United had 56 points, and were tied at the top of the league with cross-town rivals Manchester City, when they played Sunderland.

Fans gave Stepney updates of City's score at Newcastle throughout the match. He did not like what he was hearing.

United lost 1-2, while City won 4-3 to take the championship, in a race that was so close, it has rarely been duplicated.

'The crowd was much closer to the pitch then, and they were telling us what was going on in the City game,' Stepney, now 65, recalled.

'It was all about winning, and we didn't do it. The league never lies.'

The Premier League heads into its last day again, with the top two teams - United and Chelsea - tied at 84 points apiece.

United's goal difference is far better than Chelsea's.

That will make them champions if the standings remain the same, after United's trip to Wigan and Chelsea's home match with Bolton tomorrow.

The similarities do not end there. Just like four decades ago, United were two weeks away from the European Cup final. So are Chelsea.

The two teams will meet in Moscow on May 21 in the first all-English title match in the Champions League.

Like Chelsea today, Stepney's team of 1968 trailed City on goal difference. Losing in dramatic circumstances was bitter, he said.

But with a European prize still at stake, the players must look forward.

'You are disappointed but you have to put it behind you,' Stepney said. 'When we lost the league, we thought we had to go out and win the European Cup.

'And it will be exactly the same this time.'

Two weeks after losing the league title, United beat Benfica 4-1 at Wembley to become the first English winners of the competition.

For United fan Tom Clare, 64, that last game against Sunderland was bittersweet.

'It started off as a carnival atmosphere, with banners and singing,' said Clare, who stood in the packed Stretford End that day.

'We threw everything at them, but it wasn't meant to be. In the end, there was a sense of deflation.'

Clare, who now lives in Houston, said there will be no repeat of the agony of 1968, when the final whistle blows at Wigan.

'I don't think there's any way we are giving this one away,' he said.

'Alex Ferguson will have the players so focused, I can't see Wigan stopping United.'

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