'If I had a gun I would have shot him' - the Sir Alex Ferguson transfer saga that set up Manchester United treble success

Sir Alex Ferguson made a habit of two things in the transfer market during his legendary reign as Manchester United manager; strengthening his squad when they were on top and/or pulling rank on Premier League rivals to do so. Only one time it might literally have backfired.

United were hit deep when Eric Cantona retired in 1997 and it took them 12 months to adequately replace him. Not that it was a job for one player, mind.

Already boasting Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as attacking options, Sir Alex craved the full set and did something he seldom turned to in order to get that missing piece - the Scot went public in his quest to sign Dwight Yorke and that, ultimately, drummed up an almighty storm at Aston Villa.

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However, that was deemed necessary to win the race for a striker that Sir Alex confessed to "worrying" about during the early and mid-1990s even as United swept all before them in their monopoly on the Premier League stage. But after watching Arsenal triumphed in 1998, they wanted their title back.

Having flirted with the idea of signing Patrick Kluivert - who instead headed to Barcelona from AC Milan that summer - Sir Alex maintained Yorke was the one he wanted. Yorke, seemingly, has his head turned - although he pursued a move for the right reasons after a decade with Villa.

"It came to a point in my time where I could have stayed at Villa and be the main man and win a competition occasionally and be treated like royalty like I had been, or realise as a player at 26 years of age you've only got a certain amount of time to cash in if you're going to be remembered as a top striker."

The words of Yorke as he, diplomatically, reflected