'The afternoon uncomfortably told plenty about Charlton: that they lack the raw material to make serious impact on the Premiership; that they probably hold their relatively comfortable League position thanks to the organisation and coaching of Alan Curbishley; and that in the three approximate divisions of the Premiership - top six, middle six and bottom eight - their natural place is the last of the three.
Charlton were so poor that it was impossible to tell how good were United. Oddly, in response to Curbishley's cautious 4-5-1, Ferguson employed…exactly the same. The difference was that while Charlton's bulging midfield, leaving Shaun Bartlett up front, were committed to bolstering defence, United's five sought to supplement Ruud van Nistelrooy. Yet so much of the time they looked like a concert pianist practising scales rather than a full-blown sonata.
There was the inevitable run of jokes about 999, the number of Ferguson's matches in charge of United. Charlton must have been tempted to dial the number at half-time in appeal for fresh troops: though it would have been appropriate, in view of their performance, if their plea, "send reinforcements, we're going to advance", had been misheard, as in the old First World War telegraph joke, "send three-and-fourpence, we're going to a dance".
It is doubtful whether Ferguson can have been too content with what he saw, but we must assume that it will be some time before he is willing to hand over the keys: and that might indeed prove in the long term to be a mistake, as it did with Sir Matt Busby.