The relevance of the past on the present and the future is extremely limited. United's 2010-2011 title winning season, how much influence or impact do you suspect that will have on this season? Does it provide the club with any real sense of purpose? Look at it this way, you've got a different manager, different backroom staff and, of the 50 players registered that season with United there are 4 still currently on the books! FOUR! Rooney, Smalling, Carrick and Valencia.
Over the past 4 seasons City have finished in the top 2, so have either won the title, or been the closest challengers for the title. United have finished 2nd, 1st, 7th and 4th, with the worst 2 of those finishes, 7th and 4th, coming most recently. It shouldn't be forgotten that these recent poor finishes have come in the years subsequent to Ferguson leaving. It can't be underestimated the huge impact a departure such as that will have on anyone. He was at United since the mid 1980's, no-one associated with the club had had to deal with replacing the manager, his length of time at the club meant that the entire setup, from first team through to youth teams, coaching, facilities, everything, had been organised and shaped into what he wanted. To change all of that, after so much institutionalisation, was, and still is, a monumental task. Gill leaving at the same time simply compounded the situation. It's widely accepted that Ferguson's presence "papered over the cracks" at United. The title winning season of 2012-13 was almost entirely down to his skill as a manager. The squad he had wasn't the best in the Premier League, it was ageing and it lacked any real world class performers, yet they won the league with some room to spare. Ferguson leaves, Moyes comes in, and United fall apart. It's only been 2 years since Ferguson left yet United are unrecognisable from his time there. Football moves on stunningly quickly, looking back 5 years is probably looking too far back when considering what, if any, relevance it holds on the present day. Going back 10 years is absolutely pointless.