Sunderland 0 Manchester United 1: Sir Alex Ferguson congratulates Manchester City on title win http://www.dailypost.co.uk/sport-ne...-manchester-city-on-title-win-55578-30960583/ Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson congratulated Manchester City after they wrapped up the Barclays Premier League title in thrilling style. United looked in pole position to overtake Manchester City on the final day after their bitter rivals fell 2-1 behind to QPR at the Etihad Stadium. City appeared set to endure an awful afternoon when Djibril Cisse and Jamie Mackie overturned Pablo Zabaletaâs first-half strike, despite QPR having Joey Barton sent off. But Fergusonâs men, who beat Sunderland thanks to Wayne Rooneyâs 20th-minute strike, were denied in the cruellest possible circumstances as injury-time goals from Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero gave City a 3-2 win and rendered Manchester Unitedâs result irrelevant. "Nobody expected that," Ferguson said. "Everybody expected City to win, but they did it against 10 men for half an hour and with five extra minutes to help them. "But I congratulate City on winning the league. Anybody who wins it deserves it, because itâs a long haul. "At the end of our game our players didnât actually know the results. Now, theyâre really disappointed, Iâm glad to say. "Thereâs no other way they should be. They conducted themselves brilliantly today. "Their performance level was good. Iâm pleased at our performance this season. Eighty-nine points would win most leagues. It wasnât our turn today." Ferguson felt it was a harsh way to hand over the league title they won last year, but acknowledged he has had many happy memories on the final day of a league season. "Itâs a cruel way (to lose the title) but weâve experienced many ups and downs in the 25 years Iâve been here - most of them are great moments," Ferguson said. "Weâve won the league title three times on the last day and today we nearly did it." The Manchester United manager was pleased with the way his side approached the match against Sunderland. He said: "Coming into the last game I said, âConcentrate on your job, thatâs what we have to doâ, because youâre going to get certain types of reaction from the crowd and you saw that. "You just have to put that to one side and concentrate on your own game which I thought we did really well." United end the season trophyless for the first time since the 2004/05 campaign, yet Ferguson is determined to focus on the positives. "I think we take credit in the fact weâve had so many injuries this season and weâve coped with that very well," he added. "Some of the young players have gained some experience and theyâll be around in five, six, seven years time all these young players at Manchester United. "Experience is good for them - even if itâs a bad one."
Compare that response to the Busby congratulations. Also he neatly turned things round by saying how they had won 3 titles on the last day etc. For my money he could have blamed his players for not upping their goal tally on a struggling team. Be gracious in defeat and then go home and kick the cat.
