LONDON: No club has more reason to celebrate the Premier League’s 20th anniversary season than Manchester United.
Only after England’s top clubs broke away to form what is now world football’s wealthiest league did United become champions again after a 26-year wait. Winning the Premier League in 1993 ushered in an unprecedented era of domination for the club, with another 11 league titles subsequently masterminded by Alex Ferguson.
“The whole Premier League has been the greatest era for Manchester United,” chief executive David Gill said on the eve of the new season, which starts August 13-14.
The latest title in May took United to the top of the English champions’ leaderboard – surpassing Liverpool’s tally of 18.
“Looking back on our big breakthrough in 1993 when we won the inaugural Premier League, I never envisaged that we would then storm away to overhaul Liverpool,” Ferguson wrote in a Premier League book looking ahead to the new season.
Liverpool is no longer United’s greatest rival: Chelsea has captured the championship crown three times since 2005 and Manchester City has been awoken from a decades-long slumber by Abu Dhabi wealth.
“We will be trying our hardest to make it 20 league titles in the Premier League’s 20th season,” Ferguson said. “But not in any sense of boastfulness.”
The comprehensive loss to Barcelona in May’s Champions League final prevents such bragging.
Apart from recovering from that Wembley setback, Ferguson’s big offseason challenge was replacing a trio of retiring players: goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, defender Gary Neville and midfielder Paul Scholes.
A goalkeeper was found: 20-year-old Spaniard David De Gea from Atletico Madrid. A defender: Phil Jones from Blackburn. And a winger: Ashley Young from Aston Villa. That leaves a direct replacement for Scholes still required, with a deal yet to be done with Inter Milan for Wesley Sneijder.
But no one is more accomplished at rebuilding squads than Ferguson for whom it will be a season of landmarks: 25 years in charge at Old Trafford and a 70th birthday.
The Scot’s ambitions are undiminished ahead of his side’s season opener at West Bromwich Albion.
“It is very easy for me to remain motivated,” he said. “The players keep me enthusiastic. If you sat back and thought about it all, I suppose you would consider how much of my life it is, but that doesn’t bother me too much.”
Talk of retirement is off the agenda for the league’s oldest manager – especially when he has the challenge of outwitting the newly installed youngest top flight manager, Chelsea’s 33-year-old Andre Villas-Boas.
“We would remain popular I think if Manchester United won it for the next X numbers of years,” league chief executive Richard Scudamore responded to a question about such predictability.
“Because A there is a huge Manchester United following and B everyone we would be out watching to see if someone can beat them next time out.” (Agencies)