A decent piece on Sir Alex from the Telegraph:
'There are those who imagined that having wrested back the Premiership from Chelsea, having triumphantly proved to people, some of whom were very close to him, that his powers had not waned, he should have embraced the sunset. That, however, is a fundamental misunderstanding of the man. Onwards, always onwards.
'For those expecting any let-up, this has been a sobering summer. The side that won the Premiership with a goal difference of +56 have simply added more firepower.
'Defences worn down by having to deal with the furious energy of Wayne Rooney will now have to cope with Carlos Tevez too. Cristiano Ronaldo may be, at 21, far from the peak of his career but there is also Nani, the most natural talent Sporting Lisbon have nurtured since Ronaldo's departure, slipping in behind him.
'It is arguable whether this is the best squad Ferguson has put together in his years in Manchester but when he claims it is the most naturally gifted, there would be few who would dissent.
'This time it is the vast, gleaming bulk of the European Cup that Ferguson might find difficult to ignore. Hargreaves, a man who won the Champions League with Bayern Munich as a 19-year-old, appears to have been bought largely with Europe in mind.
'For a man who has been competing for the trophy almost constantly since 1993 at the helm of one of the wealthiest clubs in the world, Ferguson's European record is curiously mediocre. United may have reached the semi-finals for the first time since 2002 but they were crushed by AC Milan. With his 66th birthday coming before the competition reaches its knockout phase, there will not be too many opportunities left to recapture that wonderful night in Barcelona.
'However, the players most pivotal to United's season will not be Anderson, Nani or even Tevez but Giggs, Paul Scholes and Neville, who in so many campaigns have formed a Praetorian Guard for this most ruthless of emperors. They know the course and its distance and they have covered it many times before. For them and for their manager the direction is always onwards.'