The Wigan Athletic supporter had no doubt about it. “That’s why they’re champions,” he shouted towards the press box after Paul Scholes escaped a red card yesterday, five minutes after Cristiano Ronaldo had put Manchester United ahead.

Sir Alex Ferguson would doubtless laugh at the notion that United owed their seventeenth league title to any referee, let alone Steve Bennett. The simple truth is that United are champions because they have been the outstanding team in England this season and it would have been an injustice had it been Chelsea celebrating at 5pm yesterday.

It was a season that began in inglorious fashion for Ferguson’s team: only two points and a solitary goal from their first three matches, which included the loss of Wayne Rooney to a broken foot in the opening match against Reading, a red card for Ronaldo away to Portsmouth – courtesy of Bennett – and a derby defeat by Manchester City. There followed a series of 1-0 wins, punctuated only by a 2-0 victory over Chelsea in Avram Grant’s first match in charge in September, until the floodgates opened with a 4-0 win over Wigan on October 6, the start of a six-match sequence that yielded 22 goals.

Initially they were in pursuit of Arsenal, who celebrated a stoppage-time equaliser against United at the Emirates Stadium on November 3 as if they had won the title. Arsenal were even more buoyant by the start of February, when they moved five points clear after a 2-0 home win over Blackburn Rovers, with United having lost to City again the previous day.

If there was a turning point, it came on February 16, when United and Arsenal met in the FA Cup fifth round. The way they set about Arsenal, winning 4-0, set the tone for the next two months. By the time Arsenal lost 2-1 at Old Trafford in the Premier League on April 13, they were out of the race. Only a resurgent Chelsea had a chance of catching United.

United’s performance level dipped as the rigours of the season began to take their toll, but their character was never in doubt. It was seen when they scored late equalisers away to Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers and when they came from behind to beat Arsenal. It was seen again yesterday when they had to dig deep against a vibrant Wigan. That is why they’re champions. That and sheer talent.

Fergie's Record

Sir Alex Ferguson is arguably the most successful manager in the history of English football. Since he arrived at Old Trafford in November 1986, United have won ten titles, one European Cup, five FA Cups, one European Cup Winners’ Cup and two League Cups. The only manager who comes close to his record is the late Bob Paisley, who won six titles, three European Cups, one Uefa Cup and three League Cups with Liverpool from 1974 to 1983. Ferguson also won nine leading trophies in Scotland with Aberdeen from 1978 to 1986.