STEVE BRUCE thought he had hit the big time when Manchester United sent an aeroplane to fly him in to sign on transfer deadline day in 1987. But when he got to Norwich airport “the plane was a grey Spitfire, not a private jet. It had wind-down windows - I’m not kidding - and we had huge cans on”, he said, laughing, “I s*** myself all the way.”

Equally inauspicious was Bruce’s medical, which revealed serious knee ligament damage, hitherto undetected, thought to have been sustained when he was a kid. Against doctors’ advice, Alex Ferguson went through with the deal and for £825,000 bought “a man of calibre . . . one of the most dour and dependable defenders ever to play for me”. Admiration is reciprocated. “He [Ferguson] gave me a chance and made me captain of one of the greatest clubs in the world,” said Bruce. “Let’s face it, there’ll never be another him.”

The story of Bruce’s signing shows the gambler’s mentality of Sir Alex Ferguson, his willingness to back his judgments in the face of risk. This very quality has brought United to a last-day decider. Ferguson weakened his team against Chelsea for the sake of Europe, wagering that if three points were dropped, United could get the six they still needed to be champions against West Ham and Bruce’s Wigan. So it has come to this. Super-squeaky bums for 90 minutes. Will Wigan prove like Tottenham in 1998-99 and Middlesbrough in 1995-96, awkward opponents United could nonetheless surmount to seal titles on the last day? Or will they come to haunt Ferguson like the West Ham side of 1994-95, whose fighting draw at Upton Park on the season’s final afternoon prevented United being crowned? Scoring was United’s problem that day (Ferguson mistakenly kept Mark Hughes on the bench) and Bruce still winces at the memory: “We were laying siege to them the whole second half and missed chance after chance.”

At the JJB stadium, with Wayne Rooney not recovered from a hip injury, the onus falls on Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. They must stop Chris Kirkland adding to the 10 clean sheets he has kept since Christmas; if they do not, Chelsea are likely to be enthroned. In the town George Orwell made famous, Ferguson wants a homage to Catalonia: he wants United to play “with the same concentration and intensity” they showed in tackling another must-win game, against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg. “I have no fears. You only need to look at the names coming up on that team list of mine to have confidence,” said Ferguson.

Yet Wigan’s chairman, Dave Whelan, observed: “United’s players are used to big games, but their nerves will jangle. If Man U go two up, we’ll never get near them, but if we hold them to 0-0 or 1-0, then near the end the nerves will show.”

Fans in more than 200 countries will watch and 25 outside broadcast crews from abroad are descending on the JJB. The dream of a day like this is why Whelan put heart, soul and pound after pound into building up Wigan. “I’m delighted for the chairman. His little club and little town are in the spotlight,” said Bruce. The club’s desire to put on a show for the world both benefits and disadvantages United. Whelan has paid for what Arsène Wenger termed the worst pitch in football to be torn up. With groundstaff working 14-hour days, a new surface has been laid just for the game. Afterwards the turf will be lifted again so that drainage problems can be resolved. “That [relaying the pitch] doesn’t do us any harm,” said Ferguson. The downside is Bruce has had his players doing extra training. The idea, given his affinity with United, that Bruce might give them an easy ride “has been insulting to me. I believe the Premier League is the most honest of any league. What would I say to my players? ‘Roll over, don’t train tomorrow and on Sunday let Man U win’?

“There’s been a great atmosphere in training and the players are looking forward to it because these are the games you want to be involved in. My players have performed under the pressure [of relegation] fantastically well. Now I hope they can perform with the pressure off. The world’s watching and we’ll try our best.”

Eric Black, Bruce’s assistant, is another of Ferguson’s former charges. Black scored in Aberdeen’s Cup Winners’ Cup final victory over Real Madrid. Today is the 25th anniversary of that, the triumph that put Ferguson on United’s radar in the first place. Another subplot involves Antonio Valencia and Wilson Palacios, Wigan’s best performers along with Kirkland during their revival under Bruce. United, Liverpool and Aston Villa have inquired about signing them, and Bruce and Whelan are resigned to losing them if someone meets the £10m asking price.

Ferguson also wants an experienced forward this summer, with Dimitar Berbatov foremost in his mind. That he is looking at next season, with a league decider and Champions League final still to play, demonstrates his unquenchable ambition. Should he prevail, it will be his 10th title and United’s 17th, putting them one behind Liverpool’s record total of 18. “The structure of this club is right, the training ground, youth development, a young squad . . . everything’s in place. They’ll keep winning titles after I’ve gone. It [beating Liverpool’s record] will happen, hopefully in my time,” said Ferguson. “I’ve got a bit of damage to do yet.”

He was supposed to retire six years ago. “That wasn’t [like] him,” said Bruce. “He must have had a bad bottle of red the night before [making the announcement] but he soon put it right.” Today United and their manager could be quaffing something fine. “We’ll have some champagne in for them,” said Whelan, “but they’ll have to beat us first.” He put it in such a tone that it sounded easier said than done.

Why Heskey is a United hero

Ridiculed by United fans while at rivals Liverpool, Emile Heskey could be cheered by them throughout today’s game. Heskey’s late equaliser at Stamford Bridge last month grabbed struggling Wigan a vital point. More importantly, it cost Chelsea two points in their bid for the title. Had he not scored, Chelsea would have their destiny in their own hands today, rather than having to rely on Wigan to stop United from winning.