So Manchester United face French club Marseille in the Champions League last sixteen. It could have been worse even though this will not be an easy tie but it’s certainly a winnable one which should see United safely into the quarter finals. Marseille are currently lying in fifth position in the French League having lost 4 times and qualified from their European group in second place having lost their first two matches before coming back with four straight wins.

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The eight Champions League groups have been completed, all sixteen qualifiers for the knock out stage have been identified – and Manchester United now have a much better idea of who may be their next opponent in February. Nine clubs will definitely be avoided because they are either fellow Group Winners, Premier League clubs who cannot meet each other and Valencia who were in the same group as United in the first round. The clubs that United  CANNOT possibly meet are Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Schalke 04, Bayern Munich, Shakhtar Donetsk, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal

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It was not easy but the job was completed in the end. Mind you, had only half the chances created by Manchester United been taken, the game could have been won before half time. Not for the first time this season, good opportunities went begging and United nearly paid a heavy price when Pablo gave Valencia the lead against the run of play just after the half hour. It took an all too rare Anderson equaliser after 62 minutes to get the one point needed to ensure top place in the group.

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I made the case in a recent post that United’s performances thus far this season indicate that we’re still too reliant on Paul Scholes, a 36-year-old, to pull the strings in midfield and get the team playing like one that is capable of crafting out goal scoring opportunities. If we’re lining up in our default 4-4-2 without Scholes in there, there’s a good chance that a night of misplaced passes and sloppy first-touches is about to ensue.

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Evolution be damned. Clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool need a revolution. Truly Reds has never been radical or  politically driven, nor is it about to start preaching anarchy now. We believe however, that the time has come for football fans to take control of their clubs from the Gordon Gekko type greedy tycoons who are slowly destroying our great clubs and even the game itself. All shades of governments and self appointed football guardians like the FA, UEFA and FIFA are either unable or, more than likely unwilling, to stop OUR clubs from being financially driven out of existence by corporations who only see them as a means of making a quick, few million bucks. Football has sadly become all about the almighty  dollar.

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It has to be as sure a bet as you’re ever likely to get, not quite impossible to lose but as near a certainty as can be. Managing the same club for 700 consecutive Premier League matches is a record that nobody will ever take from Sir Alex Ferguson. That milestone was reached at Goodison Park on Saturday but overall, the Scotsman has been in charge of Manchester United on 1336 occasions. It’s an incredible record built over 24 years at the club and nobody has any doubt that a quarter of a century will be clocked up in November next year to take him a shade past Sir Matt Busby. As Sir Alex celebrated his unique achievement, Sportsmail writers recall the moments of football genius and volcanic temper that put Fergie in a league of his own.

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