AMID all the uncertainties surrounding the pursuit of the Premiership title over the next three days, Manchester United should at least be clear about their hardest task over the next three years: the United board need to identify their next manager, the man to take over from Alex Ferguson in July 2002.
Ferguson's announcement that his latest contract with the club, signed with improved terms last week, is to be his last will not yet prompt a rush of betting on the succession. But the timing of the news heightens Ferguson's sense of irony about the fixtures that confront United today and on Wednesday. "It is ironic that we now have Bryan Robson and Brian Kidd standing in our way," Ferguson observed. "It is typical of this season. Arsenal are in a similar situation: they have to face David O'Leary at Leeds on Tuesday."
Similar, except that the United connections at Robson's Middlesbrough and Kidd's beleaguered Blackburn Rovers run deep, and O'Leary did not take up the Leeds United job to a chorus of suggestions that it would lead him back to managing Arsenal. A boot-room culture holds stronger among modern United men. Robson, the former United captain and totem, oversees Middlesbrough with Viv Anderson as his assistant and Gary Pallister his leading lieutenant on the field. Kidd, for many years Ferguson's respected deputy, has Brian McClair on his staff.
Kidd, Robson and McClair have all been casually talked of as future United bosses. They belong to the dozen-strong brigade of current English and Scottish coaches schooled by Ferguson, a generous adviser to younger managers. The irony, as the United manager suggested, is that the three men who have benefited most from Ferguson the kingmaker now stand between him and a Premiership coronation. Were the circumstances not so fraught, two long evenings of bonhomie could have been expected to follow the matches at The Riverside and Ewood Park.
There will be nothing cosy about them. If old boys do not all express their competitive zeal quite as vividly as Paul Ince did after his equaliser for Liverpool against his former club last Wednesday, nobody graduates from the Ferguson school without a desire to come back and show how far they have progessed. Granted, Robson's Middlesbrough, secure in mid-table, appear to have little to play for this afternoon except pride, a quality Robson possesses by the quart. Robson, remember, was the last manager to defeat Ferguson's team, masterminding a 3-2 win for Middlesbrough at Old Trafford, 28 United games ago. His mind may also travel back to this time two years ago when the clubs drew 3-3, hastening United to the Premiership title and Boro towards relegation. No favours owing from there.
The task for United now is not only to collect maximum points, but to rediscover the extravagent goalscoring form they showed either side of December. "We can handle the pressure," said Ferguson of the need to overhaul Arsenal's goal-difference advantage. "We're used to this sort of situation. What we're not used to is what happened to us at Liverpool on Wednesday."
Plainly, the refereeing of David Elleray informed his comments, but letting a 2-0 lead slip, as United did at Anfield, is not their habit. As far as Ferguson's team is concerned, that's something which happens to opponents. United now know a little of what Juventus felt in Turin.
In the circumstances, the midweek draw felt like a defeat, leaving Arsenal a nose in front, the dismissed Denis Irwin suspended for the FA Cup final and Jesper Blomqvist, whose defensive industry has improved over recent weeks, wondering how on earth to make a legitimate tackle if challenges like the one that earned Liverpool their penalty are to be outlawed.
The perceived injustices rankle, but by yesterday Ferguson had made them a motivational tool. "Even if we had won at Liverpool," he said, "I still feel the title would have gone right down to the wire. I've always felt that. It makes it exciting for everyone. Don't forget Chelsea are still hanging on to our coat-tails, too. This has been a great season for football and we're enjoying it all."
Scarred, then, but not scared. Three trophies are still out there to be won, and United's undefeated momentum remains. "I'm not sure how many games we've gone unbeaten now," said Ferguson, "but it just shows the resilience of my players. The players have been fantastic, and I just hope that their efforts bring them some success.
"Our mood is upbeat and the players are looking good. Everyone came through okay after the Liverpool game, and Ryan Giggs is coming along towards fitness. Hopefully, he'll be ready for the Blackburn game."
That may be an over-optimistic shout. Though if Giggs is to be hastened back into the Premiership race, Wednesday would be the time to do it. The evening at Ewood looks much the most difficult of United's remaining league games and Kidd, for the first time in his life, would be delighted to see Giggs limping off the team bus. For Blackburn's manager, it will be 90 minutes of swirling emotions. Kidd's bond with the United players was a strong one, particularly with those who, like Giggs, grew up at the club.
The affection is mutual and, indeed, the sense of debt felt by United's longer servants large. Roy Keane, the United captain, summed up his relationship with Kidd like this: "If I was to say what Kiddo's done for me, you'd need hours to spare. We could be here all day, just talking about his coaching alone, the enthusiasm he brought to training every single day. He's a great coach and, obviously, a really nice bloke. Kiddo was the man who used to come in and have a bit of banter in the dressing room, and so on. It was a sad day for everybody when he left.
"Without him we probably wouldn't be where we are now. But footballers are funny like that. Players move club, managers come and go, the club goes on. The game can be quite cruel in that way."
For Kidd, the game has seemed awfully cruel during the last two months. As United have closed in on the treble, Blackburn have stubbornly loitered around the Premiership's bottom three, rich men slumming it. As Ferguson's trusted number two, Kidd had looked an heir apparent. But his departure was not the tidiest piece of business and if, come 2002 or whenever, he were to be considered a candidate for the succession, a fair amount of water will need to have passed under the boardroom bridge. Nor, as Robson would acknowledge, does relegation do much for the CV.
In the weeks immediately after Kidd left Old Trafford in early December, United suffered their least productive spell of the season: four successive draws and that Middlesbrough defeat. If the players and Ferguson still miss Kidd, the United manager has been heartened by the impact made by his replacement, Steve McClaren. "Steve's fantastic," beams Ferguson, "he has done really well. Coming to a club like Manchester United, with the players there are here - and with myself for that matter - you could feel a bit daunted. He has fitted in well and the players have really enjoyed him. He has got good ideas, good energy and a good personality."
The Cliff training ground has inherited some new accessories, too. "Steve's always prepared to use technology to help him," observes Ferguson. "He's into a lot of that and he's got a lot of ideas. The first thing he did when he got here was put up a screen up in the coaches' room, marking out what everyone was going to do during the week. He wanted everybody to know he wants the job done right. He's been positive in his coaching, he's mixed the humour and the seriousness in training sessions very well."
Humour? There are two teams in Lancashire who will need it from time to time in the build-up to Wednesday. Seriousness? The top of the game doesn't get more serious than this. The next United manager, three years hence? Suffice to say it will not be Paul Ince.
