Sir Alex builds on success

Sir Alex Ferguson believes his Manchester United team will be an even stronger force this season, not least because of the club’s three big summer signings.

United won the league for the first time in four years in May with just eight players who had previously collected a Premiership winners medal. Ferguson says that the experience his side gained in their title challenge will only make them better players.

This season, with the addition of Owen Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson, the Scot is confident United will improve and hopes they can achieve their tenth Premiership title under his tenure.

“It was fantastic to win the Premiership again,” Ferguson told TheFA.com. “Particularly when you think that a lot of our players have never one a league medal. They are young and still have to acquire the experience of how to handle going for titles. So with that behind them, I think we can expect them to improve.

“We were able to do most of our business early on, the Owen Hargreaves move was one we had been negotiating for quite a long time. But it was just a matter of tying the loose ends at the end of the season.

“He’s got great European experience after seven years at Bayern Munich, and he brings energy and speed to the midfield. He’s only going to get better and that’s the way we try to do things here,” said Ferguson.

“We then decided to go for the two young players from Portugal before other clubs started to think about it.

“Nani we’ve known about for a long time. When we signed Ronaldo he was in the youth team. It was a matter of monitoring his progress. He can play all along the front line, as a wide player on the right or the left, and he can even play central midfield, so we have an adaptable, mobile player.

“Anderson, we feel, will be absolutely top drawer, he has incredible ability. He broke his leg last year but we took the risk simply because, if we waited, others would be in quickly for him.”

On Sunday, United meet Chelsea for The Community Shield at Wembley in a repeat of May’s FA Cup Final. The Blues came out with the spoils on that occasion, thanks to Didier Drogba’s extra-time winner, but Ferguson is hoping a good result this weekend will put United on the right track before their opening Premier League game against Reading next Saturday.

“There was nothing in The Final, we probably had the better chances and were maybe marginally ahead of Chelsea, but it took a really great goal to beat us,” he said.

“I think Drogba carried Chelsea for a lot of the season, he rescued them so many times.

“I don’t necessarily see winning The Shield as a boost for the start of the season, but at the end of the day footballers want to win, whether it’s playing tiddlywinks or whatever.”

He added: “But you hope there is good entertainment value for the fans, it is an occasion and it is at Wembley, so hopefully we can get the result that just sets the season up.”