Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted his approach to building teams has been vindicated since Roman Abramovich's takeover of Chelsea.

"You can only do what you think is best for your club and our philosophy was to build a team that could last for years," said Ferguson.

"It required a bit of patience.

"Chelsea were doing it in a different way but we could not match their spending power so we had to identify young players who could be top players at this club."

Ferguson's plan has worked. Of the 24 players he will select from on Sunday only the three old stagers - Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville - will be missing because of age in five years' time.

Even Rio Ferdinand will be only 35 as he patrols the United defence.

"There are no cracks," he said.

"That was the plan. It was the long-term view."