United’s Season

• Premier League: second  – FIRST
• Champions League: quarter-final  – SECOND ROUND
• Carling Cup: quarter-final  – QUARTER FINAL
• FA Cup: winners  – QUARTER FINAL
• Player of the Year: Wayne Rooney  – ROBIN VAN PERSIE/MICHAEL CARRICK
• Reserve Player of the Year: Jack Barmby  – ADNAN JANUZAJ
• Academy Player of the Year: Mats Moller Daehli  – BEN PEARSON

Premier League Top Ten

1. Manchester City  – MANCHESTER UNITED
2. Manchester United  – MANCHESTER CITY
3. Chelsea  – ARSENAL
4. Arsenal  – CHELSEA
5. Liverpool  – TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
6. Newcastle United  – EVERTON
7. Tottenham Hotspur  – LIVERPOOL
8. Everton  – WEST BROMWICH ALBION
9. Sunderland  – SWANSEA CITY
10. Fulham  – WEST HAM UNITED

Relegated

• Southampton  – WIGAN ATHLETIC
• Norwich  – READING
• Reading  – QUEENS PARK RANGERS

Champions League

• Winners: Real Madrid  – TO BE CONFIRMED
• Runners-up: Bayern Munich  – TO BE CONFIRMED

Europa League

• CSKA Moscow  – CHELSEA

FA Cup

• Manchester United  – WIGAN ATHLETIC

Carling Cup

• Arsenal  – SWANSEA CITY

Player of the Season

• Wayne Rooney  –  GARETH BALE

Young Player of the Season

• Eden Hazard –  GARETH BALE

Sack Race

• Brian McDermott, Reading  – SACKED
• Chris Hughton, Norwich  – SAFE
• Sam Allardyce, West Ham United  – SAFE

Also on the show this week – we look back on United’s performance against Swansea City, with Rio Ferdinand grabbing a late winner in Fergie’s final home game, and a fantastic club parade through Manchester. We look forward to a future under David Moyes, and say goodbye to David Beckham and Paul Scholes.

We take you Twitter questions, give away a fabulous t-shirt, and look forward to the final game of the season against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthornes.

Hit us up with any feedback below or follow the pod on Twitter: Paul – @UtdRantCast, Ed – @UnitedRant.

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Stream this episode using the player below or listen on iTunes and leave us a review! The podcast RSS feed is available here.

Rant Back
The pod’s call-in section “Rant Back” features the best audio comments, questions and other nonsense each week. Keep your comment short, reasonably clean and leave a name to take part.

Send an MP3 to cast@unitedrant.co.uk.

Built and moulded in the outgoing manager’s image,  United’s top-down structure would have inhibited Mourinho. One needs only to look at examples from two of Mourinho’s old flames - Chelsea and Inter – for examples of how the system can limit a coach’s success. Mourinho achieved great things in west London and Milan by creating a coaching set up to his exacting specifications. Those managers who followed the 50-year-old to Inter anad Chelsea crashed and burned, haunted by Mourinho’s spectre.

There will be a presence at Old Trafford too of course. Mourinho has proven to be an outstanding manager over the past decade, but Ferguson is simply greater. Ferguson’s legacy, especially with the former Aberdeen manager remaining at the club in an ambassadorial role, would have doomed Mourinho to the same fate as his successors.

This may not be true of David Moyes, whose lack of ego means that he is more willing to work with the system in place. If anything the Scot may deal with Ferguson’s heritage better than Mourinho. Arriving from a smaller, less sophisticated club, Moyes is already familiar with working within the confines set by others, financial or otherwise.

Meanwhile, Moyes’ limitations should be no barrier to future success. True, the 50-year-old’s European experience is limited, but that is not as concerning as it may first appear. After all, United should be too good and experienced not to qualify from Champions League group stages next season, whomever the coach.

United’s 2011/12 European campaign was a disaster, and Manchester City, with arguably a better squad, failed to qualify beyond the group stage two years in the row. Yet, United’s players are well seasoned in Europe, unlike the Blues.

Beyond the group stage matches fall victim to the vagaries of chance more than most, which has haunted Ferguson over the years. Paul Scholes’ goal against Porto in 2004 springs to mind, incongruously ruled offside in the game against Porto that made Mourinho’s career.

Certainly, a tactician of Mourinho’s quality can prove the edge in key matches, but it may behoove United supporters not to write off Moyes too quickly. After all, caution is key in European matches – a trait in which the Scot is well-versed.

Moreover, it is highly advantageous that Moyes has been managing in the Premier League for more than a decade. Europe holds the glamour, but domestic superiority is always United’s priority. Not least because the financial rewards are now greater than in the Champions League. Moyes knows how to navigate difficult domestic ties; one of his main rivals for the top job, Jürgen Klopp, doesn’t.

And if Moyes’ tactical approach is cautious, so too is United’s executive branch. In 1986 United’s board could afford to gamble on Sir Alex taking to life in England. This is no longer the case. With millions of fans worldwide, and more than £300 million in debt, the club must continue to be successful to maintain its current station in world football. The club could not have appointed a coach with limited Premier League experience.

Ferguson, whether by design or disposition – his diligence and desire for control are well documented – is a manager in its truest sense. The 71-year-old secured a hand in everything from the first team to the Megastore. Over the years Fergie has delegated some of responsibilities, but has always remained United’s ‘manager.’

This system is a British tradition. Meanwhile, continental clubs have long abandoned the practice of an omnipotent head, stripping managers of all duties bar first team training and matches. It would have been foolish at this stage to bring in a new coach from continental Europe with a retinue and little understanding of the United way. Moyes probably won’t fulfil all of Ferguson’s extensive responsibilities, but he’ll be receptive to doing most.

In this sense Ferguson’s retirement is an opportunity for the club too. There may never again be a true manager running United in Sir Alex’ mould, partly because  the club has become more complex, but mostly because managers are simply being trained to be ‘head coaches.’

But the club also needs prepare for the future. United will have to adapt by gently introducing more people into the back room. This may inevitably culminate in the club hiring a director of football down the line. After all, the benefits of specialisation and division of labour had long been obvious before Adam Smith’s pin factory.

Part of Ferguson’s genius lies in his adaptability – the Scot survived 26 years in his job because he continued to adjust. Moyes will not last that long, because he is already 50. But as football evolves there is no guarantee that Moyes will keep up as well as Ferguson has previously done.

Conceivably United will have to hire Moyes’ replacement within the next decade. Without a continental style system place, the club will find very limited room to manoeuvre vis-à-vis hiring the new man.

For now though, United has appointed a manager very much in Ferguson’s hue.

Ferguson has overseen the most decorated period in United’s history, securing 13 Premier League titles and two European Cups among more than 30 major trophies. It is a record without peer; one that will be celebrated as the Reds take on Swansea City in Manchester.

Sunday’s result is of little concern to many, although United’s limp end to the season has brought just two victories in seven matches, including last weekend’s home defeat to Chelsea. The Reds’ complacent performances in recent weeks are surely the result of a remarkably effortless march to this year’s title.

However, it is the big picture in focus on Sunday; United’s 20th league title honoured with the Premier League trophy presentation on the final whistle and Sir Alex’ farewell. The Scot will addresses the Old Trafford faithful for the final time at the close, while the occasion is set be marked with a ‘Champions 2013′ mosaic along the Stretford End as the teams enter the field. It is a celebration that United’s captain Nemanja Vidić is set to lead.

“I had the opportunity to lift the trophy after we won the 19th title and it is a great feeling,” said the Serbian defender.

“As a captain it is special. It is nice when you play for a club like Manchester United and you win a trophy. But it is the same feeling, whether you are captain or not. No-one has given any more or any less. We are a team and we all played a part.”

On the pitch Paul Scholes will play his final game for the club before retiring for a second time. The 38-year-old midfielder hasn’t featured since January with a knee injury, but will return to the team before taking a coaching role under new manager David Moyes next season. The flame-haired veteran has appeared 716 times for the club, scoring 155 goals.

“I am finally hanging up my boots for good,” said Scholes, who could start against the Swans.

“Playing football is all I have ever wanted to do, and so to have had such a long and successful career at Manchester United, under the greatest manager of all time, has been an honour.”

Ferguson could also recall veteran Rio Ferdinand for the final home game of the season, while midfielder Shinji Kagawa is also likely to feature. Rafael da Silva is suspended, but Danny Welbeck could return from injury.

Wayne Rooney, who reportedly asked for a transfer for the second time in his United career three weeks ago, will remain on the bench. He may never start a match for the club again.

Meanwhile, the visitors arrive in mixed form having won just once in the past six. However, Michael Laudrup’s side has secured 46 points this year, guaranteeing the Welsh club Premier League football next season. Indeed, the Dane’s side needs just two points more to improve on a fine 2011/12 campaign.

The visitors are without Angel Rangel and goalkeeper Michel Vorm, but top-scorer Michu, defender Chico Flores and Ki Sung-Yueng should all feature at Old Trafford.

Still, Sunday has little to do with the game. Not with two greats of the game moving on. Scholes and Ferguson have each enjoyed one ‘retirement’ a decade apart – neither will return this time around. And while Scholes’ presence will be missed, it is Ferguson’s departure that threatens to fundamentally shake up the club this summer.

Alongside Ferguson, the chief executive David Gill, scout Martin Ferguson, and potential a clutch of coaches will also depart.

Questions of the future can wait though. After all, the mood will be celebratory on Sunday, rather than one of trepidation.

“I don’t think anyone thought the day would come when Sir Alex retired,” said new United manager David Moyes.

“We all thought he was superhuman. He will be sorely missed, particularly by a lot of managers because he always spoke to them. He would always have a quiet word for anybody who was out of work or going into a job. His respect is beyond any real words. Everyone has great admiration for him. Any words I say won’t do it justice because of what the man has done.”

But if words can’t do Ferguson justice then the emotion of more than 70,000 at Old Trafford surely will. It should be quite a send off.

Match details
Manchester United v Swansea City- Premier League, Old Trafford – 4pm, 12 May 2013

Possible teams
United (4-2-3-1): de Gea; Jones, Vidić, Ferdinand, Evra; Carrick, Scholes; Valencia, Kagawa, Welbeck; van Persie. Subs from: Lindegaard, Büttner, Evans, Powell, Cleverley, Anderson, Rooney, Nani, Hernández

Swansea (4-3-3): Tremmel; Tiendalli, Williams, Chico, Davies; De Guzman, Britton, Routledge, Pablo, Michu, Shechter. Subs from: Cornell, Bartley, Taylor, Dyer, Agustien, Moore, Donnelly, Monk, Lamah, Situ

Match officials
Referee: Jon Moss
Assistants: A Halliday, P Bankes
Fourth Official: M Clattenburg

Form
United: LWDWDL
Swansea: LDDLDW

Head-to-Head
Last 10: United 6, Swansea 1, Draw 3
Overall: United 8, Swansea 6, Draw 5

Stats

• Sir Alex takes charge of United at Old Trafford for the final time on Sunday; his 1499th game in charge of the club;
• Ferguson’s captain, Nemanja Vidić made 24 interceptions last weekend in United’s loss to Chelsea at Old Trafford – the highest in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index during the last round of games;
• One of Ferguson’s key demands is his players’ work either – striker Robin van Persie is not only leading the Premier League’s goal scoring charts this season, but has made more clearances than any other forward in the league with 31;
• Patrice Evra has enjoyed a fine season, winning 64.1 per cent of 82 tackles, completing 624 passes in the opposition half, and delivering 42 crosses, notching up six assists and four goals;
• On the opposite flank Rafael has made 111 defensive contributions including 52 interceptions, while winning 49 of 82 attempted tackles, and has also completed 531 passes in the opposition half;
• Swansea face United shortly after holding Manchester City to a scoreless draw and then beating Wigan Athletic 3-2 with goals from Angel Rangel, Itay Schechter and Dwight Tendalli;
• Ashley Williams garnered Sir Alex’ criticism earlier this season, but showed his value last weekend by making four crucial blocks – the joint highest by a player in the Index;
• Williams has made 388 defensive contributions this season – tackles won, interceptions, blocks and clearances – 50 more than his nearest rival, Fulham’s Brede Hangeland;
• Williams’ defensive partner Chico attempted his 100th tackle of the season in the last round of games – one of 22 players in the Index to have done so, and while being one of only five to have maintained a winning tackle percentage of over 60 per cent.

Prediction
3-2

In a dramatic week for the club, Sir Alex steps aside with David Moyes appointed the new manager on a six year contract. Does the Everton manager have what it takes to lead United to ever greater glory or will the step up prove too much?

Also on the show this week: we look back on United’s defeat to Chelsea at Old Trafford and preview the weekend match with Swansea City. It is sure to be an emotional occasion. Finally, we give away a Ferguson testify in our new competition.

Hit us up with any feedback below or follow the pod on Twitter: Paul – @UtdRantCast, Ed – @UnitedRant.

And if you really love the show, you can always help cover our rising bandwidth costs by making a small donation!

Stream this episode using the player below or listen on iTunes and leave us a review! The podcast RSS feed is available here.

Rant Back
The pod’s call-in section “Rant Back” features the best audio comments, questions and other nonsense each week. Keep your comment short, reasonably clean and leave a name to take part.

Send an MP3 to cast@unitedrant.co.uk.

Manchester United are often called a family club – a massive global enterprise, at the centre of which, administratively at least, are a bunch of the same people that have been around long enough to remember the first Sir Alex Ferguson title win.

[Of course, United are literally a family club, in the worst possible way, given that the club is run by a family of financial parasites, leeching millions away to line their own nest eggs, where presumably they nest their next generation who will grow up to do a leveraged buyout of a club in a developing market somewhere.]

Like all football clubs, United are also something families share, passed down from mother or father to son or daughter, from your uncle who cares about football when your dad doesn’t, or your best friend’s dad’s wife, since this is the modern age. Football has long been regarded as a place where it is acceptable for men to show emotion, letting out the tears that are borne of a deeper loss, but that manifest in the delight or devastation you experience because of the good or not-so-good kicking of a ball.

Somewhere in this mix, where the human unconscious is given an escape valve for emotions that can’t be expressed elsewhere, profound attachments form. And there can’t be many sporting attachments greater than that between United fans and Alex.

Forget the Sir, not just because it’s a weird relic of the feudal age, but also because it’s a latter day addition, it’s a millennial thing, arriving in time to make a handy three letter acronym for the internet age. Before he was Sir Alex, he was Fergie or Alec, and he represented something to me, to us. He was our family club’s dad.

It started straight away. Alex came in and replaced ‘Big Ron’, an avuncular, friendly figure (how little we knew…), and he was quite scary. I was nine, so I didn’t have a drinking culture, but United did and Ferguson put a stop to it, making the club professional, hitting some stumbling blocks, but building, always building.

I never lost faith in him, but I was only 12 when there were “three years of excuses” and living exiled in Zimbabwe, climbing rocks and preoccupied with working out if I could design a hoverboard. By the time I really really cared about football, he became the best dad ever, buying Eric Cantona and winning the league in the year I started sixth form college.

Ferguson brought through a whole generation of kids, and the surrogate father bit was given a whole new dimension. Those of the class of 1992 who became the heart of Ferguson’s team must surely be the players with the deepest relationship with him – David became the black sheep, Ryan, Paul and Gary stayed loyal. Little brother Philip was sent to live up the road with Uncle David so he could come back a few years later and tell us it would all be ok.

Then came the knighthood, and with it the passage to grand-parenthood. Cristiano Ronaldo certainly needed a father figure, and another generation removed, Sir Alex became one. We all watched on, as Fergie became an elder statesman, this great manager becoming the greatest of all time in front of our grateful eyes.

Like all families, there was betrayal and tragedy. He sided with the Glazers rather than the supporters, perhaps because he felt it was in the fans’ best interests to act as a buffer between them and us. Perhaps for less noble reasons. Fergie said that if we didn’t like it we could go and support Chelsea. (Or – we could go to our rooms without any supper, as it were).

Like all dads he embarrassed us, not with his bad dancing – the fist pumped goal celebrations were joyous, not cringeworthy – but his ruthlessness could grate on those with a more sensitive bearing. Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy, the weird goalkeeping blind spot. But as you grow up you learn that your parents aren’t perfect, and nor is your football manager.

I’m in my 30s now, and I try to keep the level of emotional investment in men, with a certain colour top, who kick a football, to a manageable level. But Fergie pre-dates my attempts to do that.

I’m so sad that he’s not United’s manager any more, even though I’m happy he gets to retire. I didn’t cry at the montages or the announcement, but I did cry when I recorded Rant Cast and I tried to list all his positive qualities as a human being. A day later, I realise why that was the trigger for me

It’s because it’s complicated. Fergie has been ruthless, and leaves our club registered in the Cayman Islands. He hurt a lot of people. But that’s not the full story.

There has been so much human goodness – the generosity to those in need, the support to other managers in hard times. He is a trade union man, after all. The thousands of letters of condolence and congratulations, done without fanfare.

And whilst there have been times of apparent obstinacy, and masses of footballing frustration, Sir Alex has brought joy to those of us lucky enough to be United fans that no other club anywhere in the land has been even nearly slightly close to experiencing.

I love my dad, even though he is not perfect, and I love Ferguson, even though he is not either. So, thank you, Alex, for dedicating your life to doing something which has made the fans so happy, so often. It’s been absolutely amazing and I honestly cannot believe that it is over.

I understand that impermanence is the fundamental nature of the universe, but I sort of thought you’d be the exception. I am going to remember the joy you brought for the rest of my life, and the pain will fade.

Most of all I will try to remember a mantra I try to live by, something which gives perspective when that inevitable impermanence shows itself: don’t be sad that it is over, be glad that it happened.

Ferguson’s has been a remarkable journey these past 27 years. From a club on its knees, without a league trophy since 1968, to the global monolith that oozes silverware from every pore. Ferguson has overseen it all.

Along the way there has come more than 30 major trophies, countless rows and the unsavoury support for the Glazer family.

Yet, strangely almost, by the time United’s official announcement came on Thursday there was no surprise in Ferguson’s passing. Perhaps it is the numbness that comes with shock. Or, in truth, that the expectation of the unexpected was so ingrained that Sir Alex’ news, coming out of left field, was at least from clear blue skies.

Victory over Manchester City, such comprehensive victory at that, has proffered a send off better than any could have hoped. Not for this manager did it all end in failure.

And in the passing of time and glory it is so easy to forget just how decrepit the club that Ferguson found in 1986; unstable financially, a squad bent more on drinking than winning, and an opponent in Liverpool that conquered all before it. The perch wasn’t even in sight.

The legacy is complete now. By any measure Ferguson’s reign is without peer. Not at United, nor in England, or globally. And he will leave a club far stronger than he found it.

“The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about,” said Ferguson on Wednesday.

“It was important to me to leave an organisation in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so. The quality of this league-winning squad, and the balance of ages within it, bodes well for continued success at the highest level whilst the structure of the youth set-up will ensure that the long-term future of the club remains a bright one.”

There is so much that has already been written; Fergie strolls into retirement having created a surfeit of memories. It is an end none could have foreseen on 6 November 1986 – the day Ron Atkinson was sacked, and Ferguson hired as his replacement.

Indeed, there was little hope that Ferguson would last five years at a club that had sought glory, but failed to deliver in more than a generation. It has been one of the most remarkable tenures in the history of the game.

Then Ferguson is one of the most remarkable men to have graced the sport. A force majeure of control freakery, with an uncanny ability to cajole, bully and inspire. Each has contributed to Ferguson’s success.

As has luck. Barrel loads of it. But then, as Lefty Gomez, the post-war pitcher famously said: “I’d rather be lucky than good.” Ferguson is both and modern United owes him all for it.

But Ferguson’s appointment was a gamble, whatever the manager’s success in Scotland. As it turns out, ending the Auld Firm duopoly and taking provincial outpost Aberdeen to European glory was just the beginning of Ferguson’s iconoclasm.

Yet, United, as Fergie was to learn, is nothing like Aberdeen, and the expectation of success has always been different, even if it was rarely achieved between Sir Matt Busby’s heyday and the late 1980s.

It has long been said that Ferguson’s mission on joining United was to “knock Liverpool off their perch.” In truth that came much later. United, on its knees after Atkinson’s dismissal, had far more modest ambitions.

The club’s final position of second in the old First Division at the end of the Scot’s first full season in charge was entirely false. Simply becoming competitive with Liverpool was the imperative. After all, at Liverpool they said ‘winning is winning and second is nowhere’.

United was nowhere at best.

Most destructively, Ferguson inherited a deleterious culture of alcohol among a clique of senior pros. That Ferguson set about systematically re-engineering the club, and ultimately succeeding, is testament to the enduring influence the Scot has brought on what is now a multi-billion pound institution. And he did it all in Busby’s shadow.

Ferguson ripped apart United’s youth system – a decision that would prove fruitful nearly a decade later – laying the foundations for squad changes ahead.

By the end of the 1988 campaign Ferguson had released, sold or accepted the retirements of seven players. Within two years Ferguson had overseen the departures of more terrace heroes, including Gordon Strachan, Norman Whiteside, and Paul McGrath.

This, however, is United and progressive change, no matter the club’s state in the mid to late 1980s, was never so copacetic. By the turn of the decade Ferguson was under pressure from within, many calling for or anticipating the manager’s departure.

“Three years of excuses and it’s still crap…ta-ra Fergie,” read the now infamous banner following a run of six defeats in eight games during late 1989. Ferguson would later describe the period as “the darkest” he had ever suffered.

If there was a turning point in Ferguson’s tenure then United’s FA Cup win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in January 1990 is often the illustration. It has become a Fergusonian cliché, but the pressure to dismiss the Scot had United not secured the 1990 FA cup may well have become insurmountable.

The Cup win was never enough for the Scot though. Ferguson’s assessment that United had become a ‘cup team club’ was always on the money.

Success in Europe came in 1991 with a remarkable, and thoroughly unexpected, run in the Cup Winners’ Cup, triumphing 2-1 in the final against Barcelona. It would not be the last time Ferguson would meet the Catalans in European competition. Once again, however, United failed to put up a genuine challenge for the First Division title.

Not until narrow failure a year later, with Paul Parker and Peter Schmeichel adding to the growing influence of youngsters Lee Sharpe and Ryan Giggs, did United genuinely challenge for English supremacy. It was the first time in 25 years that the club had done so.

The Holy Grail was found a year on amid the late drama of Steve Bruce’s unforgettable headed double against Sheffield Wednesday. Champions of England at last, with Brian Kidd’s praise sent to the heavens.

The deluge started then. The double came in 1994, with the most combative team modern United has known. “So many of them, real tough bastards,” Ferguson would later note. The ‘double double’ came two years later under the magnificent influence of Ferguson’s finest signing, Eric Cantona.

By 1999 United conquered Europe’s best, driven not through expensive acquisitions alone, but by the youthful evolution Ferguson had instigated 13 years earlier.

United may have been lucky that remarkable night at Camp Nou, but it was Ferguson’s due having revived the club root and branch from a generation-long malaise.

In that Ferguson has never been a coach alone. Whether United’s board truly understood this in 1986 is moot; it was a decision that transformed a football club.

The Scot’s chameleon-like ability to adapt to an ever-changing environment has ensured that the club has continually met new challenges. He has personally evolved for the modern era by entrusting an ever-increasing sphere of influence to an army of coaching, fitness, health and science professionals.

There are failures though. Ferguson’s ability to succeed in the market has often been mixed. Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Denis Irwin – all bought for a song. The Scot also wasted money on a plethora of the average, particularly as the 1990s gave way to a new millennium. The scattergun policy still unearths rare gems, but mediocrity is often a by-product.

Then there are the personality failings: Ferguson’s requirement for total control has seen Paul Ince, David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Jaap Stam leave in acrimony, each before their peak.

Too often, with embarrassing results, Fergie picked fights with the Football Association, media, referees, fellow managers, coaches and, eventually, United’s supporters. Much of it was counter-productive.

“Sometimes I lose my temper,” he once noted. “If someone argues with me I have to win the argument. I can’t lose an argument.”

And no mention of Ferguson’s failings can come without an assessment of his role since 2005. The Scot’s acquiescence to the Glazer takeover, the decision to ‘look after his staff’, and to repeatedly, vocally, support a regime at the height of supporter protest was unnecessarily divisive.

Ferguson’s refusal to acknowledge even the basis for supporter concern was an error. Fans cannot, as Ferguson once urged a travelling supporter, simply “f*ck off and support Chelsea.”

Yet, the bitter after-taste of Ferguson’s loyalty to the Glazer family will fade before memories of the glory will. There is a generation of United supporters that know nothing else but Ferguson, good and bad. Those supporters have experienced little else but unbridled success.

The new journey begins with David Moyes in the dugout, and Fergie in the directors box. Sir Alex’ shadow will surely be long and dark. But that is for the future. In focus for now, the goodbye.

“To the fans, thank you,” concluded Ferguson on Wednesday.

“The support you have provided over the years has been truly humbling. It has been an honour and an enormous privilege to have had the opportunity to lead your club and I have treasured my time as manager of Manchester United.”

It is mutual. It has been a drama, a pleasure, and, frankly, an absolute honour.

Deployed against Chelsea as the most forward of United’s curious midfield triumvirate, Anderson received the ball 46 times, made 36 passes – 32 successful – and lost possession on eight other occasions. He created no chances, took no shots and scored no goals. Plus ça change.

Impudence aside, Sunday’s wasn’t Anderson’s most slipshod performance in a United shirt. There have been plenty of those. On the day others – notably Ryan Giggs, Antonio Valencia, Tom Cleverley – were just as injurious, but after six years of increasing mediocrity few can remember when Anderson reached his current low.

This season is the player’s career in a microcosm: just seven starts in the Premier League, 15 in all competitions. Sir Alex Ferguson is increasingly loathe to trust the former international, even on the sporadic occasions when the player is fit.

There have been two goals and five assists – three in a single Carling Cup match against Chelsea – and he has taken just seven shots all season. The numbers have rarely stacked up. In 168 appearances in all competitions Anderson has produced just nine goals and 21 assists – eight of those in the Carling Cup.

That Anderson has never started more than 30 games for United in a campaign says much about how little Ferguson can or does reply on the midfielder. That the player has started and finished just 18 matches in those 168 appearances for the club affirms the observation. In keeping with history, Anderson was substituted after 69 minutes of United’s defeat to Chelsea at the weekend.

Now aged 25, it is impossible to argue that Anderson is a better than the player United acquired for €30 million (£20.3 million) in June 2007. He has certainly regressed from the exciting attacking talent that secured the Golden Ball as best player at the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship.

And whatever the blame for Anderson’s misadventure – the player’s bankrupt attitude to professionalism, Sir Alex’ tactical misuse, and rank bad luck – failure it most certainly is. In the years of waiting the only wonder left is Sir Alex’ enduring patience.

Indeed, the player will surely be shipped out in the summer should United find a suitable buyer, although the club will have to write off a substantial percentage of the player’s original purchase price. Rumours of a return to Porto may represent the best bet for both player and United.

In fact there is no guarantee that a more suitable buyer will come forward to claim the player at a price that United is willing to accept, although with two years left on the midfielder’s contract the coming summer represents the best return the club will ever achieve.

And the player has little argument to brook when United move him on; not after claiming that the campaign now drawing to a close was a defining moment in his career. It should be.

Anderson’s probable exit represents a significant about face, especially for Sir Alex who has been unswerving in his public support for the former Grêmio player. After all here is a manager with a peerless reputation for developing youth who has, through some significant fault of his own, failed to get the best out of an expensive youthful acquisition.

“We are delighted,” said Ferguson when Anderson signed a new five-year £80,000-per-week contract in summer 2010. “Anderson has developed tremendously since joining us; he is going to be a really top player.”

Similar plaudits have followed each return from injury and every subsequent false start. Ferguson’s support is buttressed each time by any morsel of evidence that Anderson might one-day become the player that United’s management and massed support always wanted.

But there have been just 49 starts since that lucrative new contract was inked. Almost £12 million committed in wages since 2010 at around £250,000 per start. By the time Anderson leaves this summer, United will have paid out around £50 million in transfer fee, bonuses and wages for the player. As Ferguson was once so fond of saying, there really is no value in the market.

Should the player move on it will surely benefit all parties; a return to Portugal or Brazil, where economic growth now enables local clubs to finance players on European wages, will proffer the player game-time in a lower profile environment. And while Anderson will almost certainly never become the player that Golden Ball once promised, the talent remains to forge a career elsewhere.

Moreover, removing Anderson from Ferguson’s roster will create the space and incentive for the Scot to acquire a new central midfielder for the first time since the Brazilian’s capture six years ago.

The strategy comes at a risk of course: Darren Fletcher’s chronic illness, and Paul Scholes’ retirement will leave United two further central midfielders down, while Ryan Giggs will turn 40 shortly into the new season. But United’s goals have moved on too. Returning the Premier League to trophy to Old Trafford this season affords the club a new incentive next year – Europe, where the genuine benchmark of quality surely lies.

Indeed, United’s ability to dismiss domestic mediocrity has masked weaknesses in Ferguson’s first team – a fact recorded in the Reds’ mixed record of 11 points from 24 against other members of the ‘top five’: City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. The team hasn’t beaten a European opponent of genuine note since a 1-0 victory in Valencia, September 2010.

That record is unlikely to change before Ferguson’s strengthens at United’s point of greatest fragility in central midfield. Anderson’s departure is now central to that goal.

What then of United’s fixture with Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday? With little on the line for the Reds, but everything for Rafa Benitez’ visitors, it is another match of contrasting motivations.

The title secured, Ferguson’s men have little but a modicum of revenge at stake. And pride in the integrity of competition, of course, with Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur each chasing Champions League places.

After all, while United secured victory at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League earlier this season, Chelsea knocked Ferguson’s side out of two cup competitions during the campaign.

Meanwhile, Benitez has just a handful of games to secure Champions League football next season, with Chelsea in a three-way race for third and fourth spots in the Premier League.

United, in relaxed mood, will surely lack the a certain edge on the biggest occasion, of course. But if the Reds’ second-half performance against Arsenal is any evidence, Ferguson is unlikely to being in charitable mood. Not, of course, given the personal animosity between the Scot and Benitez, which has rarely been kept below the surface since the Spaniard’s “facts” rant in January 2009.

This is a relationship built on anything but trust and mutual respect. Indeed, Benitez is one of the few managers to eschew the norms of managerial conduct, says Ferguson. The Spaniard accused Ferguson of refusing to shake his hand after the 2-2 FA Cup draw  earlier this season.

“At the end of a game I always shake hands and we always have a meeting in my office afterwards with both sets of staff,” said the 71-year-old United manager this week.

“It is the right thing to do. It is an opportunity to get away from the game itself. You maybe see managers twice a year, so that opportunity to spend half an hour with them after a match is vital. You can discuss your jobs and a lot of issues.

“It is not easy if you have lost a game to go in. It is our chance to show we are Manchester United. No matter the result, go in. He (Benitez) came in once when he was at Liverpool. I don’t think he has come in again.”

Benitez says he will not share a glass with Sir Alex on Sunday either whatever the result.

Chelsea beat FC Basel on Thursday to reach the Europa League final, one goal of the three handed to Benitez when he took the reigns earlier in the campaign.

The west London outfit lost an FA Cup semi-final to Manchester City, while the Blues slipped to fourth in the Premier League after victories for both Arsenal and Spurs on Saturday. Next Wednesday’s clash against Spurs could prove decisive in the race for fourth.

But it has also been a period of upheaval at Stamford Bridge, with Benitez not only facing protests from the terraces, but standing accused of prioritising cup competitions over Chelsea’s greater need for Champions League football next season.

“He is very concerned about his CV,” jibed Ferguson. “He refers to it quite a lot.”

Meanwhile, Benitez this week accused Ferguson of buying years of success – and suggested that the relationship between the two managers has been strained only because of the Spaniard’s challenge to the older man.

“When you are with a top side, and you have had more money than anyone for years, then you can keep winning and you can keep talking,” said Benitez, who will again be out of a job come 19 May.

“He doesn’t (like me), he doesn’t, but it depends on the moment. You have to do what you have to do for your team. At the time (2009), he knew that Liverpool were very close. That was the situation. Now it is very different because they have won the title. But are they better than Manchester City? I am not sure. Are they better than Chelsea? I am not sure.”

While United’s points lead over City stands at 13, it is 20 greater than Chelsea’s. Still, Sunday offers another opportunity for bragging rights in a techy relationship between the two men.

Ferguson’s team heads into the clash fresher, but without a clutch of players. Ashley Young remains out, while Danny Welbeck is unlikely to return before next week’s fixture with Swansea City. However, veteran Paul Scholes should return to the squad for Sunday’s match.

“Welbeck is out of Sunday,” Sir Alex confirmed. “The rest are all fit. Scholes and Vidic are training and I’ll probably put Scholes on the bench on Sunday to get him back into the fray. I’d love him to play in the Swansea game.

“Chelsea have done fantastically well over the last few weeks and they are in the final of the Europa League. Chelsea are chasing a Champions League place as well and we’ll be playing the strongest team we can. We need to play with good enthusiasm and enjoy it. We should express ourselves and try to finish off a good season.”

Meanwhile, Benitez’ team heads north with rumours of José Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge resonating throughout the travelling support. It will do little but undermine the Spaniard’s position.

Still, with the Blues reaching the Europa League final, the mood in the camp is buoyant. The side also receives a double boost, with left-back Ashley Cole returning after missing Thursday’s Europa League win over Basel through suspension, and striker Demba Ba is also available again.

Oscar, John Terry and Eden Hazard could all return after being rotated out of the side for the clash with Basel. However, Benitez must balance his line-up against United against the one that played against the Swiss, and Wednesday’s crucial fixture with Spurs.

Match details
Manchester United v Chelsea – Premier League, Old Trafford – 4pm, 5 May 2013

Possible teams
United (4-2-3-1): de Gea; Rafael, Vidić, Ferdinand, Evra; Carrick, Giggs; Valencia, Rooney, Kagawa, van Persie. Subs from: Lindegaard, Büttner, Jones, Evans, Powell, Scholes, Cleverley, Anderson, Nani, Welbeck, Hernández

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz, Cole; Lampard, Mikel; Oscar, Hazard, Mata; Torres. Subs from: Turnbull, Hilario, Bertrand, Terry, Azpilicueta, Ramires, Moses, Benayoun, Marin, Ake, Ferreira, Ba.

Match officials
Referee: Howard Webb
Assistants: M Mullarkey, S Massey
Fourth Official: A Marriner

Form
United: LLWDWD
Chelsea: LWDWWW

Head-to-Head
Last 10: United 5, Chelsea 3, Draw 2
Overall: United 72, Chelsea 46, Draw 49

Stats

• Wayne Rooney’s future may be uncertain, but his numbers remain positive, with 123 attacking contributions this season, as well as a pass in the opponent’s half once every 3.1 minutes on average;
• French international Patrice Evra currently lies third in the United squad for crosses delivered with 42 – he is the second oldest full-back in the league to have broken the 30-cross barrier, behind Reading’s Nicky Shorey;
• Danny Welbeck has been deployed up-front and on the flank this season, but boasts just a 56.3 per cent shot accuracy rate in front of goal despite managing an attempt on goal once every 42.2 minutes he’s been on the pitch;
• Frank Lampard scored last week, edging the midfielder towards a club record goals tally – Lampard has achieved a shot accuracy rate of 63.5 per cent from 63 attempts this season, one shot every 44.3 minutes on the pitch;
• David Luiz has made more interceptions than any other Blues player this season with 122, as well as averaging at a squad-best rate of defensive contributions – one every 13.1 minutes according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index;
• Eden Hazard lies second to Juan Mata as Chelsea’s main creative force, making an attacking contribution (dribble, cross, shot on target or assist) on average once every 16.5 minutes, as well as joining an elite group of players to have made a pass in the opponent’s half  once every 3 minutes or less on average.

Prediction
1-1

Also on this week’s show: we talk race rows, yet again, with the PFA hanging comedian Reginald D Hunter out to dry after the the American dropped (several) N-bombs at the annual awards ceremony. Individual gongs were handed out to Tottenham Hotspurs’ Gareth Bale, although United secured four players in the Team of the Year.

We take your questions, talk about the Champions League semi-finals, take in some transfer rumours and preview United’s fixture with Rafa Benitez’ Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday!

Hit us up with any feedback below or follow the pod on Twitter: Paul – @UtdRantCast, Ed – @UnitedRant.

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