Ferguson's feat provides perfect riposte to critics

Sir Alex Ferguson is regarded as Manchester United's finest manager since another Scottish knight, Sir Matt Busby, but it could all have been so different if it had not been for Mark Robins.

In January 1990 Robins, now at First Division Rotherham, scored the goal which helped the Red Devils past Nottingham Forest and into the fourth round of the FA Cup. It is fair to say that if United had lost that day, Ferguson could well have been on his way out of Old Trafford, though the club's former chief executive Martin Edwards has always maintained that the manager's position was never in danger.

Sir Alex arrived at the club with a glowing reputation after helping Aberdeen to break the Old Firm's dominance of Scottish football in the 1980s, winning the League three times, the Scottish Cup four times and the European Cup-Winners' Cup in 1983. He had even coached Scotland at the 1986 World Cup finals after the death of Jock Stein.

However, after three disappointing, trophyless seasons in which Ferguson spent large sums of money on adding to his squad, a fourth campaign without silverware would surely have been unthinkable. But the club did win the FA Cup in 1990 after a replay against Crystal Palace. The first match ended in a 3-3 draw and Ferguson made one of the many tough calls of his managerial career to drop his compatriot goalkeeper Jim Leighton in favour of the veteran Les Sealey. It proved a smart move as Sealey kept a clean sheet and Lee Martin stole the replay winner.

It was the kick-start that United, who had remained well supported despite the barren years of the 1980s, needed. A European Cup-Winners' Cup triumph against Barcelona in Rotterdam followed in 1991 and Sir Alex set about ensuring that the Red Devils would be well placed to dominate for a decade, concentrating the club's efforts on an academy which groomed what became known as "Fergie's Fledglings" ­ players like Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Wes Brown ­ while spending wisely.

Undoubtedly his most inspirational move in the transfer market was paying £1.2m paid to Leeds in November 1992 for Eric Cantona. The eccentric Frenchman had been a well-timed catalyst when Leeds pipped United for the final old First Division title ­ and he transferred his talismanic qualities to Old Trafford.

The club won the inaugural Premier League title in 1993 and proceeded to dominate the domestic game, winning the double in 1994 and 1996 before the team proved, in the post-Cantona era, that they were still winners. The 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich in Barcelona in May 1999 completed a momentous and unprecedented treble of league, FA Cup and European Cup and led to Ferguson receiving his knighthood.

The 1999-2000 and 2000-01 titles followed, and Ferguson announced the 2001-02 season would be his last as manager. He changed his mind of course, unable and unwilling to hand over the United team he had assembled to anyone else.

United's failure to win a single trophy last season stung Ferguson, and he has now guaranteed there is no repeat with the Premiership trophy ­ the perfect riposte to the critics who were declaring the end of the Ferguson dynasty a few months ago. That was when United slumped to 10th place in the Premiership, Danny Pugh and Lee Roche were on the substitutes' bench as eight first-teamers went under the surgeon's knife, Diego Forlan could not score, and murmurs of discontent were being aimed at Ferguson's new Portuguese coach, Carlos Queiroz. Last autumn even Sir Alex himself admitted that United had "lost their cutting edge".

To have overcome all that and brought the title back to Old Trafford says much for his resolve and driven ambition. Defeat in the Champions' League against Real Madrid was a disappointment, but domestic success this year is in its own way as impressive as the treble-winning year of 1999.

Mostly, however, winning the Premiership 2003 will taste sweet to Ferguson because he has repelled the challenge of Arsène Wenger. It is no secret the pair do not see eye to eye. Their mind games are famous and frequent, though Ferguson's dislike this season was fuelled by Wenger's insistence on proclaiming the "greatness" of his team. Wenger's boast that they could go through this season "unbeaten" ­ and that "having seen Manchester United this season I would not say that they will necessarily be our main rivals for the title this year" ­ was a red rag to Sir Alex.

SIR ALEX FERGUSON: THE TROPHY TRAIL

July-October 1974: East Stirling

1974-78: St Mirren

1978-86: Aberdeen

1979: Scottish League Cup runners-up

1980: Scottish Premier Division champions; Scottish League Cup runners-up

1981: Scottish Premier Division runners-up

1982: Scottish Cup winners; Scottish Premier Division runners-up

1983: Scottish Cup winners; European Cup-Winners' Cup winners

1984: Scottish Premier Division champions; Scottish Cup winners; European Super Cup winners

1985: Scottish Premier Division champions

1986: Scottish Cup winners; Scottish League Cup winners

1985-86: Scotland (including 1986 World Cup finals)

Record: P10; W3; D4; L3; F8; A5

1986-: Manchester United

1990: FA Cup winners; FA Charity Shield shared

1991: European Cup-Winners' Cup winners; European Super Cup winners; League Cup runners-up

1992: League Cup winners; (old) First Division runners-up

1993: Premier League champions; Charity Shield winners

1994: Premier League champions; FA Cup winners; Charity Shield winners; League Cup runners-up

1995: Premier League runners-up; FA Cup runners-up.

1996: Premier League champions; FA Cup winners; Charity Shield winners. Became first manager to win two Doubles.

1997: Premier League champions; Charity Shield winners

1998: Premier League runners-up.

1999: Champions' League winners, Premier League champions; FA Cup winners.

2000: Premier League champions

2001: Premier League champions. Ferguson becomes the first manager to win three consecutive English league titles.

2002: Finished third in the Premier League, the only time in 11 seasons United have been outside the top two.

2003: Premier League champions.