And how the hell do you measure these things? The United team of 1999 won the treble; Ronaldo’s current side will only be able to win the Premier League and the Champions League. Of course this current team is more expensive but that’s the natural inflation in transfer prices across the board. Signing the current day equivalent of Andy Cole in today’s money would cost a lot more than £7m, although at least the man who made the decision to sell Newcastle's best striker is still in a job – back in the same job no less – to show us that not everything changes.

The best way to compare like with like is the way most managers take stock of their teams: by age. The team of 1999 seem older in the memory, players like Peter Schmeichel, Denis Irwin and Ronny Johnsen were coming to the end of their careers. There was, unlike the current day, no player younger than 24 in the United team of 1999. Three years later, United reached the Champions League semi-finals again but that generation never got any closer.

The team that won the final in Barcelona in May 1999 was without Paul Scholes and Roy Keane – both suspended – but if we are judging this on the team of the year they have to be in at the expense of Nicky Butt and Jesper Blomqvist who played on the night. Likewise, the current first XI is difficult to judge. Luis Anderson or Scholes? Luis Nani or Ryan Giggs? Carlos Tevez in or out? I’ve gone for the two older players and Tevez out. The results are interesting: the 1999 team is, on average, a year younger.

1999 United team
Peter Schmeichel, aged 35
Gary Neville, 24
Ronny Johnsen, 29
Jaap Stam, 26
Denis Irwin, 33
David Beckham, 24
Paul Scholes, 24
Roy Keane, 27
Ryan Giggs, 25
Dwight Yorke, 27
Andy Cole, 27

Average age: 27.3
Average age of outfield players: 26.6

2008 United team
Edwin Van der Sar, 37
Wes Brown, 28
Rio Ferdinand, 29
Nemanja Vidic, 26
Patrice Evra, 26
Cristiano Ronaldo, 23
Paul Scholes, 33
Owen Hargreaves, 28
Michael Carrick, 27
Ryan Giggs, 34
Wayne Rooney, 22

Average age: 28.4
Average age of outfield players: 27.6

For the definitive 1968 v 1999 v 2008 account on United’s great teams we’ll have to consult my esteemed colleague James Lawton, The Independent’s chief sports writer, who watched every one of those teams and tends to have an opinion on these things.

Meanwhile, thanks to those of you have emailed me after reading the piece about Manchester United’s academy graduates. Unfortunately there is nothing The Independent can do about getting your child into United’s academy. If your son is 14 years old or under, unattached to an academy, lives within an hour of Manchester and is a promising player the chances are the club will know about him anyway.

Those who have emailed from Africa and South America the only advice is this. Your son will have to be better than just the best player in his town, or the best player in the region. Not even being the best player in his country is any guarantee of him being good enough for United. That’s the standard. And once again: they’ll find you.

(Pictures: Getty Images)