Man. United attain another crown
Boro feel relegation pain
Alex Ferguson continued with his success story at Old Trafford last season as Manchester United were crowned Premier League champions for the third time in succession. Overall, they have now caught up with rivals Liverpool with 18 league titles.
A unique record was achieved by Ryan Giggs in 2008/09 as he has now figured in all United's 11 Premiership titles.
Many critics also remarked that goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was indeed a masterstroke signing, another remarkable transfer as that of Eric Cantona.
The Dutch goalkeeper won the 'Golden Glove' last season. Van der Sar played a great part in United's march to the league title with a remarkable run of 14 straight clean sheets.
The vast squad Ferguson possessed was a great asset in United's successful season. The Scot had the luxury to keep record signings on the bench while others did the job on the pitch as though no key player was missing.
Cristiano Ronaldo, now at Real Madrid, finished as top marksman of the season, while king pin defender Nemanja Vidic was named Player of the Season at Old Trafford.
At Middlesbrough, a chapter came to a close after a significant stretch of 11 years in the Premier League (had also been members in 1992-93 and from 1995 to 1997).
During their stay in the top flight, the north-east club had finished in the top ten on two occasions: ninth in 1998-99 and seventh in 2004-05.
During this era, chairman Steve Gibson had hired managers Brian Robson, Steve McClaren and Gareth Southgate. Gibson pumped a lot of money into the club to keep it afloat.
The aces in Southgate's pack were Stewart Downing and Tuncay Sanli. Both could move to new pastures after the club's demotion to the Championship. In the entire 38-game season, Middlesbrough only managed 28 goals.
During the past campaign, Manchester United became the first UK outfit to win the Club World Cup sequel to their 1-0 win over Liga De Quito, of Ecuador, in Tokyo. After winning the Community Shield, United lost the Super Cup contest against Zenit St Petersburg 1-2 in Monaco.
The Red Devils also went close to becoming the first club to retain the Champions League trophy in May but Barcelona had other ideas as they won the final 2-0 in Rome.
In the domestic scene, United lifted the League Cup after a penalty shoot-out victory over Tottenham at Wembley. At the same venue, and after yet another shoot-out, United went down to Everton in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
Middlesbrough lost at United 1-3 in the third round of the League Cup and in the FA Cup they reached the last eight, losing to Everton 1-2 at Goodison Park.