It could be a while before the next great side emerges in England, but that may be no bad thing
If Chelsea beat Wigan Athletic on Sunday they will reclaim the Premier League title and no Stamford Bridge fan would care a jot that they would have done so with 86 points, the lowest total for any champions since 2003. The statistic, indeed, is highly encouraging for the sport at large in its hint that the top flight is on the verge of change.
As economics shift, so too does the hierarchy of the game. It has already been a while since brute wealth reduced opponents to a state of helplessness before the game even started. Should Carlo Ancelotti prevail in this campaign it will be because he has influenced the Chelsea squad rather than rebuilt it.
In the weekend’s 2-0 victory at Anfield, there was not a single member of the starting line-up who had been bought by him. Management in many places has reverted to the traditional virtues of making the most of what you already have. There will always be acquisitions, but Manchester United are sustaining their challenge to Chelsea while counting on people who were once Alex Ferguson’s fledglings.
Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs all took part in FA Youth Cup finals in the early 1990s, but the manager is asking them now to strive for a major prize even as the plumage of those former fledglings grows sparser still. Not even Ferguson can intimidate time, however, and the passing of the years will harm the club if there are no means to buy elite footballers.
Upheaval is registering elsewhere, too. Liverpool, at best, will come sixth this season and an unbroken run of Champions League appearances that started in 2004 has now snapped. Anfield fans, however, have a deeper disquiet than that. There are no signs of a takeover being completed, but without it a mid-table position could start to look natural at a club where squad strength is waning fast.
We are already seeing fresh contenders emerge. At Eastlands tomorrow Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur will each be vying for a spot in the Champions League, a tournament that has not featured either team since the 60s, when it was still known as the European Cup. Money has much to do with the upsurge of City in particular and a step into the grandest competition would surely bring another surge of cash from Sheikh Mansour.
That, however, is an anomaly. Extravagance is less common in a period when club proprietors often concentrate on holding on to their wealth. There have been doubts as to whether Martin O’Neill will stay at Aston Villa and the sort of gossip there concerns the prospects of retaining Ashley Young or James Milner, rather than of Randy Lerner producing the funds for an upgrade in the squad.
We are entering the sort of landscape that should look full of beauty and promise for Arsène Wenger. The Arsenal manager, with good cause, makes his charges of “financial doping” against rivals, but there are no longer so many clubs who would test positive for unacceptable levels of affluence.
Wenger’s frugality assists in paying off the £390m cost of building the Emirates Stadium and he has indicated that Arsenal’s cash flow can now begin to pour more freely into his budget. Judging by the type of speculation that presently links him to a £22m bid for the Ajax forward Luis Suárez, the manager may yet see the day when a ground with a 60,000 capacity in a relatively rich city puts him in a stronger financial position than almost all of his Premier League counterparts.
Even as matters stand, there ought to be pressure on Wenger to compete more vigorously. No spree is anticipated at United and Roman Abramovich does not look inclined to cut loose at Chelsea. Any opportunity for Arsenal, of course, will remove Wenger from a comfort zone in which he is complimented on the style of his side and excused for the lack of honours since the 2005 FA Cup.
The league title had gone to Highbury the year before, but Abramovich was just getting into his stride at Stamford Bridge and José Mourinho took the reins in that summer of 2004. We are in a very different period now and the comparative austerity is to be measured in the elimination of United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool before the Champions League semi-finals this season.
It could be a while before we see the next exceptional side emerge, but there are compensations. Although the Premier League may not hit the heights, interest will soar if the dull old certainties have vanished.
Premier LeagueChelseaManchester UnitedArsenalLiverpoolKevin McCarraguardian.co.uk
