For English football, it has long seemed unthinkable: a league season starting without the finger-jabbing, combative colossus of management on the touchlines.
Alex Ferguson will be a bystander for the first time since 1986, watching from afar as Manchester United starts its pursuit of a record-extending 21st English title when the new English Premier League season begins this weekend..
David Moyes now carries that responsibility.
Widely admired during 11 years at Everton despite failing to collect a major honour, Moyes was hand-picked by Ferguson in the biggest decision – gamble, perhaps – taken by the owning Glazer family.
“People are asking whether we can win the trophy again. Can we still be champions?” captain Nemanja Vidic acknowledged.
Although he openly flirted with United in the months before Ferguson’s retirement was publicly disclosed, Jose Mourinho – one of the most talented but temperamental managers of his generation – wasn’t approached for the job.
The charismatic Portuguese is back in the Premier League, though, returning to Chelsea.
Just a week into the season, the 50-year-old managers will get a chance to size each other up in a match that could set the tone for the opening weeks, with United hosting Chelsea.
“That game will not decide who is going to be champions,” Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic said. “But it will decide a lot of things about the confidence.”
By then, the Blues may have gained an edge by having played an extra game. United will only have played once – its title defence begins Saturday at Swansea.
Ill-feeling between the sides has been inflamed by Chelsea’s hostile pursuit of United striker Wayne Rooney.
Mourinho insists he’s not engaging in “mind games” with Moyes, but has still offered a few pointed words of advice.
“One of the most difficult things in the club is to create a victory culture, where you walk through the door and you smell the success, you smell confidence, you smell self-esteem,” said Mourinho, who has won league titles in England, Spain, Italy and Portugal. “David is in a big club and that is a big help – everybody knows how to win. Of course, it is up to him now.”
And he knows just how daunting the task is.
“There has to be an element of fear that comes with managing a club like Manchester United,” Moyes said.
With the spotlight on Mourinho and Moyes, Manuel Pellegrini has been able to make a quiet start to his first job in English management.
The 59-year-old Chilean left Malaga for Manchester City after Roberto Mancini was fired for failing to follow up the 2011-12 Premier League title with a single trophy last season, finishing 11 points behind United in second.
Talk of dressing room disharmony has melted away as Pellegrini started to re-shape the squad, spending more than $130 million on strikers Stevan Jovetic and Alvaro Negredo, midfielder Fernandinho and winger Jesus Navas.
Such a lavish outlay was easily affordable for the oil-rich Abu Dhabi ownership, but the spending could pose a challenge in complying with UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations, a requirement of playing in the Champions League.
By contrast, United failed in its pursuit of Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas, and even more ambitious thoughts of bringing Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford from Madrid.
Chelsea might have missed out on Rooney, but around $40 million has still been spent on signing striker Andre Schuerrle and midfielder Marco van Ginkel.
As for Arsenal, which finished behind Chelsea in fourth, not a penny has been spent. That’s despite chief executive Ivan Gazidis raising the hopes of fans in June by pledging to “escalate” spending.
Moves to entice Luis Suarez from Liverpool for more than $60 million have been rebuffed by Liverpool, which is insisting that the Uruguay striker honour his contract after the club backed him through racism and biting controversies.
The Gunners have seen north London rival Tottenham invest $65 million in the squad, although manager Andre Villa-Boas could still be faced with losing arguably the league’s most potent player in Gareth Bale before the transfer window closes on September 2.
Real Madrid’s pursuit of the Wales forward threatens to destabilise Tottenham in the opening weeks of the season unless quickly resolved.
Bale would be leaving a Premier League that will feature two Welsh teams for the first time after Cardiff gained promotion to join Swansea, which will find it hard to repeat last season’s 11th-place finish and League Cup success.
The Cardiff-Swansea derby is shaping up to be one of the fieriest fixtures of the season.
The manager to watch out for, though, will be Paolo Di Canio, the confrontational and divisive Italian who succeeded in keeping Sunderland in the top flight after being hired in the closing stages of the season amid an outcry over his past comments about fascism.
