TRUE TO HIS WORD, Sir Alex Ferguson did everything he could to avoid watching the final moments of the Barclays Premiership title campaign yesterday afternoon, but ultimately he could not resist the temptation to turn on the television to see the last, desperate 15 minutes of Chelsea’s challenge.

“I went to see my grandson play this morning,” Ferguson said yesterday with a glass of champagne in his hand after United’s success had finally been confirmed. “He had a league decider today. They won their league and now we have won our league, too, so it’s a great day for the Ferguson family.

“After that I went home to watch the racing and then I twiddled my thumbs for a bit before I finally watched the last 15 minutes of the game at the Emirates Stadium – and I was in agony.

“Apparently, Chelsea were fantastic in the second half. I thought Arsenal were trying to throw it away because they kept losing possession. My heart was in my mouth. It was a great effort by Chelsea. You have to give them credit for that. But it’s a fantastic day for our club and for our supporters. It has been a great season for them.

“As I’ve said before, getting off to a good start was very, very important to us. Once we got that, we were always going to be hard to dislodge. It’s not easy in the Premier League to keep a lead for six months or however long it has been. The really crucial part was the resilience of the players when we started getting all the injuries in the last few weeks. At one point we had eight players injured.

“We don’t have as big a squad as Chelsea, but credit to the 13 or 14 players that dug out some great results for us over that time. I really take my hat off to that bunch of lads.”

With an FA Cup Final against Chelsea looming, the only regret for Ferguson is his team’s Champions League semi-final defeat by AC Milan on Wednesday.

“To win the title is a great achievement, but I wish we had just got to the final in Athens, I must say,” he said. “I wish I was starting the Milan game all over again. It’s just an experience we won’t forget. I think that’s the great thing about football clubs, the fact that players will use that experience next year.”