City’s back from the brink

The English Premier League drew to its predictable close on Sunday with Manchester City, United, Arsenal and Tottenham all winning as expected.

However, while the clubs sitting at the start and end of the day in second and fourth went about their business with routine wins those with all to lose gave their supporter’s serious palpitations. 

If Manchester United had taken all their chances they could have overhauled the goal-difference deficit – as Bahrain proved possible earlier this year!

Although, perhaps predictably, again, for those on the Blue Moon, City contrived to make life as difficult as possible, even with the assistance of their former enforcer, Joey Barton, who has hopefully played his last game of football.

In a one-sided affair, City pummelled QPR for 90 minutes only to see their relegation-threatened opponents holding a 2-1 lead as the game went into injury time. If you are one of Tom Cruise’s followers of numerology, bizarrely it took City’s 44th shot of the match to secure their title, thereby ending 44 years of waiting to lift the title again.

Arsenal could so easily have lost if it were not for an injury to Ben Foster leading up to the game which thrust back-up, Martin Fulop, into his first match in the Premier League for two years. It may be his last! While he was at fault for all three goals, the first and third emanated from blunders that departing manager Roy Hodgson will hope do not follow him into the English national set-up!

Throughout the league there was something to play for. After Arsenal trumped all other London rivals it was Everton that claimed the summer bragging rights in Liverpool. 

Further down the table there was an intriguing relegation battle that saw Bolton demoted to the Championship thanks to two controversial goals conceded, the latter meaning that QPR’s last-kick demise was irrelevant to their fate. Failing to deliver in the last 15 minutes is a problem that has haunted Bolton throughout the season.

Despite the predictable outcomes it was a day that enthralled with 20 goals in the first half alone, 12 of which came in the first 15 minutes.

Of course many will begrudge Manchester City the manner in which they have ‘bought’ their way to the title. But let’s face it – this is nothing new. It is also an accusation that has been levelled at United at times, particularly when they were lavishing funds on the acquisition of Ferdinand, Rooney, Carrick etc.

Even back in 1995 when Kenny Dalglish led newly-relegated Blackburn Rovers to the title, this was bank-rolled by Jack Walker’s millions. Alan Shearer led the frontline having famously rejected an approach from Sir Alex Ferguson to play in red.

The question now is whether we will consistently see such benefactors being able to make a difference again in the future – not without spending billions. Previously, owners could lavish vast sums purely on the team. Now, with the soft launch of Financial Fair Play, teams will have to match expenditure to income.

In figures published this week it was shown that Manchester City had a net cash outflow of £178.8 million, having spent a whopping £143.7 million on players alone. This also demonstrates that they made a net loss even before transfers were taken into account, surpassing the allocated loss-limit from UEFA of £36 million over two seasons.

City clearly aim to offset this with their £400 million sponsorship arrangement with Etihad, although this has yet to be sanctioned by UEFA as representing fair value. Where they are setting themselves apart is with the training academy and 120-acre Etihad Campus that will form the basis of future spending and growth.

Yet they are already being linked with some of the most expensive acquisitions of the summer, so don’t expect financial fair play to get in their way just yet!

However, to all those Red Devil die-hards, United have always fought back. The following year Ferguson introduced his ‘kids’ and walked away with the title. The most successive years when the title has not found its way to Old Trafford was when he was faced first by Arsene’s Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ and then stumbled into Chelsea’s new-found wealth.

On both occasions they regrouped and re-emerged stronger, finally reaching the pinnacle by securing a Champions League triumph.

This is the challenge facing Fergie now. The year has been a strange one in many respects. Few would have expected his side to secure as many points as they have when faced with their growing list of injuries and the perceived lower quality of performance (as witnessed by their early exits from cup competitions both domestically and in Europe).

Perhaps this has as much to do with other problems facing his competitors. Surely Arsenal will not face such a turbulent start to next season as they did this – although they will be hoping to tie Robin Van Persie to a new contract quickly to avoid the debacle surrounding Fabregas and Nasri that left the Gunners as low as 15th.

They have moved early to secure the signing of Podolski which should ensure the fans keep the faith!

Tottenham will be strengthened carefully and prudently by the canny Harry Rednapp, who, devoid of the speculation linking him with the role as England manager, should have a more consistent run that should see them challenge the traditional power-houses.

Yet none of the turbulence comes close to that faced by the ‘noisy neighbours’ at City who have had the antics of Tevez and Balotelli to contend with. I doubt they will face as much disruption next season.

Perhaps the most intrigue surrounds Chelsea and Liverpool for different reasons. Chelsea are in the final of the Champions League and yet don’t know who their manager will be next season. Faced with accusations of an ageing squad being unable to perform consistently rumours abound concerning transfers. Fans want Di Matteo to remain.

Conversely, there is growing discontent on Merseyside that Dalglish, the man who has single-handedly done more for Anfield than any other, (and, whisper this quietly) may no longer be the right man for the job.

Personally, I am surprised at their demise this year. I believe that they have a wealth of extraordinary talent in the likes of Gerrard and Suarez, Adam supplying crosses for Carroll with the likes of Kuyt and Rodriguez to add energy and further fire-power. Yet, for some reason the side has not gelled and many on this list have not made it into the starting line-up regularly.

Several appear to be destined for new teams with another radical overhaul on the cards.

While Newcastle have had an amazing season – as recognised by the award made to Alan Pardew as Manager of the Year – it would take miracles to reproduce the same transfer magic again, particularly with the added demands of European competition.

This weekend we look forward to the highest profile game in club football – the Champions League final – and the richest, the Championship play-off.

Chelsea will be hoping to secure their position amongst Europe’s elite through victory in the Allianz Arena although few expect them to succeed against a Bayern team boasting such a rich array of attacking talent playing at home.

I’m personally expecting a tighter game with Di Matteo able to pack his midfield to deny space while relying on a devastating counter-attack, which is usually the remit of Bayern.

And the English Championship will kiss goodbye to one charismatic manager on Saturday afternoon. Sam Allardyce will be looking to prove a point to the Blackburn owners who unceremoniously sacked him by leading West Ham back to the Premiership.  Having disposed of Cardiff 5-0 on aggregate they are firm favourites. 

However, in Ian Holloway’s Blackpool they face a budget team that has an unenviable record in the play-offs, having successfully negotiated their way through previous finals.  Ideally, I would like to see both these teams back in the Premier League, although the thought of teams travelling back to Blackpool is marginally more appealing.

Of course, it also has the added advantage of being closer to the capital of English football – Manchester.