Sir Alex Ferguson has conceded it was disappointing to miss out on the title by one point, but claims we will improve next season.

“It was a disappointment but you can agonise over these things and I’m experienced to know you can’t win them all,” said Ferguson. “What you try to do is recover from every defeat and try to regain the upper hand next season. It’s a challenge. A few years ago it was Arsenal, then it was Chelsea, and each time we’ve managed to raise the bar at our football club – and that is exactly what we are going to do next year.”

Ferguson also has some bad news for fans of rival clubs hoping that he will retire soon, with him claiming that he is as motivated as ever to bring more trophies to the club.

“I’m at the right club,” he added. “It’s easy to be motivated at Manchester United simply because of the great players we’ve had over the years. Also what drives me on is expectation. In the modern world, once you achieve some success, the next step is to deal with the expectation and it’s very difficult. But it’s a challenge and if you don’t want that challenge you won’t survive. And I’ve always accepted the challenge.”