Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson during a 2009 press conference
Action Images / Michael Regan Livepic
For years, Manchester United were the dominant footballing force in Britain. Under Sir Alex Ferguson, they won a record 13 Premier League titles, while also lifting the Champions League twice.
As such, they cast a great shadow over local rivals Manchester City. While Man Utd were conquering Europe, winning an iconic treble in 1999, for example, Man City were battling away in the third tier of English football.
Something seismic, however, happened in 2008. The Abu Dhabi United Group takeover of Manchester City allowed new owner Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to pump all sorts of money into the club. The immediate question was: could the Citizens challenge the Red Devils for the big titles?
Wayne Rooney and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero.
Wayne Rooney and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero.
Ferguson Had Doubts Over the Man City Project
Despite the amount of money now put into Man City, there were doubts that they would ever overtake Man Utd in terms of status. In 2009, Ferguson was asked if the Red Devils would ever go into a derby match as underdogs. His answer was emphatic:
At that point, Man City had never won a Premier League title. In 2011/12, they claimed their first, beating Queens Park Rangers on the final game of the season to finish above Man Utd.
Ferguson would lead his side to glory in the league 12 months later, before then retiring. In the years since, Old Trafford has not seen a Premier League title, while Man City have taken their tally to eight.
As such, the club's former Scottish manager was haunted by his comments for years. BBC commentator Guy Mowbray famously referenced the line during Manchester City's 6–3 win against Manchester United in October 2022: “He said, 'not in my lifetime...' now it’s every time."
Man City Found Guilty of Cheating as They Overtook Man Utd
Sergio Aguero vs QPR
Sergio Aguero vs QPR
Fast-forward to September 2026, and suddenly new light has been cast on Ferguson's quotes. While Man City appear to have overtaken Man Utd, the validity of their success has been called into question.
The Etihad outfit have been found guilty of breaching over 100 Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018. The club are said to have arranged ‘sham’ contracts which helped artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs to the sum of £900m+. In short, Man City cheated their way to glory through the means of financial doping.
As such, there are many who feel as though the club should be stripped of all their Premier League titles. If they were to lose the top-flight trophies over the nine-year period in question, Man Utd would potentially be awarded belated titles having finished second in 2011/12 and 2017/18.
Regardless, the trophies won by Man City in the years since the 2008 takeover will always be tainted by the club's guilty verdict. As such, it's interesting to consider Ferguson's quotes.
The former Man Utd boss thought it was inconceivable that Man City would ever be viewed as a stronger club. When he said that, he did so under the assumption that the Cityzens would have to follow the same rules as everyone else.
History has shown us that Manchester City were perhaps not capable of overtaking Man Utd and so had to resort to cheating. With that in mind, Ferguson may well have been proven right to dismiss his local rivals all along.