's one-time "spud-faced nipper"
will never be feted as a master of erudition.
It is his supreme playing ability and that of his teammates that has helped propel United to the pinnacle of the club game. Financially at least.
(EPL) clubs have generated the highest football shirt sponsorship figures in Europe this season with total revenue just shy of ?150 million (Dh713.2m).
The annual European Football Jersey Report for the 2012-2013 season, carried out by the research firm Sport+Markt, shows the EPL pulled in more cash from commercial deals than its German, Spanish, French, Italian and Dutch counterparts.
Shirt sponsorship revenue in the EPL increased by ?28.2m over last season from ?130.5m to ?148.7m. However, in the absence of major new deals on the market, a main reason for this has been the recovery of the pound against the euro.
The top-flight English clubs generate an average of ?7.4m per season - the highest of any of the countries the report looked at. The German Bundesliga rose slightly to ?119.8m but larger growth in overall EPL income lifted the league above the Bundesliga average of ?6.7m a club for the first time.
While the same five clubs occupy the top positions in the EPL shirt sponsorship ranking this season, English clubs still account for two of European football's five most valuable jersey sponsorship deals.
Shirt sponsorship deals with the financial services providers AON and
for Shrek's, sorry, Rooney's Red Devils and Liverpool, respectively, are each worth ?25m per year. In Europe those deals are bettered only by Barcelona, whose contract with the Qatar Foundation is worth ?30m a year.
Overall in the main six European markets of Spain, England, Germany, Italy, France and Holland, shirt sponsorship income has crossed the ?500m threshold for the first time, with total revenue generated in the six top flights looked at in the Sport+Markt report surging to ?522m.
But while all that lovely lolly is swilling around for the leading clubs, with their multi-millionaire players sporting cool sponsor motifs such as
, which will reportedly appear on Barcelona jerseys next season, and AC Milan's Emirates, spare a thought for those lumbered with the distinctly less exotic.
For two seasons, FC Nuremberg players were forced to show their on-field macho prowess in shirts emblazoned with the words "mister lady", a teen fashion label, which did little to polish the Bavarians' hard-men image.
Across the Atlantic, the brooding malevolence of the stereotypical Mexican footballer was somewhat undermined when Club America, the country's richest, signed a jersey sponsorship deal with a famous bread company, which unfortunately for the players, is called Bimbo.
And back in Europe, a few years ago Clydebank hooked up with what was then a very hip pop band. However, trying to play football in the testosterone-fuelled Scottish game was made all the more difficult for the Clydebank warriors because the band in question was called Wet Wet Wet.
At least it mirrored the weather their supporters usually endure.
