The continuing uncertainty about their captain Roy Keane's future at Old Trafford does not appear likely to drive Manchester United wildly off course. Far from heading for the nearest reef, in fact, United are showing early signs of switching to automatic pilot.
Saturday's victory for patience, persistence and opportunism over David O'Leary's ever-improving young Leeds United side was followed by the announcement that Keane will wait until his present contract runs out at the end of the season before deciding if he wants to move and where.
On the evidence of the previous two hours the knowledge that Keane will be around for the time being will surely relax Sir Alex Ferguson and his players as they prepare for three solid months of Champions League football, not to mention the European Super Cup in Monaco and World Club Cup in Tokyo with FIFA's folly, the World Club Championship in Brazil, to follow.
Serious speculation concerning Keane will be renewed in the new year, when he is allowed to start talking to other clubs with Juventus and Internazionale sure to be on his list. By then United will hope to have established a strong early position in the second group phase of the Champions League.
Ferguson, then, has been given a breathing space by the player who is the principal driving force within his team. "I see this as a comfortable decision," said the United manager. "I'm comfortable with it and so is Roy." Whether the business side of the club sees it quite this way is debatable. The closer Keane gets to the end of his contract, when he becomes a free agent, the more Manchester United plc stand to lose a fat transfer fee.
Leeds are hoping to break into the pack expected to mount a serious pursuit of the title this time, and at Old Trafford on Saturday they made out a strong case for membership. It might have been even stronger had they not lost Michael Bridges, the 18-year-old who had scored a hat-trick at Southampton three days earlier, with an ankle injury.
As it was the masterful form of Harry Kewell disrupted the United defence to the extent that Leeds went close several times, albeit from long range, before Nigel Martyn was having to block a shot from Paul Scholes with Ian Harte intercepting David Beckham's attempt to exploit the rebound.
Had Kewell, released by Lucas Radebe's pass after the centre back had intercepted a lone attack by Jaap Stam, not hit a post midway through the second half Leeds might well have achieved their first win at Old Trafford since 1981. The rest, however, was decided by United's predator supreme, Dwight Yorke.
O'Leary blamed lapses of concentration by his defence for the two goals which Yorke scored in the space of four minutes during the last quarter of an hour. The Leeds manager was partly right but simply to describe these as bad goals was to ignore the quality of both Yorke's headers and the centre and free-kick, from Philip Neville and Beckham, which had set them up.
Nevertheless Leeds took much satisfaction, if not points, from a game of high quality. Mark Bosnich, however, took away a hamstring injury which could keep United's new goalkeeper out for a month.
MAN UTD: Bosnich (Van Der Gouw 21), Neville, Irwin, Berg, Stam, Beckham, Keane, Scholes (Butt 69), Cole, Yorke (Sheringham 81), Giggs. Subs Not Used: Curtis, Solskjaer. Booked: Cole, Giggs. Goals: Yorke 76, 80. LEEDS: Martyn, Harte (Hiden 75), Radebe, Woodgate, Bridges (Hopkin 19), Kewell (Bakke 83), Bowyer, Huckerby, Mills, Duberry, Batty. Subs Not Used: Haaland, Robinson.
Referee: N Barry (Scunthorpe).
