THE WIZARD WHO LOST HIS MAGIC

Sir Alex Ferguson cut a lonely figure at the Stade de France on Wednesday as he watched the latest poor performance by Manchester United, and his solitude extended to the absence of old friends. With Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane injured and Paul Scholes suspended, his squad contained none of the players surviving from the early to mid-1990s, when the Scot was establishing the club as the best in England.

Ferguson himself has played his part in cutting ties with that distant past, selling David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville in the past two years, and the leftovers have looked distinctly unappetising in recent weeks. Home draws with Lille and Tottenham Hotspur and away defeats by the French side and Middlesbrough have hinted at a future far from rosy.

United’s success has been attributed more to Ferguson’s powers of motivation than his tactical nous, so it is worth asking whether he can still coax performances from his charges as well as before. Does the lack of spirit that some observers detected in the turgid displays against Lille and Middlesbrough over the past six days suggest that he can no longer galvanise his players to eke out results by fighting through periods of poor form?

United rose to prominence at about the time they were promoting a collection of talented players from the youth ranks into the senior team, youngsters whose attitudes could be moulded by Ferguson in their formative years. None of these, even Beckham, with his various distractions, could be accused of not focusing on their jobs as footballers.

When they were combined with a host of highly driven players who had been bought, such as Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce, Paul Ince, Keane, Eric Cantona and Mark Hughes, the effect was to create a team whose period of domestic dominance has been matched only by Liverpool in the history of English football.

Ferguson could also be credited with instilling a winning mentality into less visibly single-minded players such as Denis Irwin, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Dwight Yorke. Indeed, when the Scot won his fourth Premiership title in 1997, his levels of spending on transfers had yet to differ greatly from those of many rivals, suggesting that his motivational words were as important as his chequebook.

Since United began to spend fortunes on acquiring the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Juan Sebastián Verón, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney, their league positions have worsened, with three third places in the past four years after ten consecutive years in the top two. The spotlight has turned on the signing of players who have failed dismally to live up to expectation, such as Verón, Kléberson and Diego Forlán.

Last season there was arguably little between United and Chelsea in terms of individual talent, yet the London side deservedly finished 18 points ahead, a clear triumph for José Mourinho, their manager, over Ferguson. With the Portuguese having strengthened his squad during a summer when United stood still, it needs the Scot to persuade his own players that they can make up the ability gap. It is a challenge few expect him to pass.