It isn’t every day you’ll find both sets of supporters celebrating in the city of Manchester but this weekend showed it was indeed possible. And it could be a sign of things to come. We could be entering an era where English football is dominated by Manchester!
Manchester United are always going to be a powerhouse, right now they are the shining light of the English league, surpassing even Liverpool with their nineteen league trophies. Something tells me it won’t be their last. As for City, they have the spending power to become THE superpower of the league. With Champions League qualification in the bag and an FA Cup in the boot who’d bet against it?
Remember when Patrick Vieira claimed that Arsenal would take over from Manchester United as the dominant force in English football? Ironically it’s his current club City who stand the best chance of ruffling United’s feathers. Arsenal have won nothing since Vieira left them, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change for a while.
You might ask what makes City so different from Chelsea. Both have money, what gives City the claim to become a dominant force in the Premier League? Your answer: the fans. Have you seen a more passionate bunch of fans that Manchester City’s this season? I think not. They have been nothing short of fantastic, and to be fair you’d expect nothing less given they’ve been like this over the last 35 years when they achieved precious little.
They’ve brought a lot to table this year. From the Poznan, a souvenir from their European adventure, to the infamous love affair with Salzburg’s Alan. He really is superman! They’ve just made football fun again, something it has needed for so very long. They thoroughly deserve to be in the top four; Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs are going to have to fight for the other two Champion’s League spots from now on.
The FA Cup is definitely something City can build on. It wasn’t the greatest of cup finals but credit to them, they deserved it, Stoke never really showed up - unfortunate for their fans who were brilliant from start to finish, including the presentation. Stoke are a good side, no team has impressed me more over the last 4 years, I hope they keep building on the remarkable achievements they’ve made and continue going from strength to strength.
As for the competition itself, it probably won’t go from strength to strength. With more importance placed on the Premier League and Champions League, soon many top teams simply won’t care. City won it this year, but next year they could be putting the reserves out in the FA Cup quarter final. It’s a sad demise for a trophy that is enriched in so much history and is the very symbol of the English game.
Who is to blame for all this? Well I can’t help but look at the FA. Okay, they can’t be to blame for everything, but they certainly don’t help matters. The thing that frustrates me the most in football is the FA. In a week where they’ve been pointing fingers at FIFA it becomes likely that we’ve watched our last 3 O’Clock FA Cup final. It’s this hypocritical inconsistency that annoys me so much about them.
Henry Winter of the Telegraph said this week on his Twitter page regarding the FA:
Your quick & easy Select Committee must-dos: 1 Get real leaders in FA &, only then, 2 Get reforming Fifa. We must put our own house in order first.
He’s right. The pot needs to stop pointing fingers at the kettle. The FA needs reform. This year they have frustrated me so much I’ve began losing hope for our great game. We need leaders in there, people who will do the right thing for the game, not the FA coffers.
Take referees for example, at the start of the season the FA always seem to back them with their respect campaign. Give it a few months and they’re being surrounded or abused again, where are they then?
Then there’s Wembley, a stadium that is being whored out to every event there is. Semi finals should not be at Wembley, Northern teams should not be forced to prematurely visit Wembley before the end of May, it really is that simple.
But the most frustrating aspect to the FA is the consistency, or rather the lack of it. Take the FA Cup final for instance. After the game Micah Richards and Mario Balotelli were interviewed by ITV and dropped an F-bomb and an S-bomb respectively.
Now, this is clearly swearing on camera. They knew there was a camera there, heck there’s a bloke from ITV with a cameraman in tow, it’s a bit of a giveaway. Should the FA be giving them a ban? Looks like they won’t be doing.
They did it for Rooney, so why not now? Well, Rooney’s was much worse, that is true, he shouted right down the camera and he received a two match ban for his crime, so why aren’t the City pair being banned for at least one?
They’ve just won a trophy, emotions are high. True point but emotions ran high for Rooney too, so that argument should be thrown out completely. Accidental? Possibly for Richards, you saw his realisation to his wording during his F-bomb and he did try to cover it up. As for Balotelli, he was fully aware of the word he was about to use, and he used it, why is he not being reprimanded?
When Rooney was banned, the FA were quick to point out that they won’t tolerate language like Rooney’s as there are children watching. I think it’s fair to say kids were watching the FA Cup final too. So where are you now FA?
The problem is, the FA have made this problem themselves. Rooney was treated so harshly for his outburst at Upton Park because the FA could not touch him after his elbow incident on Wigan’s James McCarthy. Now we’re left not knowing the punishments for something as simple as swearing at cameras. Is it a two match ban for shouting down a camera? A fine for accidental ones during interviews? One match bans for the S-word and two for the F-word? God help you if you say the C-word!
All I want from the FA is consistency, and right now the only thing they’re consistent with is their constant inconsistency.
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