City are champions, but at what cost?

The football season ended not so long ago in what was probably the most dramatic finish ever witnessed by man. As a whole this Premier League season has probably been the most bizarre one yet with more twists and turns than a day at Alton Towers.

It started off with Manchester United thoroughly thrashing everyone including the hapless Arsenal before losing steam completely, getting knocked out of the Champions League, getting knocked out of the Europa League, fumbling their way to a massive 8 point lead before finally throwing it all away and handing their big rivals City the title.

Yep, Manchester City are Premier League champions for the first time in 44 years. Do they deserve it? Well of course they do, they finished top of the league thanks to goal difference and so they deserved to be crowned champions. Though they had blips of their own this season, knocked out of both European competitions and several stumbles in the Premier League, they were the better side overall and did do the double over United.

United have been fairly magnanimous in defeat, congratulating City on their achievement straight away, and to be fair most United fans have been the same. Unfortunately though there have been a few who don’t take defeat too well. We all know these people, the ones who love to dish out banter but are woeful at taking it. They cannot take defeat without having a go at those who’ve got one over them. I had a Chelsea fan on my Facebook feed having an actual nervous breakdown during their meaningless loss to Liverpool just because someone commented on his status, which by the way was calling for Essien to break their legs…

Yes, these idiots are the most annoying people in football, they take it far too seriously and can’t take losing. Unfortunately Manchester United have a fair few of these nobbers supporting them.  As soon as Sergio Agüero scored that late winning goal to win the title they were at it. Throwing all the toys out of the pram, complaining about City getting too much injury time, lambasting their neighbours for their lack of history and a title built on nothing but money.

First of all the argument that City have no history is laughable so I’m not even going to entertain that with a response but what of the other argument, have City done wrong in throwing money at clubs and players effectively buying the title? Not for me.

Sure City wouldn’t have won the league if they weren’t bought out by the Sheikhs, they’d probably be closer to the relegation zone without it, but so what? Maybe given the choice City fans would have liked to build up the club and win the league off their own efforts as a business but to be honest I don’t think they really care… it’s been 44 long years of red domination and now they finally get their time in the limelight. Any way will do, and is it really reasonable to think a new club can win the league these days without a massive cash injection?

The vast amounts of money that have boosted Manchester City and Chelsea are often bemoaned by many a football fan, but what would the alternative be? Without the bucket loads of foreign investment Manchester United would have sewn up the league by Christmas this year. The top four would be made up of United, Arsenal, Spurs and Newcastle; Liverpool might have even been in there. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a very weak league.

The only sad thing about it is that sooner or later every club in England will be foreign owned which will probably end up being very damaging in the long run. Not to mention the fact that many investors are not fit for purpose and end up dragging clubs down; just look how this season ended for Blackburn. Manchester United are never going to be hit like that but there’s no question that the debt they’ve been put in thanks to the Glazer buyout is pretty damaging to the club.

Personally I can’t knock City for winning the league this year, they deserved it, though United did well to match their point total considering how poor the team is and how much money has been taken out of the club in respect to the amount of money pumped into City.

In a way though I wish City didn’t win it this year. The reason for this is that, for me, they went against their principles in bringing back Carlos Tevez from his holiday when things were going wrong. Tevez returned and boosted the team massively supplying four goals helping them get through the final furlong.

What Tevez did to that club was just unforgiveable. When he refused to play in Munich that should have been it for him, he should have been thrown out of the club immediately. At the time Mancini came out and told the media Tevez was finished at City and I backed him, no player is bigger than the club. But in the end Tevez will never play for the club ever again until City get in a spot of bother and then all things are forgiven.

The way City went against their principles just to win a league trophy is a big dampener on their victory in my opinion. Going on TV and declaring a player will never play for a club again and then playing them again is making City look a bit of a joke especially when they did it with Mario Balotelli in the same season. Joe Hart is currently worried about his future at the club as he hasn’t been told he’ll never play for the club ever again...

In the long-run it could really damage them as a business. City’s brand was severely tarnished when Tevez refused to play and the club did what it could to plug the holes. In a way they did a good job, putting him up for sale straight away and ending his career as a City player but to bring him back was a shocking decision as the whole world saw that City stood for nothing but winning. You could say United have built their business on winning, but they have a rich history with a code of practice that keeps players behaving and most importantly respecting the club and its fans.

City has lost this image now and in the international market where Manchester means United the Tevez saga really did not help. What they should have done is sacked Tevez on the spot. Yes, they might have had to pay him off and of course they’d lose money on the transfer fee but in the long run keeping him at the club and actually playing him again could actually cost them more.

To rub even more salt into the wound Tevez was on the victory parade bus in Manchester! Could he quietly go around on an open top bus without causing any mishaps? I think you know the answer to that. Yep, he held up a sign in the shape of a tombstone with 'RIP Fergie' written on it.

So yes, City won the league for the first time in 44 years and guess who everyone was talking about? For the love of God, get rid of him! I don’t know if you’ve noticed City, but the world is watching!

I’d rather have lost the title with my principles intact than to have to give them up just to win a trophy. I know it’s been a while but come on.