Ferguson left with season of missed chances
Trevor Huggins
Manchester United's loss of their premier league crown has rounded off arguably the most disappointing season for manager Alex Ferguson since he took over at Old Trafford in 1986.
Expected to be Ferguson's final year at the helm, given his earlier decision to retire, United's twin aims were to reach the European Cup final in the Scot's home city of Glasgow and to win a record-breaking fourth consecutive league title.
It was always going to be a tall order.
Manchester United's manager Sir Alex Ferguson
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But Ferguson's United are one of the most successful sides in the history of English football and, if anyone was destined for both domestic and European glory this season, it was going to be the 1999 Treble winners.
Backing that ambition was a near 50-million-pound spending spree for Argentina's Juan Sebastian Veron, the best all-round midfielder in Italy when he guided Lazio to the league and cup double in 2000, and prolific Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.
However, the season had barely started when central defender Jaap Stam was sold to Lazio in the wake of controversial comments about Ferguson in a book published by the Dutchman.
Stam's absence unsettled a defence which went on to leak goals as never before and the defeats piled up towards the end of the year, despite United's memorable fightback from 3-0 down at Tottenham Hotspur to win 5-3.
SETBACKS CONTINUE
The setbacks, helped in part by some eccentric goalkeeping by Fabien Barthez, culminated in an embarrassing 1-0 loss to West Ham United at Old Trafford, their sixth of the season and third league defeat on the trot.
At that point, Ferguson appeared to throw in the towel for the championship.
French defender Laurent Blanc, at 36, was struggling to cope with the pace of the premier league, Veron's performances were patchy and England captain David Beckham was dropped for a mixture of poor form and a nagging back injury.
However, it was not all gloom and doom at Old Trafford.
Van Nistelrooy could not stop scoring goals and the awesome determination that has brought United seven league titles in nine years produced a sparkling run of 12 wins in 13 league games.
From ninth in the table, United bounced back to their familiar position at the top of the roost and Beckham returned to his goal-making and goalscoring best.
Adding to the wave of euphoria was Ferguson's offer in February to postpone his retirement for another three years.
With no obvious successor in sight, United's board leapt at the chance to re-sign the most successful manager in the history of British football.
TROUBLE LOOMS
In March, though, things started to go wrong.
A 2-1 lead at relegation-bound Derby County was squandered in a 2-2 draw, and three weeks later United slumped to a 1-0 home defeat to Middlesbrough -- the same team who had dumped them out of the FA Cup fourth round in January.
With Arsenal now firmly ensconced in a winning run of their own, those five dropped points came back to haunt Ferguson's men in the final furlong of the title race.
In Europe, United fought their way to the Champions League semifinals against the weakest of the four teams left in the competition -- Bayer Leverkusen.
There were defensive lapses rather than glaring blunders as United were held 2-2 by the Germans at Old Trafford, but the draw proved to be decisive.
For the second leg, by which time Gary Neville had joined Beckham on the injured list, United went in to the game needing a victory but came out with only a 1-1 draw. Ferguson's dream final at Hampden Park would remain just that.
To rub salt into the wound, archrivals Arsenal lifted the FA Cup at Cardiff last weekend and completed the Double with Wednesday's 1-0 win over United in their Old Trafford back yard.
The final standings will certainly be a disappointment to Ferguson. The only other certainty is that they will be back, all the more determined, next season.
