SOCCER OPINION: Fergie gets out of jail!

But please do not mention the latest title - should United go on to claim the Premiership crown as expected - in the same breath.

For it is clear that the Reds will have won this battle by default.

Newcastle - and Kevin Keegan in particular - have as much bottle as a breast-feeding baby.

Sir John Hall would have been better advised buying Mr Kipling than that fruitcake Asprilla.

He is a luxury player, brilliant on his day and a liability when the chips are down.

To sacrifice a proven creator such as Keith Gillespie, who also mucks in with his fair share of defensive work, for Asprilla's sporadic gloss was a glaring mistake.

And then Keegan sealed his side's fate the day he signed David Batty.

Newcastle's flair and success was based around an ultimately simple method of breaking down the flanks and from midfield with speed.

Batty's game centres around keeping possession, often forsaking incision for the simpler option.

It provides the opposition with the chance to retreat and has clearly blunted Newcastle's attacking edge.

And while the Newcastle demise has centred around two new arrivals, the United revival has been spawned by the efforts of just one man.

Saint Eric.

Having seen the error of his ways, this former sinner has repented in extraordinary style.

You are now more likely to catch Cantona doing karaoke than karate kick.

And his energies are exclusively channelled into on-field skills, inspiring the current flock of Fergie's fledglings.

Ferguson cannot, though, escape the fact that he has been let out of jail by the Geordies.

He made a major miscalculation in heaping such a huge burden of responsibility on the shoulders of such raw talents early in the season.

Had Keegan and Co kept their nerve, there would surely have been a third name etched on the Premiership trophy at the end of this season.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.