FERGUSON BUSBY CANTONA

The ultimate compliment has been paid to Sir Alex Ferguson. Sir Bobby Charlton now considers him to be superior as a manager to Sir Matt Busby.

Charlton, who survived the Munich air crash with Busby and revered him as boy and man, is sufficiently in awe of Ferguson's eight Premiership titles in 11 years to be moved to say: "He's the best. Matt himself would say the same."

Yet Charlton says of the two Scots: "They are so different, Matt and Alex, and I wouldn't wish to compare them as men. Yet Alex is a fantastic creator of teams and I'd love to be playing for him now. It's wonderful to watch the present side. All Alex's teams have been competitive but the new champions are a super side.”

"To be a truly great club, we've got to win European competitions more often. We've done well under Alex, but not very well. We're not quite there. In the Premiership, on the other hand, we've been winning the big games. Paul Scholes is probably the best technical player England has - one of the group of young players for whom Eric Cantona laid the foundations."