So, the greatest season ever of the Premier League is over and Manchester City have become only the 5th team in the country to lift the trophy. I guess when you look back, they do have the best team in the league and there are a few hundred million reasons why.
It’s easy to hate Manchester City right now, just like it was easy to hate Chelsea during their peak under Abramovich and it’s even easier to say that both teams effectively bought their league titles. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not bitter.
For starters, I’m not even a Manchester United fan, I support Arsenal, so I’m eternally grateful that my team finished third after their worst start in decades. I’m definitely not bitter, I’m worried.
There’s only one team I want to win more than I do Arsenal and they wear three lions on their shirt and have gone longer than City without a trophy.
Remember the last world cup in South Africa? We were awful and after the tournament there was an inquest into why we were so bad. Spain were victorious on that day, two years after winning the European Championship.
A team of FA advisors travelled to Spain to study the way their youth players have been cultivated in order to create a team of world beaters. Look at the Spanish teams today and they combine core Spanish players with the added support of a few world class internationals and, although Barcelona and Real Madrid were unlucky to be knocked out of the Champions League, they are undoubtedly better than their counterparts.
So this is why I worry. I worry about the national team, I worry about the state of youth football in our country and I worry that we will continue to see a small group of breakaway teams controlling the league.
In my opinion, Man City, like Chelsea a few years ago are the epitome of everything a football team should not be. They aren’t helping the English game at all.
But what would you rather have? The best league in the world, or the best national team in the world. I know what I’d rather have.