Man City extended their lead to 11 points by defeating Arsenal at the Emirates on New Years Day. The Cityzens had cruised to the top of the league at Christmas again on the back of the type of long winning run that has marked their ascendency to the best team in England over the last 10 years. The signs are looking ominous again. When City are in front on the 25th December they stay there until the season is over. Indeed during this time, the only league leaders on Jesus' birthday who haven't gone on to win the premiership are Liverpool, a wrong we finally put right in 2020. City though have become notoriously slow starters and that season the reds relentlessly punished them by winning game after game leaving the blue side of Manchester with no room for error by the new year. Last season it was similar but having got to the top in time for Santa again, the wheels came off and we barely made the top 4 as Guardiola's men strung another long run of wins together to take their 5th title in 10 years at a canter. Chelsea, the other successful nouveau riche, have won 5 times in 17 years. What City have done is incredible.
The City Football Group have planted themselves in many of the biggest football leagues in the world either with newly created teams like New York City in the MLS and Mumbai City in the Indian Super League or rebranded teams like Melbourne City in the A League. They've also bought into teams in Uruguay (Montevideo Torque), Spain (Girona), France (Troyes) and Belgium (Lommel). While all these teams are successful in their own right (New York, Melbourne, Mumbai and Troyes all won the top prize in their domestic competitions in 2021), these subsidiaries are also helping to increase the worldwide support for the parent club who rival fans tease play out of the Empty-had Stadium in Manchester because they often cannot fill it, unlike the two best supported clubs in the world - Liverpool and Man United - who could sell 100,000 tickets for every premier league home game if they had the capacity. Ironically, Liverpool celebrated the 2020 Premier League win in front of an empty Anfield.
Sheikh Mansour and the people he has employed to run his football operation deserve enormous credit for the job they have done in making Man City the best team in England over the last 10 years. Yes, they've been allowed to throw unlimited money at making the former Maine Road team the most feared in England and a force in Europe but they've sustained the success and regularly win most if not all the domestic trophies season after season. The quadruple seems to be on the cards nearly every year. Some call it buying the title, others call it winning the lottery. The long suffering fans who benefit from game changing new ownership say it's deserved. It's been done before by Blackburn and Chelsea but not at this rate. Jack Walker and Roman Abramovich transformed the fortunes of the clubs they acquired by using their wealth to bring in the best managers and then bought them the best players. For Blackburn it all proved short lived. They stunned everyone by stopping United making it three in a row in 1995 but were relegated a few years after. Jose Mourinho's Chelsea won it 10 years later and defended it the following season before United dominated for the next 3 years. Chelsea won it again in 2010 (Ancelotti), 2015 (Mourinho) and 2017 (Conte) but haven't been able to produce the consistency to win it year after year. They have though also won the Champions League twice in the last 10 years. Before Chelsea, the only team who outstripped Manchester United were Arsenal though they only managed it on 3 occasions. Arsene Wenger transformed The Gunners from boring, boring Arsenal to a team who could go toe to toe with the best and come out on top. Just as Blackburn had blocked Alex Fergusons first attempt at winning 3 in a row, Arsenal's first title in 7 years confirmed the team from North London as the main challengers to the domination of the Old Trafford side. United of course went on to eclipse Arsenals league and FA Cup double in 98 by winning the treble in 99 and finally completed back to back to back premierships by winning in 2000 and 2001. Again Arsenal blocked them as they tried to Connect 4 in 2002 and then Wenger's side threatened to become the only other team to regain the title but they would lose out to United once more. Arsenal were last champions in 2004, a season in which they gained immortality by going the whole season unbeaten. The Invincibles has yet to be repeated.
When Liverpool finally won the premier league 30 years after we collected our 18th First Division honour, we hoped it was the beginning of another period of dominance. Scousers ruled the country as we'd always done before, as the song goes. The problem is, just as the red side of Manchester came back year after year to challenge and often win during the 90's, 2000's and early 2010's so too do Pep's men. Roberto Mancini's City stopped United's last attempt at a treble of titles when Aguero sent the Etihad into orbit in 2012. As usual this spurred on United and Fergie signed off with his 13th and United's 20th overall in 2013. Manuel Pellegrini brought the title back over the fence to the noisy neighbours in 2014. Since then Chelsea ensured they only went 5 years without winning one, Leicester stunned the world in 2016 aided by most of the big 6 finding themselves all in periods of transition at the same time. Even the great Guardiola needed more than one season to win the league in a third country. Since Chelsea won it in 2017 it has largely been Man City pursued by Liverpool. Pep completed his own unique treble in 2018 and franked it in 2019 even though we took them the distance. 2019-20 saw Liverpool trampoline to the top and this time we stayed there. I was trying desperately to get tickets for any game before the end of the season just to say I'd seen the team that finally won the league again but the prices I was quoted were outrageous. Having watched the homecoming parades from 2005 and 2019 Champions League triumphs on TV, I wanted at the very least to be part of what now looked like the inevitable so in February 2020 I booked flights for the day after the final game of the season. Liverpool won the league but none of us were there to see it in the stadium or on the streets. Klopp told us we would all celebrate this when it was safe to do so but the further we get from 2020 the more ridicule you feel we will be subjected to for having a giant street party for something that happened years ago. Personally, I couldn't care less what any other supporters think, some fans waited their entire lives to see us win the league and all of us waited too long to see the Liverpool captain lift that particular trophy. There will be parade but you know that Klopp is using this as motivation so we can have a double celebration when covid finally fucks off completely.
Unfortunately, City show no signs of taking their foot off the accelerator and easily went from 8th in the previous yule time to remain top from new year and the rest of 2020-21 season as neither Liverpool nor United could keep winning games. Liverpool in particular looked like they were suffering from the exertions of keeping pace and then overtaking them in the last two years. There was no big parade for City in 2021 either.
Even at only halfway through this season, City look set to win back to back titles for the second time under Pep. Liverpool and the other challengers might now have to start prioritising other silverware along with Champions League qualification. Like Wenger and Arsenal, Klopp and Liverpool have had to buy well to compete with Manchester. Back in 98 when Arsenal stopped the all conquering United, Wenger and Ferguson had been in charge for 2 years and 12 years respectively. They would go on to stay in charge for over 20 years each. This City team won't have Guardiola as manager for anything like that length of time, currently his contract is up at the end of next season, which is great news for every other team. Klopp also looks set to leave Liverpool in 2024. City will recruit the best manager around at that time, Liverpool may promote from within and have a Pep of our own at the helm. If this year goes the way it looks like going there will only be one or maybe two seasons left for the biggest managerial rivalry since Fergie v Wenger to cement their place in the history of the premier league by winning double, treble or quadruple sequences. Liverpool may have to settle for party pooping single titles.
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