FOR as long as I can remember I've looked at Manchester United through eyes smarting with envy. But as a life-long fan of the Blessed Blues, you wouldn't expect me to say anything different, would you?

In my mind it's always been like the Reds are living up there at the top of the hill in that big, swanky mansion with all mod cons. Me and my fellow Blue Mooners are down here in our little two-up, two-down terraces with outside loos.

At the root of that green-eyed jealousy is that, down the years, whatever United wanted, United got. That's not my imagination taking flight. That's a cold, hard fact.

It was Sir Matt Busby who set the trend when he was laying the first bricks of the Old Trafford empire in the years immediately following World War II.

And a whole succession of managers have followed the great man's lead.

Signing top-quality players was as easy as falling off a log. Those managers didn't have to sell their club to the player - the club sold itself.

But now it seems that the Reds have been evicted from that mansion on top of the hill. Old Trafford seems to have lost its magic appeal. And I'm at a loss to understand why.



The Fiery One would probably never admit it publicly, but there are players currently on the pay-roll at Chelsea who he would have loved to have brought to Old Trafford. Arjen Robben and Michael Essien are two who spring to mind.

What Fergie had admitted publicly is that his club cannot, and will not, compete with Chelsea in the transfer market.

"If Chelsea go for a player we are interested in, we are not going to beat them so there is no point," he said recently.

Within the last few days has come another example of United's fading appeal. Another reported Ferguson target, Bayern Munich's Michael Ballack, has been urged by his club president Franz Beckenbauer to opt instead for a move to Real Madrid. I hate it when I hear Fergie conceding defeat to Chelsea in regard to signing new players.

I hate it when I hear a club boss telling one of his players that he'd be better off in Madrid than Manchester.

I'm told that the American who bought Old Trafford is not short of a bob or two.

Let him get his hand in his pocket. Let him give Fergie the cash so that he CAN compete with Chelsea in the transfer market or nick a player from right under the nose of Real.

Then I can go back to viewing United through those envious eyes. Normal service will have been resumed.

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