On New Year's Eve I was in a TV studio preparing to do some analysis as Manchester United trailed Middlesbrough 1-0. And all around me there was a consensus among everyone there.
'United will win this,' was the overwhelming feeling. It was rather like people would speak about the great Sir Alex Ferguson sides.
It is the perception from outside which has changed. United feel like a force to be feared again, not ridiculed.
A few weeks before, I had been asked who I thought would challenge for the title.