“Maybe people will look back and say this was a golden period?”

There is an optimism around Old Trafford as some believe Sir Alex Ferguson is about to usher in a new era.

With a core of solid professionals slowly we are seeing the introduction of new fresh faces that will become the mainstays of future United teams.

The likes of Neville, Scholes and van der Sar may have just left but the likes of De Gea, the Da Silva twins and Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Tom Cleverley, Danny Welbeck and Kiko Macheda are ready to pick up the slack and beneath them are the FA Youth Cup winning side of 2011.

This new team is being groomed for success, to carry on where the last left off and it won’t be easy.

In the past 5 years United have the league title 4 times, won the Champions League once having made the final 3 times so defender Rio Ferdinand is right to question whether this could very well have been a golden generation for the club,

“Maybe people will look back and say this was a golden period.

“It is certainly up there as one of the most successful periods in the club’s history.”