2011: A Manchester revolution to Premier League
Premier League has become 1 of the richest and toughest league in Europe within the recent years. In terms of players and even the clubs which fight for the title has increased in an unbelievable speed. If we see through last couple of seasons, we can clearly see that in the mid season 6 clubs were fighting for the title in a close range. Apart from all those the attention on Premier League has jumped up to new heights in foreign and even in its local area due to the revolution ongoing for the 2 historical clubs from the city of Manchester.
Manchester City started making bold headlines after they were bought by UK Sports Investment Private Limited, a company which was controlled by former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin gave a dream of bringing back a glory era for Man City by hiring the ex-England National manager Sven-goran Eriksson in 2007. Eriksson spent approximately £45m for bringing in about 9 new faces to the side. They made a good start but Eriksson failed to withdraw the forms which lead to his sacking within just a season. Following that ex-Man United striker Mark Hughes was appointed as the manager for them. Unluckily Hughes wasn’t given the financial aid he wanted by owners while the whole media was stating that he could be a top manager. All these hopes were given a shocking fade-off when City officially announced that they were hit by a huge financial crisis. Most rumors were quoting that the crisis was non-arguably due to the corruption suspects on Thaksin. After those he tried to take a £2m loan from ex-owner for ongoing transfer period which failed and later Thaksin decided to sell the club to a mostly unknown Abu Dhabi United Group in Sept 2008. They faced a huge predicament due to lack of time to strengthen their squad. On the deadline day of transfer period City bided Dimitar Berbatov, David Villa, Mario Gomez and Robinho, but from all those they were able to secure only Robinho’s service. Later in 2009 summer Transfer window Hughes spent millions to bring in world-class players with likes of Kolo Toure, Santa Cruz, G.Barry, Adebayor, Lescott and most notably Carlos Tevez from the rivals Manchester United. Sadly even after those spending Hughes was just able to win 2 games in 11 played. The poor form lead Hughes to be sacked and in Dec 2009, Roberto Mancini was given the chance and he started a new successful era for Man City from then on. Mancini made the 5th place in the league which was highest since 1992 for them. In 2010 summer transfer window, Mancini was given financial aid to strengthen their squad so that they would be capable of being in the highest level of Europe. He added Boateng, Silva, Yaya Toure, Kolorov, Balotelli, Milner and Dzeko(Jan window) letting Robinho go on a £10m loss amount for City. They won their first FA cup title since 1969 and this was their first major trophy since 1976. On the last day of 2010-2011 season, City passed Arsenal to 3rd position qualifying directly to Champions league for the first time in their history.
In the mid 2011, before the start of 2011-2012 season, City further strengthened their squad. This time they brought Nasri and Clichy from rival Arsenal, highly rated Maradona’s son-in-law Sergio Aguero and the young prospect Stefan Savic who plays at center back position. This investment resulted City having worlds one of the best attacking force. Edin Dzeko, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli in the forward line with James Milner, Adam Johnson, Samir Nasri and David Silva assisting them in behind. City also loaned out world renowned forwards Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz. They made their brightest start ever by winning 6 in 7 league games played while the other one was drawn. The point to note here is that they scored 23 goals in those 7 games while conceded just 5 goals. The disappointment for City was that the one who beat them in Community Shield match, Manchester United were also at their best when they started the league.
When it comes to English football, Manchester United is the most successful club with a record 53 domestic titles till now. They won a record 19 league titles with even a record 19 FA community shields and a record 11 FA cup titles. As of July 2011 the club is ranked top in the most valuable team ranking with a value of $1.86billion. In my previous article “2010: a new era for Man United?” I questioned about the change going to happen to the club. Obviously my mind is very little and lacks the ‘real’ information of players than Sir Alex Ferguson and his managerial team.
In 2011 the fans of Man United were shocked when the Midfield genius Paul Scholes announced his retirement while Edwin previously announced that he was going to retire after 2010-2011 season. The shock was given an extra effect as Man United revealed the loyal players of the club, Wes Brown and O’Shea was leaving the red devils. Fans started questioning about the future of the club and how could we expect a letdown when Ferguson is the head of the club. I thought Kuszczak would be No.1 after Edwin, but surprisingly Ferguson bought an unkown player from former Man United’s legendary GK Peter Schmiechel’s countryman Ander Lidegaard and highly rated Spanish young talent David De Gea, 19year De Gea was given the No.1 shirt replacing the great Edwin. Even after the departure of Wes Brown and O’Shea they had Vidic, Rio, Evans, Smalling, Evra, Rafael and Fabio at the defense line. The injury prone Hargreaves was released while Scholes took a coaching role after retirement. This lead to media attention on them with rumors revealing that Man United were in need of a playmaking midfielder. Wesley Sneijder was the most highly rumored player but at the end Sneijder himself confirmed that Man United never contacted him by saying “I’ve never got a call from Ferguson”. Yet Ferguson wanted to strengthen his team aiming to be at the top beating Barcelona. So he brought Ashley Young and teenage but “a matured footballer” according to Ferguson, Phil Jones. He also brought Tom Cleverly, Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda as promoting Paul Pogba (the player who replaced Scholes in his testimonial match) from youth team. Man United gave a surprise to whole world by placing a team with average age 23-24 on-pitch in the 1st league game, DeGea as GK while young Fabio, Smalling, Anderson, Cleverly, Welbeck with Phil and Evans introduced later as both Rio and Vidic were injured. Man United were in top gear by winning 6 of their 7 league games and the other drawn, just same as Man City. But Man United managed to score 24 goals while conceded just 5 goals. The point to be noted here is that now they are showing a team spirit which we have never found in any club, at least not in EPL.
After all these beautiful and historic stories of the clubs from Manchester, I have few questions in my mind for both these clubs. Will Manchester City be able to create the team spirit in a near future? Will they be able to handle the personal discomforts ongoing for both Tevez and Balotelli? Can they make a good impact in CL with lack of experience in Defense line for Europe? Will Manchester United be able to hold the momentum with so many young players? Will they be able to fight for title of CL with so many inexperience players in front lines of the squad? Let’s wait and see how it all goes on for both the clubs throughout the season, my best regards to both clubs from the city of Manchester.
08/10/2011
Manchester City started making bold headlines after they were bought by UK Sports Investment Private Limited, a company which was controlled by former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin gave a dream of bringing back a glory era for Man City by hiring the ex-England National manager Sven-goran Eriksson in 2007. Eriksson spent approximately £45m for bringing in about 9 new faces to the side. They made a good start but Eriksson failed to withdraw the forms which lead to his sacking within just a season. Following that ex-Man United striker Mark Hughes was appointed as the manager for them. Unluckily Hughes wasn’t given the financial aid he wanted by owners while the whole media was stating that he could be a top manager. All these hopes were given a shocking fade-off when City officially announced that they were hit by a huge financial crisis. Most rumors were quoting that the crisis was non-arguably due to the corruption suspects on Thaksin. After those he tried to take a £2m loan from ex-owner for ongoing transfer period which failed and later Thaksin decided to sell the club to a mostly unknown Abu Dhabi United Group in Sept 2008. They faced a huge predicament due to lack of time to strengthen their squad. On the deadline day of transfer period City bided Dimitar Berbatov, David Villa, Mario Gomez and Robinho, but from all those they were able to secure only Robinho’s service. Later in 2009 summer Transfer window Hughes spent millions to bring in world-class players with likes of Kolo Toure, Santa Cruz, G.Barry, Adebayor, Lescott and most notably Carlos Tevez from the rivals Manchester United. Sadly even after those spending Hughes was just able to win 2 games in 11 played. The poor form lead Hughes to be sacked and in Dec 2009, Roberto Mancini was given the chance and he started a new successful era for Man City from then on. Mancini made the 5th place in the league which was highest since 1992 for them. In 2010 summer transfer window, Mancini was given financial aid to strengthen their squad so that they would be capable of being in the highest level of Europe. He added Boateng, Silva, Yaya Toure, Kolorov, Balotelli, Milner and Dzeko(Jan window) letting Robinho go on a £10m loss amount for City. They won their first FA cup title since 1969 and this was their first major trophy since 1976. On the last day of 2010-2011 season, City passed Arsenal to 3rd position qualifying directly to Champions league for the first time in their history.
In the mid 2011, before the start of 2011-2012 season, City further strengthened their squad. This time they brought Nasri and Clichy from rival Arsenal, highly rated Maradona’s son-in-law Sergio Aguero and the young prospect Stefan Savic who plays at center back position. This investment resulted City having worlds one of the best attacking force. Edin Dzeko, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli in the forward line with James Milner, Adam Johnson, Samir Nasri and David Silva assisting them in behind. City also loaned out world renowned forwards Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz. They made their brightest start ever by winning 6 in 7 league games played while the other one was drawn. The point to note here is that they scored 23 goals in those 7 games while conceded just 5 goals. The disappointment for City was that the one who beat them in Community Shield match, Manchester United were also at their best when they started the league.
When it comes to English football, Manchester United is the most successful club with a record 53 domestic titles till now. They won a record 19 league titles with even a record 19 FA community shields and a record 11 FA cup titles. As of July 2011 the club is ranked top in the most valuable team ranking with a value of $1.86billion. In my previous article “2010: a new era for Man United?” I questioned about the change going to happen to the club. Obviously my mind is very little and lacks the ‘real’ information of players than Sir Alex Ferguson and his managerial team.
In 2011 the fans of Man United were shocked when the Midfield genius Paul Scholes announced his retirement while Edwin previously announced that he was going to retire after 2010-2011 season. The shock was given an extra effect as Man United revealed the loyal players of the club, Wes Brown and O’Shea was leaving the red devils. Fans started questioning about the future of the club and how could we expect a letdown when Ferguson is the head of the club. I thought Kuszczak would be No.1 after Edwin, but surprisingly Ferguson bought an unkown player from former Man United’s legendary GK Peter Schmiechel’s countryman Ander Lidegaard and highly rated Spanish young talent David De Gea, 19year De Gea was given the No.1 shirt replacing the great Edwin. Even after the departure of Wes Brown and O’Shea they had Vidic, Rio, Evans, Smalling, Evra, Rafael and Fabio at the defense line. The injury prone Hargreaves was released while Scholes took a coaching role after retirement. This lead to media attention on them with rumors revealing that Man United were in need of a playmaking midfielder. Wesley Sneijder was the most highly rumored player but at the end Sneijder himself confirmed that Man United never contacted him by saying “I’ve never got a call from Ferguson”. Yet Ferguson wanted to strengthen his team aiming to be at the top beating Barcelona. So he brought Ashley Young and teenage but “a matured footballer” according to Ferguson, Phil Jones. He also brought Tom Cleverly, Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda as promoting Paul Pogba (the player who replaced Scholes in his testimonial match) from youth team. Man United gave a surprise to whole world by placing a team with average age 23-24 on-pitch in the 1st league game, DeGea as GK while young Fabio, Smalling, Anderson, Cleverly, Welbeck with Phil and Evans introduced later as both Rio and Vidic were injured. Man United were in top gear by winning 6 of their 7 league games and the other drawn, just same as Man City. But Man United managed to score 24 goals while conceded just 5 goals. The point to be noted here is that now they are showing a team spirit which we have never found in any club, at least not in EPL.
After all these beautiful and historic stories of the clubs from Manchester, I have few questions in my mind for both these clubs. Will Manchester City be able to create the team spirit in a near future? Will they be able to handle the personal discomforts ongoing for both Tevez and Balotelli? Can they make a good impact in CL with lack of experience in Defense line for Europe? Will Manchester United be able to hold the momentum with so many young players? Will they be able to fight for title of CL with so many inexperience players in front lines of the squad? Let’s wait and see how it all goes on for both the clubs throughout the season, my best regards to both clubs from the city of Manchester.
08/10/2011