Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Wayne Rooney's staggering impact at Old Trafford is that the last time a Manchester United player scored a hat-trick on his debut, Norway were in the process of getting independence from Sweden and Albert Einstein was putting the finishing touches to the Special Theory of Relativity. As for the self-proclaimed biggest club in the world, they were languishing in the old Second Division and based in Bank Street in Manchester's factory district - a venue so flimsy it eventually blew down.
One suspects the curator of the Old Trafford museum might have to start creating some new space. Whereas Charlie Sagar's hat-trick against Bristol City in 1905 has been consigned to the small print in the club's annals, the most logical conclusion from Rooney's three goals against Fenerbahce on Tuesday is that the 18-year-old is not only destined to join George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton in the pantheon of United greats but might actually outdo them all in the process.
That is precisely the sort of statement, of course, guaranteed to to make Sir Alex Ferguson go purple. The manager's own sense of exhilaration was tempered only by the inevitable media barrage that followed. Ferguson was almost gruff as he tried, and failed, to deflect the attention from his £27m signing, but elsewhere at Old Trafford there was not only the sight of Sven-Goran Eriksson jumping out of his seat in excitement - most un-Svenlike - but of United's directors slapping each other on the back.
Wilf McGuinness, Sir Matt Busby's successor as United manager, was among the 67,000-plus privileged spectators and the one-time Busby Babe could be seen afterwards, shaking his head in disbelief, as he went through Rooney's performance with Paddy Crerand, a member of the 1968 European Cup-winning side.
"I found myself laughing out loud because it was like watching a fairy tale," the 66-year-old McGuinness said yesterday. "I've worked with some great players in my time and this boy can be up there with the best of them."
McGuinness draws comparisons between Rooney and Duncan Edwards - "two ordinary lads with extraordinary talent" - and believes United's opponents will soon base their strategy around nullifying the teenager. Whether it is possible to contain him, however, he is not sure.
"I think we are going to see a lot more man-marking from now on. The thing is, though, that we've already seen that in the past for Everton and England, and it hasn't worked," he said.
"My first instinct would be to make it as difficult as possible by putting a player on him. But if you go tight on him he doesn't seem to mind. He can lose you with a drop of his shoulder and he's gone. His first two goals were both power shooting and the third showed he can place the ball wherever he wants. So what do you do about that?"
The natural inclination is to draw comparisons with strikers of the past. Even then, it is difficult to find anyone in Rooney's mould. True, Jimmy Greaves scored 22 goals in his first season as a 17-year-old with Chelsea, but he was a penalty-box predator rather than the explosive, all-round attacker at Ferguson's disposal.
The nearest there has been to Rooney is probably Trevor Francis, who as a 16-year-old for Birmingham scored 15 goals in his first 15 games, including four one afternoon against Bolton.
Francis, dubbed "Superboy" and "St Francis of St Andrews", has revealing insights into the tricks that defenders will use against the youthful Rooney.
"My marker talked to me through the entire game," he once said of his Birmingham debut. "He was saying things like: 'Are you all right, son? Not too tired? I know what an ordeal it is, but there's only half an hour to go, lad, then you can go upstairs for a drink. Tell you what, I'll buy you one myself."
Rooney is too streetwise, too mean and too good to allow that form of old-fashioned gamesmanship to bother him. And the days are long gone when every team had its regulation hatchet-man to sort out the opposition's best player.
But Francis also has stories of how fame at such a young age has a cost."There was one time I was sitting in a pub, drinking a lemon and lime, and some City supporters were chatting to me, friendly like, when somebody in the background spat all over my face. I just had to sit there and take it. What would it have looked like if I'd got involved in a fight?"
Would Rooney be able to "sit there and take it"? Recent evidence suggests he has yet to acclimatise to stardom off the field, but in Ferguson he has a manager with expertise in helping young players develop. Just as Ryan Giggs was shielded from the press in his formative years, it might be two years before Rooney is allowed to speak to the newspapers. Similarly, Rooney will quickly learn that United's manager has a network of contacts throughout the north-west to keep him abreast of his players' movements out of working hours. "Manchester is a village" is the saying in United's dressing room.
Rooney's odds on finishing as the Champions League top scorer were slashed to 9-2 last night, having once been 12-1, and the most exciting part for United is that he might not peak for another four years.
"It's hard to put into words," said Rio Ferdinand. "He's done it in the European Championship with England and now in the Champions League with Manchester United. Honestly, I don't think he knows the word 'pressure' - it can't be in his vocabulary."
