IT is difficult to know which is the more notable feature of tomorrow's Carling Cup final - that unfashionable Wigan have made it to the Millennium Stadium showpiece or that mighty Manchester United actually want to win it.

Wigan's progress this season has been nothing short of spectacular and the club's first appearance in a major final is just reward for Paul Jewell's gargantuan efforts since promotion from the Championship was secured at the end of last season.

Jewell has turned the Latics into an established Premiership force and, after ending Newcastle, Bolton and Arsenal's hopes of League Cup success this term, few can begrudge the Wigan boss his 90 minutes in the Cardiff sun.

The only shame is that the biggest story of the Carling Cup final is not one of Wigan's success.

Instead, the underlying theme of tomorrow's game relates to Manchester United's decline.

Two years ago, Roy Keane was describing the FA Cup as a "consolation prize", a trophy that was only good for tempering the disappointment of letting other, more valuable, prizes slip from his side's grasp.

This year, Sir Alex Ferguson would give anything to be walking out at Cardiff in May.

With Chelsea holding a seemingly unassailable lead in the Premiership, last weekend's defeat to Liverpool also dumped United out of FA Cup contention.

Their interest in the Champions League ended months ago and there is still almost three months of the season to go.

Fail to win the Carling Cup and Manchester United's misery will be complete.

After his side ended last season without a trophy, Ferguson promised to give the Old Trafford faithful something to cheer following Malcolm Glazer's controversial takeover of the club.

So far, the only cheer has been for a relatively meaningless win over Chelsea and, should tomorrow fail to go to plan, serious questions will have to be asked.

The Glazers have not made their millions through backing unsuccessful regimes.

United will start tomorrow's game as favourites but, after all that has happened this season, they hardly go into the match in the rudest of health.

Last weekend's defeat at Anfield highlighted the multiple deficiencies that have turned the Red Devils from title contenders to Premiership also-rans.

By the time Liverpool booked their place in the FA Cup sixth round, United had three out-and-out strikers on the pitch. That Jose Reina did not have to make a single save of note merely proved they did not know what to do with them.

Ferguson's predilection for pushing Wayne Rooney to the left of midfield is turning England's most exciting forward into an ineffectual scuffler.

In part, he has no choice but, despite a chronic shortage of midfielders, it is hard to see how neutering Rooney's goalscoring qualities is to the benefit of the team.

It is also difficult to see how Ferguson can dodge the blame for the predicament his side is in. After failing to secure the signature of Michael Ballack, falling out with Roy Keane always looked like leaving United short of midfield numbers.

Alan Smith's horrific leg injury has exacerbated the situation, but United fans would currently take anyone above the hapless Darren Fletcher, even the much-maligned Phil Neville, another player who was driven out of Old Trafford by Ferguson.

Slicing through United's midfield is currently as easy as taking a hot knife to butter and the criminally underrated Jimmy Bullard will surely be relishing tomorrow's skirmishes.

With Graham Kavanagh alongside him, Bullard's inventiveness could yet hold the key to everything that happens in Cardiff.

It has already been a bad week for United fans, forced to watch Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool strutting their stuff with the European elite as their side sits on the sidelines kicking their heels.

Winning the Carling Cup would do little to soften the blow, but losing it would make things far, far worse.

By the time the final whistle blows tomorrow, United's superpower status could well be at an end