Predictably, there’s an outspoken Scottish codger who thinks Chelsea are rubbish and that sanity (otherwise known as Manchester United) will prevail in the Premiership despite Roman Abramovich’s millions.
His name? Alexander Chapman Ferguson, the son of a docker born in grim Govan, Glasgow, on December 31 1941, when submarines were U-boats and hard-toed football boots could demolish small houses.
Now a knight of the realm, Fergie was an apprentice tool-worker on the Clyde before he turned into a tough footballer.
He was never the most elegant of strikers with Queens Park, St Johnstone and Dunfermline, though he did join Rangers for a record £65 000 in 1967, where his elbows were as important a weapon as his feet.
But it is as a coach that Fergie has enjoyed unprecedented success. Incredibly, he managed to create an Aberdeen side which, from 1978 to 1986, gradually overhauled the Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers in Scotland despite the huge gap in support and finances. He even beat Real Madrid in the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup final.
After dabbling for a while with the Scotland job as a caretaker, Fergie travelled south to Old Trafford in 1986 and in 1993, after a couple of ropey years, he finally put Manchester United back on top of the pile after a 26-year wait.
And, with eight titles in 12 years, he hasn’t really looked back since.
Arsenal have thrice crept up and stolen the odd championship, but United had always bounced straight back and taught the upstart, under-funded Gunners a lesson.
Now Chelsea, with £190-million-worth of glitzy new players and niggly new boss Jose Mourinho, are threatening to spoil that comfortable situation.
Of course, sixtysomethings don’t like their habits disrupted. Fergie remembers when Blackburn Rovers ‘bought†the title in 1995. It was only a brief blip between long winters of United dominance and Jack Walker’s Rovers soon subsided.
Now along comes this chap Mourinho. The pair clashed on the touchline when Porto, surprise Champions League winners, put United out at the last 16 stage earlier this year.
Fergie refused to shake Mourinho’s hand, accusing his players of diving. Mourinho responded by dancing up and down the touchline at Old Trafford when a last-minute equaliser gave his side a 3-2 aggregate victory.
That’s not the kind of thing Fergie likes. And they meet at Stamford Bridge on August 14, the opening day of the season.
Fergie says: ‘Money isn’t the issue. It’s all about the quality of player you have and making sure you pick the right ones. The title race could be interesting. Chelsea have a new coach and so does Liverpool. Arsenal and ourselves are becoming old fuddy-duddies, but we will be up there again.â€
Beneath the surface lies the old Glaswegian tendency: toughness to the point of obsession, a stubborn defiance which only bristles in the face of Russian chequebooks.
But Fergie knows he isn’t quite as badly prepared for this campaign as he was for the last, when Arsenal cruised unbeaten through the winter.
At the start of the 2003 season, after losing David Beckham and Juan Sebastian Veron, he had lined up second-rate signings like Eric Djemba-Djemba and David Bellion, while Cristiano Ronaldo was always going to take time to settle.
Now he has a serious set of arrivals. Argentine Gabriel Heinze has come from Paris St Germain to shore up the defence, while Rio Ferdinand prepares to return from limbo in September. Young Irishman Liam Miller has been lured from Celtic, where he will link up with the ever-improving Darren Fletcher and Portugal’s Euro 2004 star Ronaldo, so devastating in the FA Cup final win over Millwall.
Up front Alan Smith has arrived from relegated Leeds to partner Ruud van Nistelrooy and/or Louis Saha, who moved from Fulham late last season. It’s some line-up. Especially if, as expected, Fergie lures Everton’s Wayne Rooney in the next couple of weeks.
Ferguson says: ‘I want the situation where I have a selection problem every Saturday, when players are unhappy to be left out. I think I will have that now.
‘When they’re good players, players who know they are good, then I can handle that. In Alan Smith, I know this club is getting somebody of substance. He is the finished article.
‘It was a very brave decision to come here from Leeds. But when I met him, I couldn’t have been more impressed with his character. I know we have someone of real substance.â€