Only after England’s top clubs broke away to form what is now world football’s wealthiest league did United become champions again after a 26-year wait. Winning the Premier League in 1993 ushered in an unprecedented era of domination for the club, with another 11 league titles subsequently masterminded by Alex Ferguson.

“The whole Premier League has been the greatest era for Manchester United,” chief executive David Gill said on the eve of the new season, which starts Aug 13-14.

The latest title in May took United to the top of the English champions’ leaderboard — surpassing Liverpool’s tally of 18.