Right Said Fred: Talking Betting With BetFred Boss Fred Done

Manchester is Red – for now! As a United fan, that 2-0 win over City in the Manchester Derby on Sunday, putting an end to their 21-game winning run, was sweet.

Bittersweet, perhaps, as we all know the Premier League trophy is on its way back to East Manchester this season.

I’m so sure of that, in fact, that last week I made the decision to pay out early on Betfred customers who had backed City to win the title.

I won’t lie, that decision was partly fuelled by my hope that there’s a repeat of 2012!

I paid out early on United winning the league that year – despite Sir Alex Ferguson telling me not to after it all went wrong in 1998 – when we held a five-point gap at the top with seven games to go… which of course led to a United capitulation and City clinching the title with that infamous ‘Aguerooooo’ moment.

Maybe it could be ‘Brunoooo’ this year?

Anyway, let’s forget the title race for just a minute and enjoy that win for what it was.

I thought Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got it spot on tactically, and every single one of his players put in a shift on the pitch to earn a well-deserved three points.

The Norwegian has his fair share of critics, but the fact is he’s proved himself time and time again to be tactically adept against the top managers in world football.

Luke Shaw was excellent again, and it was great to see him get on the scoresheet.

I watched an interview with him the other week, and when he was asked ‘who is the best finisher at the club’ he said ‘the manager would say me’ – after Sunday, I think I believe him!

Surely he has to be Gareth Southgate’s first choice left-back for the Euros?

It was also great to see Anthony Martial put in what I thought was probably his best performance of the season.

He’s been completely out of form for some time, so hopefully this is just what he needed to regain some confidence and start performing again.

We now have a great chance to build on that brilliant result and secure second in the table – while we still have the FA Cup and Europa League to fight for.

Speaking of the latter, United host AC Milan at Old Trafford on Thursday for the first leg of our Round of 16 tie, which looks more like a Champions League game on paper.