Alex Ferguson is used to having things his own way, so it should come as little surprise that, having decreed he wanted more of a challenge to Manchester United's supremacy this season, that is exactly what he has got.
After last season's one-horse race - United were eight points clear exactly a year ago - the Premiership is finally offering a title pursuit to savour. The cluttered field of runners boasts a black-and-white striped outsider nosing ahead while the favourite, belatedly finding its stride, threatens to pound through the pack. At last, some competition.
"It has been the most vibrant, exciting half-season for a long time," said the Newcastle captain Alan Shearer yesterday. His side have picked up 19 points from their last seven games, with swashbuckling wins at more fancied challengers Arsenal and Leeds leaving them three points clear at the top.
This afternoon they take on sixth-placed Chelsea and the reality blinkers are on. "You won't get anybody here talking about titles," Shearer added.
"There are so many clubs up there and in with a chance. Sir Alex always says 'let's see who's challenging in March' and he's right. Any team that puts together a run of eight or 10 games will be up near the top."
United are in the process of doing just that. The champions have been purring menacingly in recent weeks, an earlier malaise shaken off by a quartet of wins. How quickly things change. When West Ham inflicted the champions' sixth defeat on December 8th to leave them 11 points off the summit, Ferguson, in a rare public uttering, strayed into mind games with talk of a "mountain to climb".
United had slipped, weakened by the sudden sale of Jaap Staam, the hasty acquisition of Laurent Blanc and the need to accommodate the £28.1 million sterling Juan Sebastian Veron in midfield. Ferguson, stubbornly dabbling in new tactics, chopped and changed while his champs briefly became chumps.
Losing to Arsenal and Liverpool is one thing; United suffered that before Christmas last season. This time they slipped up when they might have expected cricket scores - yet even losses to West Ham and Bolton were tempered by their chief challengers, as they did last year, taking chunks out of each other in the dogfight.
"The teams at the top are more than capable of beating one another," said Liverpool's caretaker manager Phil Thompson. His side appeared to have found the necessary consistency in a 12-match unbeaten run, only to be left jittery in third place by a recent three-game win-less streak.
"It's probably the best title race the Premiership has generated," Thompson added. "The standard in this league is going up all the time, with teams putting together better squads to challenge for honours. The quality is better. You might lose up to eight or nine games this season and still be in with a chance of winning the title."
Which is good news for Ferguson. No Premiership title has been won by a side which lost more than four games by Christmas, but this year the league has effectively been squashed. There are 24 points between top and bottom compared with 34 a year ago, and the bottleneck at the top is also seen in midfield, with nine clubs separated by six points.
The title is up for grabs for fewer points than the previous winning low of 75 (United in 1997), a theory reinforced by the sight of Arsenal already dropping 13 of a possible 27 home points. "After losing at home to Newcastle we were two games away from a potential crisis of confidence," conceded Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. "That's how tight it is."
"It will probably go down to the last 12 or 14 games and be a case of who has got the character to go and get win after win after win," said his centre-back Sol Campbell. "As long as we can keep our heads, there's enough quality and experience here with the guys who've won it before."
The suspicion lingers that United and Arsenal - the top two since 1997 - are the likeliest candidates to stay the pace. "They are the only two teams capable of winning 10 games on the trot," said Aston Villa's Paul Merson. "Liverpool might keep grinding out results, but I don't see it."
What can the other challengers offer? At least they have got their act together earlier in the season. Leeds were 12th this time last year, before embarking on a 19-game run which brought 43 from a possible 57 points. A similar sequence now would yield a first championship since 1992.
"The title is always a possibility if we play to our potential and our luck with injuries improves," said their midfielder David Batty. "If we put together the kind of results we had on the run-in last season, we've got a great chance."
Bobby Robson would privately concede his Newcastle side are over-achieving, though a win at Old Trafford next Tuesday would cause shock waves.
Then there are Claudio Ranieri's Chelsea, 10th this time last year with 27 goals conceded in their 20 games, but now solid with 15 in 19 this term.
As for Ferguson, what better way to go out than to offer all-comers their best chance of success before snatching it away at the last? United may have won the Premiership seven times in its nine years, but only twice have they led at Christmas. Challengers beware; the signs are ominous.
