Serving as England's super cup between the previous season's Premier League champions and FA Cup winners, the Community Shield is regarded as the "curtain-raiser" and is the first competitive game of each top-flight English football season. However, it has been treated with varying degrees of seriousness by participating teams, with some using it similarly to friendlies in their pre-season schedule – as an opportunity to give match practice to fringe members of their squads or those returning from injury. "BBC Sport" pundit Mark Lawrenson and "The Guardian" writer Tom Bryant both described the match as a "glorified friendly". Prior to the 2008 FA Community Shield, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson summarised his opinion of the competition: "The Community Shield is a prestigious match but I have used players in it who were not quite fit... it's always a game we never quite use as a do or die thing; we use it as a barometer for fitness".