Olympians

Obviously we’re rubbish - we’ve won the Premier League and we’re in the Champions League final

Ryan Giggs sums it up.  I've lost count of how many reports start "This isn't the best Man Utd side," and then continue with an attempt at collusion, "even Man Utd fans have to agree."  I'm sorry I don't.  I'm not saying this is the best side, but why is it even a question?  Are they writing an article on best Man Utd sides? No.  They are meant to be celebrating our League Championship, not trying to belittle our side.

Obviously we’re rubbish - we’ve won the Premier League and we’re in the Champions League final.

Paul Wilson argues a similar thing, suggesting that, rather than the side not being the best, the refrain comes from a bad spell we had:

In truth, United were desperately ordinary for a couple of months in the autumn, roughly from the time they let a two-goal lead slip at Everton to the time they won their first away game at Stoke in late October, but even though the Rooney distraction was going on in the background they remained unbeaten

That and our away record gives people excuse to put us down, but even beneath the bare away stats there was some great away performances, comebacks against West Ham, Blackpool, Villa, which showed our strength.

Ignore Piers Morgan.

The other popular refrain today is "the controversial penalty," because of course we can't get a penalty without it being controversial... Robinson took his legs out.  Where's the problem?

Steve Tongue gives his reasons for our winning the title, the first being, "Others weren't good enough."  Really.  Isn't that self-explanatory.  We were the best in the league, ergo others weren't good enough.  It's not even worth mentioning, unless you have the ulterior motive of belittling our achievement.  By contrast, Liverpool, who we note are 5th, have had nothing but praise, Saint Kenny is the new messiah, his football genius has inspired his team of superstars to 5th (the dizzy heights of 2nd if the league had started in January...).  The narrative of Liverpool as told in the papers is always one of expectant success, our narrative is always told as a downward spiral, or as the failure of others letting us in.

Ignore Piers Morgan

Obviously we’re rubbish - we’ve won the Premier League and we’re in the Champions League final.

Louise Taylor writes the funniest thing you'll read today.  First off, we've won the league, how awfully depressing:

Deep down, though, a nagging sense of anti-climax refused to depart the party.  A record 19th league title should surely have been secured in swashbuckling, edge-of-the-seat style...

Not really.  I didn't see the wonderful Barcelona win it in style. Indeed it's pretty standard, we beat Chelsea in style last week, when it mattered we turned it on, we out-classed our closest challengers, this week, it was just crossing the line.  You can feel the hatred of us throughout, and with that hatred, the wishful thinking that oozes out of every pore - and here the stupidity of the haters logic is at its worst, on the hand we won the league because everyone else is rubbish, yet on the other, next year we'll have to have rebuilt completely because everyone else is going to be amazing.  Especially those scousers:

While those "noisy", preposterously wealthy, neighbours at Manchester City suddenly possess serious transfer market pulling power, events to the west are almost equally worrying.

No sooner than Liverpool have been put back in their box, than they are threatening to push the lid off it. Even worse there is an uncanny sense of deja vu about the recent renaissance down the M62.

Not only is Kenny Dalglish, the man whose Blackburn side frustrated United's title hopes in 1995, back in charge at Anfield but they are spearheaded by a menacing young Geordie. The name is Andy Carroll rather than Alan Shearer but his partnership with Luis Suárez threatens to eclipse the Javier Hernández/Wayne Rooney axis.

Significantly, Dalglish is a decade younger than Ferguson, who will turn 70 in December. United's manager claims retirement is not on his agenda but, given the scale of the task ahead, it would hardly be a complete surprise were he to suddenly quit while still on top.

Yawn.

Final word to Sir Alex, who else:

"This means a lot; winning a 19th title is a great achievement," Ferguson said. "Not so much because we have gone past Liverpool, but because we have now won more league titles than anyone else, as well as more FA Cups. That's what Manchester United should be about. Ideally we would have won more European Cups as well, but we still have a little ground to make up there. We've got a good chance [of winning another one] again this season. But, in domestic terms, we are out on our own and that's what pleases me most."