said. "I didn't enjoy it, I must admit. I would have liked to have done better."
United played with a freedom and a fluency that will have strengthened Ferguson's belief that they are better without the absent Van Nistelrooy, but Charlton were truly awful as they limped to a fifth consecutive defeat. They conceded three goals in 15 minutes before half-time, making life far too easy for Louis Saha, heading home from Ryan Giggs's corner, and Cristiano Ronaldo, turning in Giggs's cross at the second attempt, before Jason Euell summed up their travails by putting through his own net.
So comfortable were United that Ferguson could afford to give a rare second-half outing to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, troubled by injury for the past few years, and, more surprisingly, Paul Scholes, whose return to action, after four months out with a career-threatening eye condition, heightened the sense of optimism.
THE TELEGRAPH
Ruud Van Nistelrooy's career at Manchester United was all but finished last night after his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, publicly accused him of undermining team morale. Ferguson will meet with United's directors today and is likely to recommend the sale of the player who scored 150 times for the club in 219 appearances.
Part of what makes Ferguson great is his ruthlessness. He knows when to cull and, as Keane, Jaap Stam, David Beckham and Dwight Yorke have all discovered, he cares little for the niceties of saying goodbye. The fact was that, with Louis Saha and Wayne Rooney leading their attack, United have looked a more fluid and adventurous side, and there is a limit to how long Guiseppe Rossi could be restricted to minor cup ties.
Van Nistelrooy is not overly popular at Old Trafford. When United travelled to London for the encounter at Stamford Bridge that confirmed Chelsea as champions, he did not journey on the team bus. In his programme notes for yesterday's game, which ensured United need not pre-qualify for the Champions League, Ferguson referred to Gary Neville's anger over claims that United had not tried in the goalless draw with Middlesbrough, where almost Van Nistelrooy's last act was to have a dreadfully soft penalty saved. Ferguson wrote: "If there is a non-trier, he deserves to be singled out. You cannot kid supporters."
Ferguson believes he is on the verge of another great young side and the way in which Kieran Richardson drilled one shot into the corner of Stephan Andersen's net and slammed another on to the underside of his bar gave flesh to that feeling. But they will not always face sides as uninterested and incompetent as Charlton, who allowed Saha and Cristiano Ronaldo to score before half an hour was up and then had Jason Euell turn Saha's cross into his own net.
The 83 points United accumulated in this campaign was as many as they won in 2003 to give Ferguson his last championship and more than they achieved to claim titles in 2001, 1999, 1997 and 1996. If Rooney can regain full fitness quickly, and if they can avoid the lethargic starts that have bedevilled recent campaigns, United will be the side that stirs unease into Jose Mourinho's bones.