Man United the greatest

AMID the euphoria of Manchester United's three-in-a-row, all-time record-tying triumph, another statistic has emerged to suggest that Alex Ferguson's team has eclipsed Liverpool as English football's greatest-ever team.

AMID the euphoria of Manchester United's three-in-a-row, all-time record-tying triumph, another statistic has emerged to suggest that Alex Ferguson's team has eclipsed Liverpool as English football's greatest-ever team.

When Liverpool dominated domestic football, few people thought anyone would beat their 11 league titles in 18 seasons between 1973 and 1990. United's triumph on Saturday made it 11 in 17.

Ferguson has been in charge throughout that turnaround, and Liverpool have not won a single league title since United's run started in 1993.

Now Ferguson bids to beat the record of 18 league titles that the teams share, and make United become the first in the 121-year history of the league to win four in a row.

Ferguson, 67, said: "We want to progress with this team, which they're capable of doing. Next year we're going to go for it again. [Liverpool] were the greatest side in the land when I came here. We built slowly but I never thought we could get 11 titles. Never in a million years," Ferguson said.

"My main aim was to win one. Win the first one and see where it took us, and of course we progressed quickly after that."

A succession of managers - Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan - built a dynasty at Anfield and Liverpool dominated with stars such as Kevin Keegan, Ian Rush, Graeme Souness, Emlyn Hughes and Kenny Dalglish.

In the same way, Ferguson's team has evolved from the eras of Mark Hughes and Bryan Robson to the young stars of today, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

In between came the likes of Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel, Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer and the crop of young stars - David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs.

Apart from a three-year spell when Arsenal and Chelsea won the titles between 2004 and '06, United have showed no signs of flagging.

Ferguson had once planned to retire, in 2002, but stayed on to chase more titles.

After capturing his 25th major trophy with United, yesterday he said he could even stick around for five more years if his health holds up.

With a blend of youth and the experience of stars such as Giggs, Scholes and Neville, Ferguson has the ability to make new teams evolve out of old ones.

"It's a great side, really great, and a great squad," Ferguson said. "I could have picked two teams today. I had to leave good players out like Scholes, [Dimitar] Berbatov and Anderson. It's not easy."

On top of their Premier League domination, United have picked up five FA Cups under Ferguson, two European Champions Leagues, two world club titles, three League Cups, a European Super Cup and a Cup-Winners Cup. - AFP