Sir Alex Ferguson raised a glinting Premiership trophy into a cloudless blue sky and the roar which rumbled around Old Trafford could have launched a space rocket.

Fireworks, tickertape, fountains of champagne and 60,000-plus throats all cheering on the most conclusive champions English football has ever seen.

Yes, it's the sixth time in eight years Manchester United have been crowned champions of England but you don't get tired of winning, not even in these success-saturated parts.

Forget the fact that if this had been a foot race United would have lapped every one of their competitors.

Never mind that they scored the 96th goal of a record-breaking season - roughly twice the tally of most of their rivals - in which they have strolled to the title as if taking a walk in the park.

Never mind that this was their 10th successive league win and that they were the first team to win the Premiership in April with four games remaining and with a record points total.

This day was special and Ferguson, with grandson Jake in one arm and the Premiership trophy in the other, grabbed a microphone to tell the Old Trafford faithful: "It's not easy winning this league and this day is special to this club, I want you to remember that."

How could they forget. For, after dismantling a Tottenham side with the obligatory strike from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a David Beckham special and perhaps Teddy Sheringham's farewell strike at Old Trafford they set about celebrating in style.

And, boy, what a party as one by one they came up to raise the trophy and accept the adoration of the biggest crowd in Premiership history, 61,629.

First captain Roy Keane, Old Trafford's Irish talisman, the man for whom they have forked out £52,000-a-week, the Player of the Year and the man who has done most on the pitch to drive this supreme squad to even greater heights.

Then Raimond van der Gouw, who lifted the trophy and, ironically for a goalkeeper of such solid reputation, sent the lid crashing to the Old Trafford turf.

No matter, the crowd guffawed and cheered on the likes of Mark Bosnich, Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and a never-ending line which seemed to stretch back to the M62 such is the impressive depth of the United squad these days.

They danced and jigged for the cameras. Keane, with impish abandon, crept up on Ferguson and sprayed him with champagne Formula One-style and, as the foam trickled down his neck and drenched his suit, you mused that such an act in different circumstances would surely have merited a blast from the famed 'Fergie hairdryer'.

Not today. Today it prompted a nifty jig to one side and a beaming smile as warm and bright as the early summer sun which bathed Old Trafford in a kaleidoscope of colour.

And then it was time for the United kids as the players carried their children around the stadium - van der Gouw with an infant in each arm, Keane likewise, and Beckham with little Brooklyn alternately teetering on his shoulders and tottering down the touchline as wife Victoria, aka Posh Spice, watched nervously from the touchline.

They paused endlessly to soak in the atmosphere and collect another snapshot of son or daughter with Premiership trophy - pictures of perfection on the perfect day for a party.

And all the while a plane buzzed over Old Trafford trailing a banner proclaiming 'MUFC Carling Champions again'.

On the form United have shown this season they might as well book the pilot again for next season, because already there is a feeling that this Ferguson dynasty is invincible.

Which is why today they cheered everything that moved. One of the biggest roars of all was reserved for Eric Cantona, one of Old Trafford's most famous sons, who took his seat 10 minutes before kick-off and caused such a stir at the back of the south stand that for much of the first-half it was a toss-up which way most of the crowd were looking.

For the next 90 minutes sporadic 'Cantona' eulogies sprang from all corners of Old Trafford interspersed with the infernal Mexican Wave.

The United fans even cheered Sol Campbell, the Spurs defender who reports suggest will be pairing up with Jaap Stam at the centre of United's rearguard next season.

"Come and join a league club," they taunted and you had to admit the divide between the two clubs has never seemed so vast.

Spurs manager George Graham was spared the anguish of watching his present team dissected by the club he once graced as a player on account of his continuing recuperation from a painful arthritic condition.

For the majority packed into Old Trafford there was nothing but joy. You only have to make the trek up the M1 and the M6 on match day, in the morning not long after the milkman as it happens, to appreciate the depth of support for the phenomenon that is Manchester United.

A convoy of coaches and cars with their 'Champions' flags fluttering and 'Ferguson's Six-pack' T-shirts in the windows snaked its way to the club so much of the nation loves to hate, but which is adored by so many from so far.

They didn't have long to wait before their journeys were rewarded, Solskjaer wresting the limelight from Cantona with his 15th goal of the season after just five minutes.

A precise Beckham corner, a flick-on from Jaap Stam and there was Solskjaer, the little Norwegian with the cool temperament and the hot shooting boots, to nod the ball past Spurs goalkeeper Ian Walker from close range.

Chris Armstrong grabbed an equaliser when he headed home a Steffen Iversen cross after 20 minutes.

But this was a day for Red revelry, not red faces, and there was not a chance that this lightweight Spurs side would upset the party mood.

So it proved in quite devastating fashion as Beckham arrived on cue, after good work by Solskjaer, to crash home a right-foot shot which flew past Walker from 20 yards after 33 minutes.

Sheringham, perhaps playing his last match at Old Trafford, added a third two minutes later and so the exhibition began.

"We only need four more", sang the Old Trafford faithful - aware that the champions were closing in rapidly on a century of goals for the season.

That remains a teasing target for their last Premiership match against Aston Villa next Sunday, but, whatever the result of that game, Ferguson could not have been more delighted with a squad which he saluted for winning "their best championship ever".

"I regard them as very special," said Ferguson. "I admire the drive they have within themselves and their attacking beliefs.

"Until the later stages of this campaign I had always felt that the present team had some way to go to match the mental toughness of my 1994 side, the hardy characters who laid the ghost which had haunted the club for 26 years without the championship and then won it twice on the trot.

"The present team always had their ability and now they have caught up in terms of character and commitment."

Another European Cup crown eluded them, of course, but with a summer signing or two no-one would bet against that being put right next season.

And so they trooped off into the sunlight, climbing into their fleet of Ferraris and Mercedes with children in arms and eulogies ringing in their ears, some a little red faced from a mixture of the burning sun and copious champagne Never mind, the party had been just champion.

Teams

Man Utd: Van Der Gouw, P. Neville, Stam (Berg 26), Silvestre, Irwin, Beckham, Butt (Greening 63), Scholes, Giggs, Sheringham, Solskjaer (Cruyff 79).

Subs Not Used: Fortune, Wallwork.

Booked: Scholes.

Goals: Solskjaer 5, Beckham 34, Sheringham 36.

Tottenham: Walker, Carr, Campbell, Perry, Clemence, Anderton, Freund, Davies, Etherington (King 84), Iversen (Korsten 70), Armstrong (Doherty 70).

Subs Not Used: Segers, Scales.

Booked: Freund.

Goals: Armstrong 20.

Att: 61,629

Ref: A Wilkie (Chester le Street).