Ferguson faces nervous 12 months as Chelsea gallop away

The bare facts of the 2004/2005 season make depressing reading for Manchester United fans and, above all, manager Alex Ferguson.

Twenty points behind champions Chelsea with one game left, United will again have to qualify for next season's Champions League after finishing third in the Premier League.

It's the first time in 12 years that the richest club in the world have gone two seasons without winning the English title and, for the second season running, United were also unable to win a place among the last eight in the Champions League.

True, United meet Arsenal in the May 21 final of the FA Cup, the one trophy they won last year.

Victory in Cardiff over their bitter rivals would be some solace but Tuesday's 3-1 home defeat by Chelsea demonstrated there is something amiss at Old Trafford after 19 years of Ferguson rule.

A team fielding the world's most expensive defender, Rio Ferdinand, and a front four of Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney were out-thought and ultimately outplayed by their London visitors.

Worryingly for Ferguson, the remnants of the generation behind United's eight league titles since the early 1990s - Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville - have hit 30 and the fulcrum of the side, Roy Keane, is 34 in August.

However, the manager has been told there will be no money available for major purchases after he splashed out £27 million on England striker Rooney last August.

Any transfers - a reliable goalkeeper would be top of Ferguson's list - will have to be paid for by selling players but the allure and buying power of Chelsea means United are very much second in the queue.

The changing of the guard on the pitch has been mirrored in the dugout where Chelsea's Jose Mourinho, a Champions League winner with Porto last season, has proved himself a manager of outstanding ability.

When United played Chelsea at Old Trafford earlier this season, Mourinho exchanged a few pleasantries with Ferguson on the touchline and, on parting, clipped the 63-year-old over the head in a friendly gesture.

Twenty one years Ferguson's junior, Mourinho clearly has no fear of the abrasive Scot, who in June goes on to a 12-month rolling contract.

United executives insist there has been no discussion about when Ferguson, who celebrated his 1,000th game in charge of United in November, might retire and say they believe he will be in charge for many years to come.

However, United's status as a listed stock exchange company holds hidden dangers for Ferguson.

US financier Malcolm Glazer is preparing a third bid for United and any takeover could lead to major changes in how the club is run on and off the pitch.

The success of any possible Glazer bid could depend on the attitude of United's two biggest shareholders, J.P. McManus and John Magnier.

Magnier fell out with his one-time friend Ferguson over a champion racehorse, Rock of Gibraltar, last year.

He subsequently questioned the United board over the wisdom of offering Ferguson a new long-term contract and demanded an investigation into payments to players' agents by the club.

What might happen in the boardroom at United in the next few months is conjecture.

What is certain is that United, plc and club, cannot suffer another season of comparative failure and give the impression to fans from Manchester to Manila they are also-rans behind Chelsea.