Sir Alex Ferguson has silenced detractors who mocked him for his praise of Aston Villa following their 5-1 opening day defeat by Newcastle, as Unai Emery's side qualified for the Champions League.
Villa's top four triumph was confirmed after Tottenham slumped to a 2-0 defeat against league leaders Man City on Tuesday evening.
Wild celebrations got underway in the Midlands at Villa's end of season awards dinner as the after sealing their place amongst Europe's elite for the first time in the club's history.
Emery beamed as Villa players partied long into the night, led by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez who sprayed champagne in celebration, and fans were quick to hail former United boss Ferguson for his previous claim.
Villa have come along way since their humbling at St James' Park in August that forced many observers to re-evaluate their pre-season predictions.
Not Ferguson. The legendary United boss's praise of Emery's side following that defeat was mocked on social media at the time, but is now being hailed for his expert analysis.
'To be honest with you, I watched Aston Villa and I can't believe the scoreline.' The 81-year-old told NBC Sports ahead of the Red Devils' first fixture. 'Honestly Aston Villa played fantastic football and just lost to bad goals.
'Newcastle are going to be very difficult to beat, in their own ground in particular, and their manager has done a great job there. It's a surprising game, football. You can play teams off the pitch and not score - that's what Aston Villa did.'
Fans were quick to pile in on Ferguson and expressed their surprise at his take on social media at the time.
'What game was he watching?' Wrote one viewer on X, formerly Twitter. Another wrote: 'Someone needs to tell him he doesn’t need to try and play mind games anymore.'
A third commented: 'Bless him! clearly losing his eye sight! Villa were awful but take nothing away from Newcastle!'
However, Villa's qualification for UEFA's top club competition demonstrates there was never any reason to doubt the legendary United boss as fans pointed out his previous observation.
'Congratulations to Aston Villa on qualifying for the Champions League. On the opening day of the season Villa were beaten 5-1 by Newcastle... people had the cheek to laugh at Sir Alex Ferguson's assessment of Villa. Fergie is a footballing genius,' read one post on X.
Another comment similarly stated: 'They all laughed at Sir Alex Ferguson when he spoke about Aston Villa. Tonight, they qualified for the Champions League.'
Praise continued to flood in for the great Scot, with another post adding: 'He's a goat for a reason.'
A fourth popular comment stated: 'Aston Villa will play Champions League football next season after 41 years. Sir Alex Ferguson wasn’t wrong about Aston Villa.'