LISTEN UP

Last updated : 06 April 2004 By editor

"For the last 10 years Manchester United have been the best team in England - over the past two games they have proved to everybody they still are," he told MUTV.

"They may be behind in the league and it will be difficult to come back this season but those two matches were psychologically very important and it was United who came out on top."

The relationship between the most successful - and one of the most volatile - managers Britain has ever produced and the charismatic but controversial Frenchman was always a quirky one.

But no-one could possibly deny the relationship between Ferguson and Cantona was anything other that mutually beneficial, although it is not just for winning trophies that the striker, thinks his former manager is the best in the business.

"It is not because he has won so many things," he said. "It's because he does it through self generation.”

"He has the money to buy the best players in the world but when young players come to the club he helps them and gives them a chance. For me, that is even more important."