Champions end season on dull note

For all his success during his time as a coach at Derby, United and, latterly, England, there is nothing that speaks louder for McClaren's credentials than such an endorsement from the greatest manager of modern times.

As Kidd discovered to his cost, Ferguson thinks and acts without sentiment where his football judgments are concerned and it is clear that his regard for a man virtually unknown outside the game until two years ago is without parallel.

But while Ferguson's words - delivered after the defeat at Tottenham - will be music to the ears of McClaren's suitors, they will strike a chord of regret in the hearts of the board directors who the United manager has clashed with so astonishingly in recent days.

For not only are United preparing to lose Ferguson at the end of next season, they are facing up to the possibility of losing his assistant as well. They may find it impossible to attract a successor from outside the club, so Jimmy Ryan may have to step up, just as he did when Kidd departed, for Ferguson's final season.

McClaren left White Hart Lane without comment on Saturday as he and Ferguson departed by chauffeur-driven car, but he was involved in talks with West Ham yesterday.

The United players were equally reluctant to discuss what has quickly become a critical period in the shaping of the Manchester United of the future. The one sentence uttered by goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw spoke volumes for the feeling in the dressing room.

'We are all upset that the manager will not be staying after next season and the last thing we need is Steve to leave as well,' he said.

In an unusually frank press conference on Saturday, Ferguson expanded on his decision to leave the club when his contract as manager runs out.

On the horizon, of course, is what would clearly be a fitting and emotional conclusion to his 15-year reign - a Champions League Final at Hampden Park next May.

Ferguson claims he will not allow that prospect to become an unhealthy obsession but what is apparent is that he will need to find fresh ways of taking his squad to new heights.

United's fans showed their support for their manager on Saturday with an almost constant repetition of 'Every one of us loves Alex Ferguson' but they know that, despite retaining the Premiership title, standards have slipped a fraction. Their defeat was rendered largely irrelevant given their under-strength team but this was their third successive loss.

For Spurs, victory - via two terrific strikes from Willem Korsten and one from Les Ferdinand - was a morale booster ahead of what will be an intriguing summer.

Captain Sol Campbell, still in talks over a new contract, provided hope that he may yet ignore the temptations of a lucrative free transfer abroad when he said: 'Going abroad is not in my mind at the moment.'