Premier League Title Betting: Fergie has got the ball rolling already for 2013/14

 

This season isn't over but Betfair's market for next year's Barclays Premier League title is open. Ralph Ellis, who got on United for the title and Robin Van Persie for the Golden Boot before the Dutchman had even left Arsenal last summer, has spotted signs of what might be Sir Alex Ferguson's next big move.

 

When Manchester United won the treble in 1999 the celebrations for Sir Alex Ferguson and his staff lasted all of one day. There was a big party at the team's hotel just outside Barcelona, and the following morning they flew back together before enjoying another bottle or two of champagne.

 

Come Friday morning at 8am, according to coach at that time Steve McClaren, Fergie was presiding over a staff meeting to discuss plans for the summer and the following season. McClaren says he recalls sitting in the meeting thinking: "We've just done this incredible thing, can we not celebrate it for even a little bit longer." But for the manager a Premier League title, an FA Cup, and the club's first European Cup triumph after a 32-year break were already just history. It was time to move on.

 

Wind the clock forward another 14 years and it seems the only thing that has changed about the way Sir Alex deals with success is that he has even less time for indulging in celebration.  I heard his current number two Mike Phelan on the radio yesterday revealing that the first meeting to discuss next season was held last Tuesday morning at 7.30 - less than ten hours after Robin Van Persie's hat-trick had tied up the 2013 title.

 

For a start that confirms that having won his 13th Premier League, Sir Alex is staying around to have a crack at making it 14. United are already installed as 2.54 favourites in the market to be the 2013-14 Barclays Premier League champions, and it might be the best odds you'll ever get. Fergie will be starting from a position of strength and, as he does, will be aiming to improve a squad that is currently 14 points clear of its nearest rivals.

 

It also suggests he is on the ball to know exactly how he proposes to reshape his team. He clearly needs to be. The arrival of Pep Guardiola to Bayern Munich, coupled with the emerging status of the Bundesliga, has added a different twist to the second strand of United's ambition which will be to put up a far better fight in the Champions League.

 

All the gossip in Germany is that Bayern have already got things sorted to sign Borussia Dortmund's star Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, but Fergie has offered a different take on that. "I am not sure he will be sold to Bayern," he said last week. "The Dortmund fans are not going to be happy and I don't think they will sell to their main rivals."

 

That sounds like an opening shot in a move to bring the 24-year-old into Old Trafford next season instead, and shake up even further the competition to be his team's top goalscorer. Fergie plots these things, and part of his process to make big deals happen is to plant little bits of information into the public domain. He did it in early August before signing Robin Van Persie - you might recall this column read the clues at the time  and recommended backing United at 3.5 to recapture their title and the Dutchman to win the Golden Boot at 13.0. RVP is 1.01 now after yesterday's penalty against Arsenal.

 

That draw means United cannot now catch Chelsea's record Premier League points haul of 95, so their players may lose a little focus in the final three matches. But Sir Alex is already plotting for what comes next and both Manchester City and Chelsea will have to be up mega early to catch him.

 

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