LONDON. Sept 8 (AFP) For Alex Ferguson It Is "the right challenge at the right time." a once-in-a-life

time window of opportunity to pul i he Kal of greastness of his managerial career

Manchester United venture back into the Chmpions League against holders Juventus next week at last free from crippling shackles on selection ana encouraged by home help

Fergie knows he will never have a better chance Io grasp the prize which will place him alongside the late Sir Matt Busby in the Old Trafford pan theon

From next Kason. bizarely UEFA are prepared io extend invitations to club with pedigree but no title

So the chance to become the last champion* of champions is all the more enticing for a club whoK soul has been Inexorably entwined with thia competition since the Munich air disaster of 1958.

Two nineties crusades have ended In the kind of humilia tion which has become ritual for English clubs were once they dominated - eight triumphs be tween United first In 1968 and Liverpool* fourth 16 year* later

But Pat Crerand. a member of Busby's trailblazers says: "We will Ke the best of United this time — thank* to the Bosman ruling

"It has become they holy grail, not just of Fergie but for all our supporter*’

"Matt wa* |ust a* obKnstvr about II becatiK If you win It you are the best

He spent a long time pursu ing It and when we did It against Benfica, well, think about you wildest bream that « how we all felt Elation unbounded That * how Fergie and the boy* will feel If they do It "

United are the flagship of renovated national pride, post Euro '96, but must negotiate a dangerous course via Vienna and. again Istanbul. But the big rocks fork next week in Turin.

The Italians have hazared their crown by scrapping the team that beat favourites Ajax last May in a 40 million pounds summer frenzy.

Rejects Gianluca Vlalli and Fabrizio Ravaneli now grace the English Premiership, con-erstone defender Pietro Vierho wood has been sold to Perugia and midfielder Paulo Sousa to Borusla Dortmund while Sheffield Wednesday target At Hilo Lombardo languishes in the reserves

Executive vice-president Roberto Bettega goalscoring hero of the seventies had invested in what he hope* will be a more durable side for coach Marcello Lippi.

Croat striker Alen Boksic. French Maestro Zinedine Zidane and Uruguayan defender Paolo Montero, the son of kv enties star Julio, have arrived along with striker Christian Vieri And tycon Gianni Agelll Is still in pocket on the deals.

Ferguson admits: "They’re a better them than last year, def Initely Boksic is a top player and they’ve brought in Vlert (from Atlanta) who Is a big. powerful forward If anything ne » improved their attack

Their great quality la their power - thev simply overpow ered Ajax, particularly In the first-half Tnere is a Britishness about them too. By next Wednesday I will make sure my plavera know exactly what they are lacing "

United too. have new faces tn Jordi Cruyff. Karel Poboraky. the Impreslve Norwegians Ole Gunner Solksjaer and Ronny Johnsen

This time only Roy Keane's recuperation should prevent them fielding their strongest

side, with French genius Eric Cantona having been cleared to play after ft was originally thought he would be suspended.

In addition, each of England's cross-channel sides have been granted exemption to the third round of the home Coca-Cola Cup. This could help prevent a repetition of last year's debacle.

That had less to with talent and technique as tactics. United's win in the Cup Winners Cup in 1991. repeated by Arsenal two years ago. proves the potential remains to restore a tradition which brought 22 trophies per -Heysel.

What happened during the exile la that the continental game moved on and few managers have had the appreciation of George Graham for the mordant approach needed to survive and prosper.

Frank Clark disciplined Nottingham Forest * approach last Kason and it wa* no coincidence that they prospered where Kevin Keegan s gung ho Newcastle flopped, going against all their manager learned during his Liverpool heyday.

Clark says "Our policy was not to go bull-at-a-gate against skies we knew wonk) Iw adept at keeping the ball

never panicked about winning our home games only by a small margin and we were prepared to defend as much as we needed, even at the City Ground We were tight and disciplined and did ourselves proud.

"But there's no particular secret we Just played to our ntrengtii and that as a long For eat tradition in Europe."

Just as in the pioneering days of the late fifties and six ties most clubs learn in the school of hard knocks even Graham s approach shaped by the Highbury leason Benfica gave hl* side in 1991