The Sunday Times:
Ruthlessly moving on those who have allowed their standards to slip is one of the defining characteristics of Sir Alex Ferguson’s tyranny at Old Trafford. If he were to judge this season with the same rigour with which he cast out Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Dwight Yorke and David Beckham, would the Manchester United manager conclude that he should sack himself?
The question needs asking on a day when Chelsea can secure second place in the Barclaycard Premiership with a draw at Old Trafford. United have finished third before — they did so as recently as 2002 — but in the past ten years they have never looked so third-rate.
It is an impression of decline that will not be banished by beating Millwall to lift the FA Cup in a fortnight. Ferguson has made the European Cup his battlefield and, even if a mistaken assistant referee cost United dear against FC Porto in the first knockout round, the Scot has never looked so far away from reclaiming the trophy he won five years ago.
The end of the empire has been predicted many times before, only for the response to be forceful (sometimes literally so from Ferguson), but never have the doubts gathered so much credence. An unscientific poll of football folk this week did not find anyone willing to declare that the winner of eight English titles would be reasserting his domestic domination, never mind ruling Europe, before he retires to race horses and drink fine wines.
He has managed to shrug off inquiries about his health, but questions about his judgment in the transfer market will have hit a nerve. Cristiano Ronaldo and Louis Saha were wise additions, but Old Trafford awaits proof that Kléberson and Eric Djemba-Djemba are of the required class, while they have given up on Diego Forlán and David Bellion. Liam Miller may turn out to be a good player, but he is not the new Roy Keane.
From The Independent on Sunday:
Thank heavens Le King wears a thick beard these days. How else would Eric Cantona, a player who has come to symbolise Manchester United's dominance these last 12 years, have hidden his blushes at Old Trafford yesterday?
The Frenchman may not be a potential Oscar winner, but the footballer-turned-actor can just about disguise shock and consternation. No bad thing, really, because the uncertain and disjointed team he watched surrender second place in the League to Chelsea bore no resemblance to the united and vibrant one he left seven years ago. Several of the players may still be here, but the ethos and, most notably, the aura of invincibility have long gone.
It says everything about this side that their most prolific goalscorer cannot even net a penalty at Old Trafford these days. Only an awful mistake by the Chelsea goalkeeper, Carlo Cudicini, enabled Ruud van Nistelrooy to restore some pride and a little self-belief. That said, the Dutchman's loss of confidence is symptomatic of a set of players who no longer seem sure where they are going.
Have the club as a whole lost their way, too? Although the much publicised disagreement between the United manager and two of the biggest share-holders, John Magnier and J P McManus, has been resolved, there can be no doubt that the team suffered as a result of Sir Alex Ferguson's battle over Rock Of Gibraltar. The Rio Ferdinand saga was another unfortunate distraction. The England defender, who came as close to the Old Trafford turf as at any time since January when he joined his team-mates for a lap of honour after the final whistle- for finishing third? - was greatly missed in the second half of the season.
Looking back now, it is clear that there were not enough natural leaders in the dressing room to prevent the off-field troubles from affecting the players. The squad's lack of depth and quality has been all too evident this season, as United have repeatedly struggled when the big names have been missing. Two or three years ago, when his team dominated the domestic landscape, Sir Alex had terrific options at his disposal, players such as Teddy Sheringham and Jesper Blomqvist who he could call upon to change the course of a game. These days, he has to rely on the likes of David Bellion and Kleberson.
The Observer:
Last week, Ferguson, van Nistelrooy and Roy Keane appeared together on TV to dispel rumours of dissent at Old Trafford. Neither van Nistelrooy nor Ferguson was able to say categorically that there would be no move to Madrid, but they did show there was none of the seething animosity that apparently drove Beckham away. 'I did not do it for the benefit of the media, I did it so our supporters could hear first-hand that there is no dissension behind the scenes,' Ferguson said. Damage limitation, in other words.
That shows the pressure Ferguson is under. The team have fallen away from the gold standard they have set themselves over the Ferguson years. It would be ridiculous to suggest that this most motivated and successful of managers lacks ambition, but he is all too clearly struggling to invest an FA Cup final against Millwall with the requisite level of importance.
This is a manager who has had a pacemaker fitted this season, and who intended to retire two years ago. No one was saying his U-turn was a mistake last season, when United denied Arsenal the title with a display of sustained tenacity, but the team's performances this season have been far less convincing. Ferguson is already experiencing difficulty replacing Beckham, bedding in new signings, finding a way to keep Keane going and facing the reality that his golden generation of a decade ago has grown old together, without losing his main source of goals.
If van Nistelrooy goes, the rebuilding project might be so large that the club entrust it to a younger manager. Elder statesmen were all the rage a year or two ago. Not now. The ages of the two coaches involved in the Champions League final will not have gone unnoticed, and contemporaries of Ferguson - Ottmar Hitzfeld, Marcello Lippi and Sir Bobby Robson - are either stepping down or dodging questions about their successor.
In February, at the height of the Rock of Gibraltar dispute when United lost at home to Middlesbrough and away to Porto, Ferguson assured supporters that the empire was not crumbling. At the time United were actively involved in the title race and Europe. Now they have only the FA Cup, and the Coolmore threat has not gone away, just settled down for a while. There are several people who could make United's foundations shake this summer. Perhaps for the first time Ferguson is not one of them.
Because of what happened two years ago, when this era ends it will end suddenly.