• Premier League

Champions City 100 years behind United - Ferguson

ESPN staff
May 14, 2012
Manchester City won their first Premier League title in dramatic fashion on Sunday © Getty Images
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Despite congratulating Manchester City on claiming the Premier League title, Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson warned the club they are still a century away from having the history of the Red Devils.

Sergio Aguero's 94th minute winner against QPR saw City pip United to the trophy on the most thrilling final day in Premier League history, but Ferguson warned that it will take more than that to match the Old Trafford club's successes.

"They can go on as much as they like - that's what you would expect - but the history of our club stands us aside," Ferguson said. "We don't need to worry about that. I think we have a rich history, better than anyone and it'll take them a century to get to our level of history."

Ferguson's men won at Sunderland, but it was not enough to claim the title and the veteran manager insists that his side will bounce back.

"We accept challenges. We are good at that," said Ferguson. "At the start of the season, if I remember correctly, I said 82 points would probably win the league this season and we are seven points ahead of that. But look, it doesn't matter, we've lost the league.

"It is a cruel way to have the title ripped away, but I've had a lot of ups and downs in my 25 years here. There will be times when we can sit back and say we did this wrong, we did that wrong, but 89 points would have won the league most seasons.

"All we had to do was concentrate on our job and that's what we did, but you are going to get certain types of reaction from the crowd.

"We knew five minutes' extra time was being played at City. Our game had three minutes' stoppage time and you don't know what can happen in the extra two minutes, but they got that break and won the game.

"We should take credit because of the fact we had so many injuries and coped with them very well. We have some young players and they have now experienced what happened here today. Hopefully in seven or eight years they will be at Manchester United and the experience is good for them - even if it's a bad one.

"They're a good bunch of lads. The younger players will remember today because sometimes a bad experience is even better for you. When you've got a certain character and a good purpose about you, then you shouldn't fear the future and I don't think these lads will."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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