Class is Permanent

I have never liked Manchester United. Perhaps it was their perpetual success or the gum chewing smugness of Alex Ferguson that initially ignited my loathing. Either way it is fair to say that my distaste for all things red is tempered with a grudging respect.

It's a respect I'm sure that Manchester City's fans will find difficult to unearth given their unfortunate loss on Sunday afternoon in the Old Trafford leg of the derby. Admittedly Glazer Bros Incorporated were helped by the poor timekeeping abilities of the referee but, in the larger scheme of things, there was something at least partially worthy in their victory.

Although United are by no means the poor man of Manchester it has been a tough summer for the usually dominant force of the Northwest. As they watched their rivals buy up the cream of (wantaway) talent in British football they were left to contend with a hole in their team in the shape of a preening, but otherwise supremely talented, Portuguese tit by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo. In this sense their victory on Saturday is validation that they are still the big wolves on the Manchester campus, a sign that by sheer force of will (and the names that they managed to hold on too) they will reassert the dominance they have built throughout the decades over their now more monied rivals.

Sir Alex Ferguson jokingly declared in his pre- match press conference that Manchester City would never be better than his own team while he was alive. Although they are getting closer maybe he's right; are City fated to be forever in the shadows of their local rivals? Whilst they spend millions on a central defensive partnership that seems adverse to heading footballs Ferguson shrewdly invests in Michael Owen and nurtures Darren Fletcher into one of the finest midfielders in the world, quietly restoring the the natural order of things in the North West. How apt was it that Owen should score a late, poached winner? It was perhaps not what his team deserved but it underlined Ferguson's managerial acumen and showed that the tide has not quite turned for Mark Hughes and Manchester City. He has built an impressive team, one which has managed to gel and which gave an sterling (albeit defensively shaky) account of itself on Sunday but as yet for all the sense that they were beleaguered and weakened coming into this season it is United rather than City that are still on top in Manchester.