It’s been an incredible seven days in football. First, Manchester City took the title for the first time in 44 years with a last gasp victory. Then Chelsea became champions of Europe by showing that English sides do not always lose to German ones on penalties.
It’s been an incredible seven days in football. First, Manchester City took the title for the first time in 44 years with a last gasp victory. Then Chelsea became champions of Europe by showing that English sides do not always lose to German ones on penalties.
However, even in an atmosphere of celebration, one has to be careful about jumping to the conclusion that this is a new era in which the two ciubs will dominate English football and perhaps Europe as well. Certainly the race for the Premiership title promises to be very competitive next year and it will be fascinating for the neutral to see how the battle between the two Manchester clubs plays out.
But one has to bear in mind that although some accounts of the impact of Uefa’s financial fair play rules have been exaggerated, and exactly how they will work out in practice remains uncertain, Chelsea and Manchester City remain the clubs most vulnerable to them.
In many ways the real losers are Spurs who now have to face Thursday night football in the Europa League which will not help their Premiership challenge. Quite conceivably the Europa League will not be their first priority.