Putting Citeh & Chelsea to one side, it's pretty impressive how Ferguson is able to compete

[7evens]

year on year with a squad that isn't substantially that much better than our own, on paper.
RvP and Rooney beng the truly stand out players but would any of us salivate at the prospect of Young, Carrick, Evans, Evra or Valencia improving things at our place ?

That's management,motivation and structure on a player level that's become completely de-railed at N5.

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

Has much more money than us to play with, even before you take into account stadium payments, and yet still he infuriates fans by not buying players to fill seemingly obviously underfulfilled roles within the team.

[Bergkamp's Brain]

plus they can always call on Howard Webb to pull a match winning performance out of the bag when they really need it :-)

[Ciaran]

[7evens]

arrived. Today's squad can no longer boast, the Cantona's, Giggs and Beckhams in their prime. Keane, Ince, Kanchelskis etc. These players would almost certainly be Chelsea or City bound in todays era.
We all may hate him but I really admire his ability to get the best out of what he has.

[Classic Jorge]

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

But my point was that even the very best have their flaws.

[Ciaran]

one of Ferguson's best attributes is being able to keep the players on huge salaries grounded and instilling a winning mentality every season.

[7evens]

[seasider7]

he offloads them, no matter who they are. Beckham, Keane, Stam etc.

An old school manager. One of the very few to still be 'the man' in an era of extreme player power.

[Ciaran]

Agree completley, mate.

I remember when Keane was questioning him on Fletcher and a few other players he deemed not good enough for Manu.

Ferguson was looking to the future with those players - he was proved right.

Keane didn't last too long after that.

[Classic Jorge]

and the way he drops players like a stone each and every time they let him down, even slightly.

Forgive me for not sucking sralxfrgsn cock, I'm not as much of a fan as some on here are.