Sir Alex Ferguson's training ground response to Man Utd Treble win spoke volumes
Sir Alex Ferguson wanted his Manchester United players to be "even better next season" after their Treble victory in May 1999.
United famously won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League that month. They defeated Tottenham 2-1 on the final day of the Premier League season to finish one point ahead of Arsenal in second before beating Newcastle 2-0 in the FA Cup final.
United's crowning moment came in Barcelona when they defeated Bayern Munich 2-1 in the Champions League final, with Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scoring in added-time. They were the first English team to win those three trophies in a single season - with rivals Manchester City repeating the feat under Pep Guardiola last term.
Despite achieving an unprecedented triumph, Ferguson had put the Treble to the back of his mind once his players reported back for pre-season duty in June 1999. Legendary striker Dwight Yorke has revealed the Scot's determination to continue winning.
"When I came back into training and re-joined my team-mates, I noticed how quickly Sir Alex moved on from the celebrations," Yorke told the Manchester Evening News. "I was still on such a high, but Sir Alex went back to the drawing board and was telling all of us that we needed to be even better next season.
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"I realised then that Ferguson was on a totally different level. We pulled off the achievement of a lifetime, yet the feel-good factor only lasted a few weeks or months before we came back and the manager wanted to forget all about it. It was fascinating to see his take on it - he was very much 'business as usual'."
Ferguson's desire to move on from the Treble paid dividends. Although they never repeated the feat, United defended their Premier League title and won the Intercontinental Cup - a one-off game against South America champions Palmeiras - the following season.
Manchester United won the Treble 24-and-a-half years ago (Getty Images)Is Sir Alex Ferguson the greatest manager of all time? Let us know in the comments below!
United then won a third consecutive Premier League crown in May 2001 to become just the fourth English team in history to win three consecutive top-flight titles after Huddersfield (1924-26), Arsenal (1933-1935) and Liverpool (1982-1984).
United later repeated that achievement under Ferguson by winning in 2007, 2008 and 2009, while Guardiola's City completed their maiden three-peat last season. No team in the history of English football has ever won four league titles in-a-row.
City can do so by winning the Premier League title again this season, although they are four points behind leaders Liverpool. Arsenal are one point behind Jurgen Klopp's side, while surprise package Aston Villa are two points off the top in third.
One team who are very unlikely to win the Premier League title this season are United. Erik ten Hag's side were humbled 3-0 at home by Bournemouth on Saturday and need to beat Bayern Munich on Tuesday - and hope Galatasaray's game against Copenhagen ends in a draw - to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League.
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