Fine for Manchester United to claim title number nine

After a drought of four years without a Premier League title, Alex Ferguson's Manchester United bounced back into the limelight to collect their ninth Premiership crown in 15 seasons.

It is indeed an astonishing feat for the Mancunians to claim more than half the titles since the Premier League was established.

The six that went away were picked by Arsenal, three times, Chelsea, twice, and Blackburn on one occasion.

United are already favourites with punters to retain the championship next season.

In the previous years before the start of the Premiership, Manchester United had won the crown on seven occasions. Their overall total of championships now stand at 16 - two less than all-time leaders Liverpool whose last league title at home was claimed in 1989-90.

In 2006/07, Manchester United also stopped Chelsea from making it a hat-trick of titles in consecutive years. The only sides in the elite company are United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Huddersfield Town.

Manchester United and Chelsea will be the automatic representatives in the Champions League. They will be joined by Liverpool and Arsenal, who have to play one qualifying match before entering the group phase.

The English teams in the UEFA Cup will be Tottenham, Everton and Bolton. With both FA Cup finalists in the Champions League, the UEFA Cup slot went to Bolton who finished seventh in the league. Blackburn will figure in the Intertoto Cup.

Three of the seven representatives in Europe hail from London.

The trophies

The silverware in the English game was captured thus:

Community Shield: Liverpool.
League Cup: Chelsea.
Johnstone's Paint Trophy: Doncaster Rovers.
Football League title: Sunderland.
Premiership champions: Manchester United.
FA Cup: Chelsea.
Fair Play League: Tottenham.
Conference champions: Dagenham and Redbridge.
FA Trophy: Stevenage.

The awards

Manager of the Year: Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).
League Managers' Association Manager of the Year: Steve Coppell (Reading).
Football Writers' Footballer of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United).
Premiership Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo.
PFA Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo.
PFA Young Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo.
Premier Golden Boot Award: Didier Drogba (Chelsea).
Premier Golden Glove Award: Pepe Reina (Liverpool).

PFA Select XI

Van der Sar, G. Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Scholes (all Manchester United), Gerrard (Liverpool), Giggs (Manchester United), Drogba (Chelsea), Berbatov (Tottenham).