Alex Predicts Another Golden Era

How Phil Thompson mocked United before the match saying: 'Their fans laughed at us when Liverpool won it, but they are desperate for it now!'

And now this Carling Cup triumph can trigger another golden era for Manchester United ... and who says so?
Ferguson believes the victory against Wigan at Cardiff can be the catalyst which binds his young players into a new force.

Ferguson: 'I hope they can go on to match our exploits of the past. If they can grow up together and keep that group together we have a chance. When we beat Nottingham Forest to win this cup in 1992 it set us off on a very good spell.

'That was one of the reasons I brought Kieran Richardson, Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic on.

'Kieran deserved to be on because he has been part of the League Cup team.

'But I wanted to give the others the experience of being on a winning side in a cup final, if only for a few minutes, to feel the atmosphere at the very end. It tells them a bit about Manchester United and might develop them in terms of the winning instinct.

'The competition is harder than ever. It is a very competitive Premier League and you can see the standard in Europe from some of the amazing results last week.

'The challenge is there for everyone - not just us. We need more experience in Europe. Hopefully we can stick together and get that experience.'

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