Soon after the final whistle of the Champions League final at Wembley, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson admitted that his side had never had a hiding like that before as Barcelona produced a remarkable performance to win the European title after a 3-1 victory.
Yet, on the night, no other team would have stood in the way of the formidable Catalan side that played champagne football and drew an all-round applause from their fans and neutrals alike.
On the domestic scene, the Red Devils moved to the very top of the title winners’ chart after clinching the league championship for a record 19th time.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal will compete in the Champions League next season with the top three gaining a straight entry into the group phase of the competition.
Only Arsenal will have to play a qualifying round.
There will be another four teams in the Europa League. Stoke City enter as FA Cup finalists and Birmingham as League Cup winners.
Tottenham have also qualified after finishing fifth in the league and Fulham obtained a Europa League spot after topping the Respect Fair Play classification.
Birmingham, Blackpool and West Ham were relegated to The Championship. Blackpool suffered the drop after only one season in the top flight.
The trophies
The silverware in the English game was captured as follows:
Premier League: Man. United.
FA Cup: Man. City.
League Cup: Birmingham.
Community Shield: Man. United.
Football League title: QPR.
Johnston’s Paint Trophy: Carlisle.
Conference championship: Crawley.
Premier Fair Play League: Fulham.
The awards
Manager of the Year: Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).
Football Writers Footballer of the Year: Scott Parker (West Ham).
PFA Player of the Year: Gareth Bale (Tottenham).
PFA Young Player of the Year: Jack Wilshere (Arsenal).
Premier Golden Boot Award: Carlos Tevez (Manchester City), Dimitar Berbatov (Man. United).
Premier Golden Glove Award: Joe Hart (Manchester City).
LMA Manager of the Year: Ferguson.
PFA select XI
Van der Sar (Man. United), Sagna (Arsenal), Cole (Chelsea), Vidic (Man. United), Kompany (Man. City), Nani (Man. United), Nasri (Arsenal), Wilshere (Arsenal), Bale (Tottenham), Tevez (Man. City), Berbatov (Man. United).
Final table
Played | Points | |
Man. United | 38 | 80 |
Chelsea | 38 | 71 |
Man. City | 38 | 71 |
Arsenal | 38 | 68 |
Tottenham | 38 | 62 |
Liverpool | 38 | 58 |
Everton | 38 | 54 |
Fulham | 38 | 49 |
Aston Villa | 38 | 48 |
Sunderland | 38 | 47 |
West Brom | 38 | 47 |
Newcasle | 38 | 46 |
Stoke | 38 | 46 |
Bolton | 38 | 46 |
Blackburn | 38 | 43 |
Wigan | 38 | 42 |
Wolves | 38 | 40 |
Birmingham | 38 | 39 |
Blackpool | 38 | 39 |
West Ham | 38 | 33 |
Leading scorers
20 − Berbatov (Man. United), Tevez (Man. City)
18 − Van Persie (Arsenal)
17 − Bent (Aston Villa)
15 − Odemwingie (West Brom)
Players of the month
August – Paul Scholes (Man. United).
September – Peter Odemwingie (West Brom).
October – Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham).
November − Johan Elmander (Bolton).
December – Samir Nasri (Arsenal).
January – Dimitar Berbatov (Man. United).
February – Scott Parker (West Ham).
March – David Luiz (Chelsea).
April – Odemwingie (West Brom).
Managers of the month
August – Carlo Ancelotti.
September – Roberto di Matteo.
October – David Moyes.
November – Owen Coyle.
December – Roberto Mancini.
January – Alex Ferguson.
February – Arsene Wenger.
March – Carlo Ancelotti.
April – Carlo Ancelotti.
Leading scorers – Premier League clubs
Arsenal − Van Persie - 18
Aston Villa − Bent - 17
Birmingham − Gardner - 8
Blackburn Rovers − Hoillett, Kalinic and Robert - 5
Blackpool − Campbell - 13
Bolton − Johan Elmander - 10
Chelsea − Malouda - 13
Everton − Cahill - 9
Fulham − Dempsey - 12
Liverpool − Kuyt - 13
Man. City − Tevez - 20
Man. United − Berbatov - 20
Newcastle − Nolan - 12
Stoke − Jones - 9
Sunderland − Gyan - 10
Tottenham − Van der Vaart - 13
West Brom − Odemwingie - 17
West Ham − Ba - 7
Wigan − N’Zogbia, Rodallega - 9
Wolves − Fletcher - 10
Goal assists
Nani (Man. United) - 14
Drogba (Chelsea) - 13
Arshavin (Arsenal) - 11
Fabregas (Arsenal) - 11
Baines (Everton) - 11
Rooney (Man. United) - 11
Young (Aston Villa) - 10
Brunt (West Brom) - 9
Barton (Newcastle) - 9
Adam (Blackpool) - 8
Van der Vaart (Tottenham) - 8
Pennant (Stoke) - 8