Fresh from the Robin van Persie transfer saga....
Until 2004 the premier league title in it's current format had been in the hands of 3 teams - Manchester United(Man Utd), Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers. In walked Chelsea with a billionaire owner and a new manager. They went on to win the league in the 2004-05 season and then we had just 3 teams winning the league since viz. Manchester United, Chelsea and most recently Manchester City(Man City).
What has been the reason behind the dominance of certain teams and what drives success in the Premier League? Money though how it is got may differ. Arsenal and Manchester United have a good revenue stream and have exceptional managers. Chelsea and Man City have been bought by billionaire owners.
Before the rise of Manchester City there had been talk of a Big-4 in English football, which included Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, who among them had won most of the major trophies and also would be difficult to guess where each of these would finish come the end of the football season.
Now there is talk of a a big 3 + 4 where the first 3 include ManUtd, Man City and Chelsea and remaining 4 consisting of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs, Liverpool and Newcastle. Such a tier is a reflection of the possible positions where the teams would finish.
Until a few years ago we did not have players moving much between top teams but over the last year and a half - we have seen 2 major moves between the aforementioned teams - Fernando Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea and van Persie from Arsenal to Manchester United much to the anger of the fans of the teams that lost their star players.
What would such a pattern mean, it is indicative of the growing chasm between the 3 and 4 groups within the big 3 + 4. Is it a case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? I would just stop short of saying exactly that but yes that's where things seem to be headed at this rate in the league.
Chelsea having been one of the dominating sides over the last decade and then winning the champions league in 2012 have shown that money can buy you success and more recently Man City with their bunch of own superstars proved that by snatching the league from the jaws of Man United.
Man City have made it tougher for the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle to think of winning a cup but the problem with such a business model that it has been proven to be a success.
So now we have billionaires looking to have a new plaything and in the long run also treat it like an investment would just look at leagues like they would at an online shopping store and buy the one that suits them the most. That in a way would mean the clubs that hit the lottery gain an undue advantage over the hard-workers. Even the likes of Everton, Fulham, etc. would feel robbed in a way. But one thing is that tomorrow we might have another billionaire buying another club and making it the next Man City or Chelsea or PSG.
We have the Financial Fair Play coming into effect sometime soon which may put the brakes on such intentions in the future but till then the edge these teams have are going to exist and once the FFP does get implemented the momentum would get them going.
Until 2004 the premier league title in it's current format had been in the hands of 3 teams - Manchester United(Man Utd), Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers. In walked Chelsea with a billionaire owner and a new manager. They went on to win the league in the 2004-05 season and then we had just 3 teams winning the league since viz. Manchester United, Chelsea and most recently Manchester City(Man City).
What has been the reason behind the dominance of certain teams and what drives success in the Premier League? Money though how it is got may differ. Arsenal and Manchester United have a good revenue stream and have exceptional managers. Chelsea and Man City have been bought by billionaire owners.
Before the rise of Manchester City there had been talk of a Big-4 in English football, which included Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, who among them had won most of the major trophies and also would be difficult to guess where each of these would finish come the end of the football season.
Now there is talk of a a big 3 + 4 where the first 3 include ManUtd, Man City and Chelsea and remaining 4 consisting of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs, Liverpool and Newcastle. Such a tier is a reflection of the possible positions where the teams would finish.
Until a few years ago we did not have players moving much between top teams but over the last year and a half - we have seen 2 major moves between the aforementioned teams - Fernando Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea and van Persie from Arsenal to Manchester United much to the anger of the fans of the teams that lost their star players.
What would such a pattern mean, it is indicative of the growing chasm between the 3 and 4 groups within the big 3 + 4. Is it a case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? I would just stop short of saying exactly that but yes that's where things seem to be headed at this rate in the league.
Chelsea having been one of the dominating sides over the last decade and then winning the champions league in 2012 have shown that money can buy you success and more recently Man City with their bunch of own superstars proved that by snatching the league from the jaws of Man United.
Man City have made it tougher for the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle to think of winning a cup but the problem with such a business model that it has been proven to be a success.
So now we have billionaires looking to have a new plaything and in the long run also treat it like an investment would just look at leagues like they would at an online shopping store and buy the one that suits them the most. That in a way would mean the clubs that hit the lottery gain an undue advantage over the hard-workers. Even the likes of Everton, Fulham, etc. would feel robbed in a way. But one thing is that tomorrow we might have another billionaire buying another club and making it the next Man City or Chelsea or PSG.
We have the Financial Fair Play coming into effect sometime soon which may put the brakes on such intentions in the future but till then the edge these teams have are going to exist and once the FFP does get implemented the momentum would get them going.
No comments:
Post a Comment