Manchester United's shadow side still proved too strong for Hull City on a tense final day at The KC Stadium.
Darron Gibson's cracking first-half winner settled the match in the sunshine as The Tigers relied on Aston Villa beating Newcastle United to preserve their top-flight safety.
Some slack defending by captain Gary Neville allowed Craig Fagan an early opportunity but the forward's poor first touch allowed Tomasz Kuszczak to smother.
Nani had a free kick saved before Gibson lit up the occasion with a thunderous finish. Federico Macheda, who showed up well again, laid the ball back to the Irishman and the midfielder unleashed an unstoppable drive that flew past Boaz Myhill's despairing dive.
Macheda could have soon added a second, at full stretch to meet a Lee Martin cross, but Myhill saved. After fellow youngster Danny Welbeck dragged wide following a superb individual run, Macheda again went close when firing inches wide of Myhill's right-hand post.
Andy Dawson provided Hull's best attempt of the first half when forcing Kuszczak to palm over after a neat move involving Richard Garcia, Fagan and Geovanni.
After the interval, Michael Turner had to hack away a Rafael centre but the defender tested Kuszczak at the other end from a corner after Nick Barmby also forced a stop out of the Pole.
However, the match was being played out in an increasingly surreal atmosphere with the crowd becoming more and more concerned with events at Villa Park.
United were content to soak up any City pressure with Wes Brown immaculate on his return to the side and Dawson wasting one free kick chance with a tame shot straight at Kuszczak.
The champions still looked a threat on the break as Macheda lacked composure when skewing a Martin pass wide and substitute Richard Eckersley was unlucky when driving off target following a one-two with Martin.
Nani cut inside to force a diving save out of Myhill as United finished in the ascendancy, leaving City to nervously await the outcome of the match at Villa Park.
The wait was only a matter of seconds, however, as news came through of Villa's 1-0 win that enables Hull to look forward to another Premier League campaign, starting next August.
United end up winning the league by four points, even despite resting all of their stars for the Champions League final on Wednesday.
STAR MAN: Wes Brown *8.5. The defender looked like he had never been away as he produced an immaculate performance at the back. Click here for full player ratings and Opta stats.