Sir Alex Ferguson famously called it 'squeaky bum time.' Those final few weeks of a season when everything can be won and everything can be lost.
There's plenty on the table at Old Trafford, with two trophies still up for grabs and a top four spot in the Premier League to be secured. Erik ten Hag faces a mammoth week but down the football pyramid, some familiar faces have their eyes on glory.
United has long been a breeding ground for success in the game, whether it be in Manchester or elsewhere. The ethos of the club, the winning mentality and the ability required mean Old Trafford is in many ways the perfect football education.
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And a trio of former Reds are proving themselves to be great teachers in the Football League. Two were paired in Manchester by Jose Mourinho at the start of the 2018-19 campaign.
Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna - young up-and-coming coaches with vastly different playing backgrounds - impressed the United players with their methods.
Carrick, of course, had starred as a player for United and England. His resume was clear for all to see. McKenna's route was different. A playing career cut short by injury meant a move into coaching at 22 and an upward trajectory followed.
"I've said before it was a privilege for me to come onto his coaching staff, he's such an iconic figure for coaches of my generation," said McKenna of working with Mourinho. "It was a relatively short period, but even then it was great to work and learn from him. There was a lot I took from him."
McKenna arrived at United from Tottenham and Ipswich Town then sought his services as manager last year. It's been a match made in heaven with the Tractor Boys targeting a return to the Championship heading into the final few weeks of the campaign.
They sit second in a titanic tussle at the top of League One with leaders Plymouth Argyle and long-time favourites Sheffield Wednesday a point either side. Fourth place Barnsley can't be ruled out either.
Four wins from the remaining five games will be enough to send Ipswich up in McKenna's first full season. It could provide a reunion with good pal Carrick although the latter will have other ideas.
He was named Boro boss earlier this term and has overseen a superb second half of the season which at one point threatened to take the Teessiders all the way into the top two. That prospect has stalled and Boro now look set for the play-offs as they target Premier League football for the first time since 2017.
Carrick has brought the best out of a talented squad, no-one more so than Chuba Akpom, and his pleasing on the eye style means Boro are a great watch. For their boss, the chance of promotion at his first time of asking would elevate his standing still further. Not that the 41-year-old is thinking much about that.
"I learned a lot from Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of chasing success and how he did it," said Carrick. "And you can’t think about the end game too much. It’s wasting time and energy, we can only control what we can. Don’t think about the end of the story while the story is going on."
He and McKenna are writing some stories in their first taste in management but it's another former United man who is set to taste glory first. Richie Wellens has guided Leyton Orient to the brink in League Two. They will be promoted on Tuesday night with a win at Gillingham or if either Bradford or Northampton drop points.
Like Carrick, Wellens has taken plenty from Ferguson into his management career. The former United midfielder made his sole first team appearance five months after the 1999 treble in a League Cup defeat to Aston Villa. He carved out a successful playing career for the likes of Blackpool and Leicester City and took Swindon Town out of the fourth tier as manager in 2020. A move to Salford City followed with success in the delayed Football League Trophy not enough to save him from the axe after just four months in the job.
It's a call Salford co-owner Gary Neville likely regrets given the Ammies are currently scrapping for a spot in the play-offs. Wellens and his former United team-mate didn't see eye to eye.
"I walked into a situation where Gary Neville was the chairman with the Class of ’92 behind him. I didn’t handle that situation as best I could. Did I make mistakes? Absolutely. Could I have handled Gary differently and had better lines of communication? We could both have done," said Wellens in 2022. “I want a good relationship with my chairman. I want to be able to talk to him about football over a coffee or a pint. What I don’t want is conversations that are meaningless and just for the sake of a conversation. Topics being brought up that shouldn’t have been in my remit.”
There's plenty of meaning at Orient, as promotion and in all likelihood the title beckons. It may well bring about a phone call from Fergie, who is well known for keeping across the achievements of those he's managed. Wellens spoke to him before taking his first steps in management with Oldham in 2017
"He was just the master of everything regarding management. If I was even one-tenth as successful as him, I’d snap your hand off," concluded Wellens, 43, in 2019.
Orient fans would have snapped Wellens' hand off for their current position. Along with Carrick and McKenna, they are three former United men seeking a champagne end to the season.
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