HCJ - Lecture 4 - Economics - Money is ALL powerful

This weeks HCJ lecture was based on economics and some important figures who held theories about the economy and money. Money is probably the most powerful thing in the world, and it is for this reason that we as humans still exist. I see money as a bartering tool, something to give in exchange for services, products or luxuries. It has been said that we as humans have 'wants' or 'desires'. These desires, in the opinion of many including economist Thomas Malthus outstrip the ability to produce which is a major problem. This is where we can link economics back to previous lectures and my previous posts. In logical terms the word 'need' has no reference point. Humans do not necessarily NEED homes, or clothes, or any kind of luxury, even though we are led to believe that we do in this day in age. Philosophers such as previously discussed Frege will reject 'need' as you can have an emotional feeling towards this word. This being said, the word 'want' on the other hand, has a reference point, I may not need the a pair of shoes, as realistically I could walk around bare-foot, but I do want shoes, as sooner or later my feet will begin to hurt!

Ricardo and the theory of value:
The example given in the lecture was that of a biro against a piano. Now a piano may be worth £5000, whereas a biro is only worth £1. Who decides why the piano is worth 5000x more than the biro? Why should it? In Ricardo's theory he believed that if two things were valued differently it was because the more expensive item, would have taken X amount more labour than the cheaper item. So in the case of the piano and the biro, the piano would have had 5000x more labour gone in to making it than the biro. Once the biro factory is opened, all it takes is a push of a button, whereas the piano has lots of different materials, and takes a lot longer to make.

Thomas Malthus and the 'iron law of population':
At the time of Malthus' theory, it was the age of the Poor Law Reformation in England, and the need for relief was high, with major parts of the UK suffering from famine and poverty. Malthus predicted that the ever-growing population would soon drain the land of all it's resources. He said that if the population grew steady it would need a family to consist of two children. One to take the place of the mother and one the father. At the time however people were having on average four children. This was in my opinion die to the non-existence of contraception and things such as abortion, but also that relief was given in the form of number of children times the price of bread; meaning the more children, the more the relief. Although the draining of resources did not occur, Malthus did have good evidence behind his theories, and could not for-see the invention of contraception and/or abortion.

Ricardo + Malthus = Marx and the 'iron law of wages:
There is a what I believe to be a vicious circle when it comes to wages and employment in certain industries. Being on a journalism course, and wanting to become a sports journalist, I see it fitting to use this example. So a sports journalist pays very well, so suddenly everyone wants to become one. Now the employer has their pick of who they want to employ and who will do it for the right price. This will then give the employer the ability to negotiate and lower the wages. Lots of people then lose interest, meaning a drop in interest. The employer then has no option but to increase the wages once more to meet their need for a worker.

An example of simple economy according to Marx - If you take one apple and give it a value of £3, that is a real value that people are prepared to pay. The company manufacturing the apple need to make a profit for expansion; so new factories, more production and so on. The company spends £2 on the production of the apple, and everything involved, including wages. Someone who works in the factory making the apples, can't afford the £3 for the apple, they can only afford £2. So this get's back to the big bosses at the factory who then decide to reduce the cost of the apple to £2, but in order to make a profit, they now need to cut costs of production to £1. To do this, the have to enforce pay-cuts, so the worker can only afford £1, meaning he still can not afford the apple, even though it is at the price he could previously afford.

Printing money - a confidence trick:
When the government pay a public sector worker, such as a University lecturer or a fireman, they get the wages, not from tax money, but from printing money. They produce these I.O.U type lettes which are given to the bank in exchange for money, which they then distribute around. This is again another kind of economic circle:

Adding to government debt, they take out I.O.U > Lecturer is paid their salary > Lecturer spends their salary on a train ticket, sandwich, coffee > Cafe that produce food/drink have income, as well as train drivers kept in work. So by adding to government spending, it is actually benefiting the economy, in that people are spending money, and employment levels are maintained. The government debt therefore will rise along with the economy. So this does beg the question, why the need for taxation? The taxation goes somewhat towards paying off the interest towards these bonds, or I.O.U's the government is taking out to improve the economy.


Keynes formula
Household spending (C) + Private Investment (I) + Government Spending (G) = Total demand in economy (Y) - or the money needed to give everyone a salary


If one of the factors goes down, then the other two will need to pick up the slack. So if household spending is reduced, government spending will have to increase, so in the area affected (lets say Croydon) will have a shopping centre built or expanded. So there will be more shops, so more jobs to run the shops, more production at the factories, meaning household spending should rise due to these once unemployed people can now afford to spend.

HCJ - Seminar 3 - Frege and language

After the lecture and the reading it was becoming very apparent that the weeks topic was one of the more confusion ones. This being said, after the seminar I felt a bit better and that I understood it a little bit more than what I did going in. Frege made many discoveries when it came to language, a lot of which undermined the ideas of philosophers before him such as Aristotle.

Discovery number 1:

Frege discovered that the meaning of the word is not contained in the word itself, so the word is not a characteristic or property of the object it is named after. So for instance to say a tree has leaves, or a tree is tall is to describe the properties of the tree, but what Frege believed was that the word 'tree' in no way related to a tree. This was totally against the Aristotelean way of thinking, as he would have believed that the meaning of a tree is contained in the word itself. Aristotle's logic was that of syllogistic, whereas Frege's was sentential.

Discovery number 2:

Frege's next theory or discovery about language was that in a proposition or a sentence the words that make them up mean nothing, but the sentence as a whole holds all the meaning. Chris gave an example of a brick wall in the seminar, that each brick represents a word, with the wall representing a sentence. The brick's are meaningless or pointless by themselves and are unable to hold anything up alone, but put together they have a point or a meaning. Along with this theory on sentences Frege also believed that a proposition is made up of two characteristics, a sense and a reference. The reference is an agreed meaning of what the word represents. So to say that 'scorpions are evil', would not have sat well with Frege in that nobody can prove that scorpions are evil, there is no way of proving this with any form of confidence, but likewise you can not dis-prove it. So this brings us back to the old argument of 'the present King of France is bald'. True, False or meaningless?




Discovery number 3:

This was a sentence that was discussed in one my previous blogs: 'there was nobody on the road'. This was a discovery that Frege made, by addressing this problem correctly, and making it make sense, something that Aristotle couldn't do. What Frege said was that 'for all possible roads (argument), no object is on the orad (function). This is true'. This was expressing a negative as a positive.

Winol - Week 6 - Basingstoke Vs Staines - critical feedback and match report

This week I went to the FA Cup clash between Basingstoke and Staines, we only took one camera due to last minute change of plans, sending our second camera to AFC Totton. There were some good and bad points to take from this week, where I also went to Eastleigh's home ground to film Mikey's feature 'WINOL Woodwork'.

Negatives:

The main problem I had with this weeks package was the scripting and voice-over. I feel that from previous weeks, I have taken a massive step back, and that the quality was quite poor. I thought the levels went up and down, and the tone ranges from high to low, and general feedback received tells me that i sounded a little bit bored/not excited or happy by the prospect of describing the action.

I would have liked to have got some better shots of the crowd reaction at the end of the game, but the shots I got were quite poor, so the end of the game celebrations were restricted to that of the players, which were not bad, but as Chris and Brian have explained the so called 'money shots' are that of the crowd and getting their reaction.

Lastly it would have been better to get a longer interview with Frank Gray, as the excitement of Basingstoke getting into the 1st Round of the FA Cup was not shown in the interview, and it may have been an idea to even get into the dressing room and film some celebrations in there (we could hear them from where we were).

WINOL Woodwork:

My role here was to film the players coming up to the camera, recording what they say and then their attempt at hitting the cross-bar. Although it was salvaged to a degree, I made a technical error by having both microphone inputs plugged in resulting in the sound levels being low, and making it sound as if the players were mumbling slightly. In future it is imperative this doesn't happen, and especially with interviews.

Positives:

My pride and joy from the Basingstoke match was the shot I got of the second goal celebrations. This was greatly received by peers and lecturers alike. I think more shots of the crowd and cutaways to them celebrating is key to producing a well put-together package.

WINOL Woodwork was greatly received at Eastleigh and when I went there this weekend, they were all very complimentary of our work, I see this as a great thing, as it is showing we are reaching our target audience successfully.

Match report:
Basingstoke booked their place in the first round proper of the FA Cup this weekend with a 2-1 win over fellow Blue Square South strugglers Staines Town.

The home side enjoyed the early stages of the game, with half chances from Shaun McAuley and Wes Daly threatening to break the deadlock.

The pressure paid off eight minutes before half time, with Basingstoke defender Jay Gasson latching on to a long free-kick to put the home side 1-0 up.

Staines defender Danny Gordon suffered a serious injury in the build up to the opening goal, seemingly falling awkwardly, resulting in over eight minutes of on-the-field treatment, which saw the player being stretchered off.

Basingstoke went 2-0 up shortly after the re-start, this time McAuley finding the ball at his feet two yards from an empty net to knock in the goal.

After the break the momentum seemed to switch as Marc Charles-Smith stole clear to round the keeper and score, halving the home sides advantage to make it 2-1.

With the game on a knife-edge, Basingstoke were made to dig deep to hold on to their lead with Staines having a number of chances, but they managed to hold on to confirm their place in the next round.

After the game, manager Frank Gray expressed his joy at the triumph, "It's good for the club and good for the people who work around the club."

Basingstoke face an away trip to Brentford in the first round proper.

Winol - Week 5 - Eastleigh Vs Welling United - critical feedback and match report

Week five saw me back at Eastleigh, to film Eastleigh Vs Welling United. Eastleigh put an end to their poor run of form with a 3-0 win, and we had two cameras their to capture the action. I also got an interview with Ian Baird (manager) at the end of the game to add to my package.


Match Report

Eastleigh picked up a valuable win on Saturday against a high flying Welling United, in a bid to revive their so far poor season.

It took a while for the game to get going, but after thirty minutes the home side were given a free-kick on the edge of the box after Sam Wilson was brought down. Jamie Slabber struck the ball into the wall, but on-loan Port Vale defender Michael Green fired home the follow up to score on his return to the Silverlake.

The away side were probing for an equaliser, but the Eastleigh defence remained resilient. And after fifty-seven minutes Joe Healy went down in the box slightly too easily for the referee's liking, picking up his second yellow card in the process, and reducing Welling to ten men.

Jordace Holder-Spooner was brought on by Ian Baird for Eastleigh after the hour, and made an instant impact with a great run into the box, laying off a deft back-heeled pass for Richard Gillespie to fire home to make it 2-0.

It didn't take long for the home side to make it three, with confidence flowing, Graeme Montgomery weaved his way into the box before lashing home a left footed strike to put the game beyond no doubt.

Eastleigh had a chance to extend the lead further but Danny Smith saw his shot hit the bar. After the game Ian Baird praised his team's attitude and performance, "I knew I would get a reaction."

This result took Eastleigh up to seventeenth in the league, with Welling remaining second

Negatives:

My package was not used in the bulletin this week, but this was mainly due to sports news stories taking the advantage, and also the Ice Hockey. This being said it did make the bulletin as a 25 second OOV. Overall, problems from previous weeks were addressed with the as-live commentary, but I still feel it could have been a bit tighter, with the commentary seeming a little too rehearsed. We did have the commentary under my voice-over and then turning the volume up for when the voice-over had finished. It would have made it look a little better if the timing of the script for the voice-over fitted in a bit better with the as-live commentary, resulting in parts of my voice-over to be cut out.

This week I missed my first part of action due to technical problems, with me missing a sending-off due to the camera battery popping out moments before the red card, and it being at the opposite end of the ground to where the second camera was, so it was not caught on either. I think it was bound to happen at one point, and fortunately enough it wasn't a goal, and I managed to let the audience know of the sending off in the script for the voice-over. For future reference it will be a priority to make sure that everything is connected properly.

Finally, the last technical issue I had was that the camera was set to the wrong settings, which meant that the tape time was cut from 60 mins to 40 mins, with the halves of football lasting 45+ mins, I was in a little bit of trouble. I managed to switch over the tapes without missing anymore real action, but it was still risky. I had not come across this issue before, and luckily enough I told Mikey about it at half-time who had experienced the issue before, and he managed to rectify the problem before the start of the second half. Just for future reference it would be a good idea (like i've said in previous posts) to check ALL equipment before I leave for the game.

Positives:

Sprtsweek is getting on average 1000 views a week on youtube, and the plugging is going very well, with support from the club forums we use and the clubs promoting on twitter and facebook.

The quality of the packages are getting better by the week, with me experimenting with different techniques, such as different camera angles, replays and slow-motion action replays. My scripting has been praised, and the addition of more chances is the only thing needed to make it that extra bit better.

The World's Greatest: Sir Alex Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson is regarded today as one of the, if not the best football managers to ever grace the beautiful game, and on the 6th of November this year, he celebrated being at the helm of Manchester United for 25 years! This blog will give a year-to-year analysis of his time at Old Trafford, the highs, the lows since joining in the autumn of 1986.


1986-87 - Sir Alex Ferguson arrives at Old Trafford with his assistant Archie Knox after Ron Atkinson was sacked after a poor run of form. Atkinson saw his United side slump to a 4-1 loss against Southampton, which was ultimately Atkinson's final game in charge, and was the 'last nail in his coffin'. Ferguson came in the following day, with his first win coming against QPR, where United were 1-0 victors. It was an up and down season, with the new manager re-jigging his squad numerous times, bringing in the likes of Viv Anderson and Brian McClair. United finished 11th in the league, with no silverware.

1987-88 - This was Ferguson's first full season in charges of Manchester United, and it proved to be a relatively successful one, again there was no silverware to take home at the end of the season, but he did guide them to a 2nd place finish (9 places higher than the previous year), but both cup dreams ended in the 5th round, with losses to Oxford United in the Littlewoods Cup, and in the FA Cup, to Arsenal. Early signs of Ferguson's eye for talent was shown in this season with new signing McClair running out top goal-scorer for the club, tallying up 24 in the league and 31 in all competitions.

1988-89 - There was renewed hope at the beginning of this season, after a second place finish in Ferguson's previous year in charge, big things were expected. Mark Hughes returned to the United team, and some homegrown talent, in the form of Lee Sharpe was beginning to get first team action. However, United saw poor runs of form throughout different stages of the season, at one stage going nine games without picking up a win. They crashed out of both the league cup (Littlewoods Cup) and the F.A Cup, to Wimbledon (League) and Nottingham Forest (F.A). Ferguson's status as United manager had gone back to square one, as united finished 11th in the League, the same position they finished when he took control two years previous.

1989-90 - Arguably, Ferguson's most significant season in charge. Ferguson's current number two, Mike Phelan was brought in from Norwich to bulster the squad, and Ferguson was determined to bring home some silverware to Old Trafford. The league run turned out to be a disastrous one, with United having their worst final position since their relegation from the division 15 years previous. Ending the season in 13th place, and with the Old Trafford faithful baying for his blood, Ferguson was on the edge of seeing the door, but he had a saving grace; A replay of the F.A Cup final against Crystal Palace. Having drawn the original game 3-3 with Ian Wright making a name for himself with a couple of goals, both sides went back to Wembley where United's Lee Martin managed to get the winner in tightly contested 1-0 victory, effectively saving Ferguson's job.



1990-91 - Ferguson was starting to get a real grip on his United squad and after a five year trophy drought, he was aiming for more silverware, and with the emphasis on the league, he was to try and begin the job to knock local rivals Liverpool off their perch. Mark Hughes was having a prolific season, although United faltered early in their defence of the F.A Cup, being knocked out by Norwich in the 5th round. The aim of capturing the league title fell short again though, with inconsistency becoming a key factor in their 5th place finish, although it was a step in the right direction following the previous two years. United and Ferguson weren't done, and the second trophy in two years was captured with the Cup Winners' Cup being won after a 2-1 victory over Barcelona, with former Catalan striker Hughes grabbing both goals.


1991-92 - After picking up a trophy in each one of the two previous seasons, Ferguson had still not managed to take the ever elusive league title he desired. This was the season the great Ryan Giggs began making a name for himself, after breaking through into the first team and winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award, this again highlighting Ferguson's eye for young talent. This was also the year in which Danish legend Peter Schmeichel was brought in. United dominated the league for the majority of the season, and were in first place up until what Ferguson now calls 'squeaky-bum' time, in which three out of the last four games were lost, resulting in bitter rivals, Leeds United pipping United to the post. Despite this, United and Ferguson managed to bring home the UEFA Super Cup and the League Cup.

1992-93 - The English Division One became the newly formed Premier League, and it was in this year, Manchester United's 26 year league title drought was broken. The new Ferguson era was taking shape, as was the squad, with Fergie bringing in the likes of Eric Cantona and Dion Dublin as well as the current crop of youth proving their worth, with Giggs picking up the PFA Young Player of the Year award for the second year running. Although United and Ferguson were successful in the league, all over competitions proved a miss, with them bowing out early in both the League and F.A Cup's and not even managing to get past the first round of the UEFA Cup, after crashing out on penalties to Torpedo Moscow.

1993-94 - The most successful season so far as Manchester United manager for Alex Ferguson, after winning the league title for the first time the previous year, Ferguson added another Premier League winners medal to the rapidly growing collection. Ferguson's eye for talent was once again shown, bringing in Roy Keane from Nottingham Forest, who proved to priceless in United's glorious season. United also became one of the few teams to win the domestic double, winning the F.A Cup for the second time in Ferguson's reign, and were only denied in the Final of the League Cup, of a domestic treble. United also won the Charity Shield, after defeating Arsenal on penalties.

1994-95 - Ferguson went in to this season full of confidence and on the back of consecutive Premier League crowns amongst other honours. This season was the season of so close but yet so far. Ferguson's real managerial skills were called into question when his star man Cantona was given an eight month ban after a fly-kick to a fan at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace, and this was added to after other big name players were given the cold shoulder. The likes of Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis were all offloaded to other teams. Ferguson ended up one point behind Blackburn Rovers at the end of the season, and were unable to capitalise on Rovers losing their final game of a dramatic last day, after they could only muster up a draw against West Ham. United fans were also disappointed after they then went on to lose the F.A Cup final 1-0 to Everton.



1995-96 - This was the year when Ferguson's eye for youth talent was proven beyond any doubt with the selling of a lot of big stars in the previous year, it was time for the likes of David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Gary and Phil Neville and Paul Scholes to step up. United were once again linked with England forward Alan Shearer, but Ferguson failed to bring him in. Despite the loss of the top stars that had helped Ferguson to his first trophy, the new up and comers didn't do too bad, after Ferguson secured his second domestic double, bagging the F.A Cup and Premier League Crown in the same season, for the second time in three years.

1996-97 - This was the year Ferguson got his best ever Champions League finish with Manchester Untied, reaching the semi-finals, only to be knocked out by Borussia Dortmund. Norwegian star Ole Gunnar Solskjaer joined United to add to the current crop of young talent emerging, with the likes of David Beckham clinching the PFA Young Player of the year award. Ferguson also brought in Ronny Johnsen in defence to fill the void left by Steve Bruce, and despite falling at the second to last hurdle in Europe Ferguson managed to capture another Premier League winners medal, finishing 7 points clear of nearest rivals Newcastle. Ferguson and United were again disappointing in the domestic cups, being knocked out in the 4th round of both the FA and League Cup.

1997-98 - Perhaps Ferguson's most disastrous season so far. Everything was looking up after victories in the Champions League sent United into the Quarter Final, and coming into March they were 11 points clear at the top of the league. However they were pipped to the League by Arsenal, who went on a two month winning streak, ending one point clear of the Red Devils. Ferguson ended the season trophy-less for the first time since 1995.


1998-99 - After the last season ended so poorly, Ferguson and United were determined to not let it happen again. And this, the 1998-99 season was arguably Ferguson's best and most memorable ever. It started off quite poor though, with Ferguson and United failing to pick up a win until the 3rd game of the season, and only winning two of their first five games. Ferguson did however get the league form back on track and it wasn't long before United were at the top of the pile, the title race went down to the wire, with United taking top spot from Arsenal by the same margin Arsenal did United the previous year, one point. United then went into the FA Cup final after narrowly by-passing their North London rivals in the semi final replay, thanks to a wonder goal from Ryan Giggs. With a league and cup double very much on the cards, with an even more unthinkable treble still to play for. Goals from Sherringham and Scholes sealed the trophy for United, so with two trophies in the bag, the attentions turned to the Champions League Final against German champions Bayern Munich. This was the furthest Alex Ferguson had got in the Champions League with United, and after a spirited performance from Roy Keane and the rest of the Untied squad in the semi-finals against Juventus, United were in the promise land. As a Manchester United fan this lives in the memory banks, and will until the day I die, and Ferguson has recently come out and said this was his most unforgettable moment as manager. His side were 1-0 down until the 90th minute, when goals from Sherringham and Solskjaer turned the game on its head in under three minutes. United had done it. Ferguson had done it. The treble was theirs.

1999-00 - After the fairytale ending to the last season, United were in full flight to re-create the magic. Ferguson took the decision to not defend the FA Cup crown in order for his team to take part in the FIFA Club World Championship, as reward for winning the Champions League. However United were worse than poor in this competition, losing to Vasco De Gama, drawing with Necaxa and getting a consolation victory against South Melbourne. The league was a different story however, with United not dropping out of the top two from the third game of the season, and ending up 18 points clear after an 11 game winning streak between March and May. This was Sir Alex's 6th title in 8 seasons.

2000-01 - United had another successful season when it came to the Premier League, finishing ten points clear at the top of the league, once again despite their dominance in the league, they were disappointing in other competitions, crashing out again at the 4th round stage of both the FA and League Cup, and with Bayern Munich coming up against United again, revenge was served after a 3-1 aggregate win in the Quarter Final. Ferguson was very inactive in the transfer market when it came to bringing in new talent during this year, but a lot of people left Old Trafford, with the likes of Bosnich, Cruyff and Sherringham moving on.

2001-02 - In comparison to the last three years, United and Ferguson had an abysmal season in the second year of the new millenium. For the first time since the reformation of the Premier League they finished outside the top two, with poor runs of form throughout the year, including losing 3 in a row to Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham, along with a total of six home defeats. The Champions League was slightly more successful, and with the Final being held in Ferguson's home town of Glasgow the incentive was really there more than ever. However, United crashed out in the semi-finals to Bayern Leverkusen on the away goals rule, and with disappointing results in the FA and League Cup, United ended the year trophy-less. Ferguson had indicated that this year would be his last in charge of United, but he re-thought and went back on the decision at the end of the year.


2002-03 - This was a season of highs and lows for United and Ferguson. Starting with the lows, United were again disappointing in the domestic trophies, crashing out of the FA Cup at the 5th round stage to bitter rivals Arsenal, with the aftermath of the match dominating the headlines, after David Beckham emerged from Old Trafford with a cut and stitches over his eye. It was speculated that Ferguson was so angry he threw a football boot at Beckham, but it was cleared up that he kicked it and it accidentally hit Beckham. Beckham was on his way out of Old Trafford at the end of the season, with a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid the result. On a positive note, United finished top of the league again, finishing five points clear of Arsenal, to regain their crown. Although reaching the League Cup Final, United were beaten by local rivals Liverpool 2-0.

2003-04 - Arguably Ferguson's best ever signing was captured this year, with Cristiano Ronaldo signing for £12 million, to replace the void left by David Beckham after his £17 million move to Madrid. United were back to bad form in the league, not showing good enough consistency and finishing 3rd behind Chelsea and Arsenal. There was some joy in the FA Cup though, with United beating Millwall in the final in Cardiff. Aside from the Charity Shield this was the only honours United and Ferguson managed this year and it was debatable that this was appearing to be one of Ferguson's weakest sides.

2004-05 - Ferguson began rebuilding this year, bringing in the likes of new English superstar Wayne Rooney. With Chelsea dominating the rest of the transfer market, with their new owner Roman Abromavich injecting endless money, it was them who ran away with league, losing only one game all year. United did have some highs in the season, putting an end to Arsenal's 49 game unbeaten run, beating them 2-0. However, Ferguson and United ended the season trophy-less for only the fourth time in 17 seasons.

2005-06 - Another poor season beckoned for United and Ferguson with them finishing 2nd in the league again behind big spenders Chelsea, but the major disappointment came in the Champions League where they failed to get into the knockout stages for the first time in since 1994. They finished 4th in the group stage not even managing to qualify for the UEFA Cup. Roy Keane moved on to boyhood club Celtic after a serious injury ended his United career, resulting in Gary Neville taking over the armband. United did have one success, coming in the League Cup, after a 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic.

2006-07 - This was the season in which Cristiano Ronaldo started to show his brilliance, and prove Ferguson's eye for talent once more. He won the PFA Young Player of the year award, scoring 27 goals in all competitions. United enjoyed good form in the Premier League, and after two years of the Premier League trophy ending up at Stamford Bridge, Ferguson was determined to get it back. Untied duly delivered, winning the league by six points. Chelsea did get the better of United in the FA Cup though, who then went on to win the trophy, and after the previous years abysmal campaign in the Champions League, they managed to get further, only falling to AC Milan, who with an inform Kaka, took United apart at the San Siro. Ferguson also captured the Premier League Manager of the Season Award.

2007-08 - With Ferguson's main aim when taking over at Old Trafford being to claim the title of top English team from Liverpool, this season gave him the chance to get one closer to the the Red Devils' rivals record of 18. United did go on to claim back-to-back Premier League crowns, finishing 2 points clear of rivals Chelsea. United also got the better of the West London side in the season curtain raiser, beating them on penalties. United weren't finished there, and ten years since their last Champions League success, and 40 since their 1st, it was also 50 years since the Munich air disaster, united reached the Champions League final against Chelsea once again. After beating them on penalties in the first game of the season, they done the same again, dramatically capturing Ferguson's second Champions League with United.

2008-09 - After the successes of the previous year, United were on course for a third Premier League crown in a row, to equal Liverpool's record of winning 18 overall. Again it was a tightly run thing, with United eventually finishing six points clear of Liverpool, with Chelsea finishing 3rd after the majority of the season being on United'e tail. United did win the FIFA World Club championship, and were only denied back-to-back Champions League crowns by a terrific Barcelona side who won 2-0 after a dominant display. Young talent was again scouted by Ferguson, after he brought in Brazilian twins, Rafael and Fabio Da Silva, along with Dimitar Berbatov.

2009-10 - After Ferguson had brought in Cristiano Ronaldo for only £12 million, he had become the hot property in Europe after the last few years, and this became apparent fate Real Madrid tabled a bid for a staggering £80 million, which was something United and Ferguson couldn't refuse. Wigan winger Antonio Valencia was brought in to bulster the clubs resources in replacement of Ronaldo, and he has since turned out to be a very good player, and a very good buy from Sir Alex. United were in search for a 19th league crown, to overtake Liverpool, searching an unprecedented 4th consecutive crown. Thi wasn't to be though as Chelsea pipped United by a single point. United did manage to defend their League Cup though, beating Tottenham in the final, to at least secure some silverware for the year. They were knocked out of the Champions League, seeing a 3-0 lead at Old Trafford slip to 3-2 against old foes Bayern Munich, meaning they won on away goals (4-4).

2010-11 - The main signing this year was that of Javier Hernandez, who has since proved to be one of the best young players in the world. United started by defeating double winning side Chelsea in the Champions Shield. United were in search of the 19th league crown to take them above Liverpool, something Ferguson was determined to do since taking over. After a tightly fought season, again between United and Chelsea, United pulled away towards the end, leaving them nine points clear, capturing their 19th League Crown, to make them the most successful club in England. Ferguson's job was complete. For the third time in four seasons united reached the Champions League final, again being out-classed by the ever improving immense Barcelona side, this time 3-1. Despite this, it was still a successful year, with still no idea on when Ferguson will decide to spit out his gum!

Ferguson major honours list at Manchester United:

Premier League - 11 times
FA Cup - 5 times
League Cup - 3 times
Champions League - 2 times

Ferguson celebrated his silver anniversary at United, and in honour of him, the North Stand was re-named the 'Sir Alex Ferguson' stand, with a statue set to be build outside for the coming year.

'And Solskjaer has won it!'

The one time baby-faced assassin of Manchester United has proven that he also has a dab-hand when it comes to football management. In just his first season away from United, he has managed to win the Norwegian Tippeligaen with Molde FK, for the first time in the club's history. Molde's season has gone from strength to strength, and they have capped off a marvellous campaign with two games to spare, after fellow league chasers Rosenborg failed to win, and Molde picked up a point giving them an eight point cushion.

Solskjaer was hailed for his time at United, and was originally a player at Molde, when spotted as a potential talent for the future. He went on to win 13 trophies and scoring 126 goals in 366 games for United, most notably the winner against Bayern Munich in the 1998/99 Champions League Final, to not only seal the trophy, but also confirming the treble.

Solskjaer has been linked with a move back to England, with teams such as Portsmouth in the running. There is a slim chance he may return to Old Trafford, once Sir Alex has called it a day, but for now it is time to enjoy the glory with Molde.

Sir Alex Ferguson has brought in more talent from Molde, in the shape of Mame Biram Diouf, hoping that he can prove to be as successful as Solskjaer.