Football's new gentry

Since Man City became the newest of the Premiership’s new money, they have beaten Pompey 6-0, lost away at Wigan, been knocked out of the Carling Cup by League One Brighton and somehow relinquished a 2-0 lead at home to Liverpool, eventually losing 3-2.
Most significant though was the first game since the Sheikh takeover, a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Chelsea. For it showed them just where it is they need to go.
It’s not often that Liverpool – Man Utd isn’t the biggest game of the day, but the meeting of the two richest clubs in the world grabbed the headlines.
The two have a plenty more in common. Both have histories as entertainers, with plenty of soul but ultimate underachievement. Also, the departure of likeable, but always butt-of-the-joke, nearly men Ranieri and Eriksson to be replaced by real deal managers Jose Mourinho and Mark Hughes accompanied their financial boosts.
Mourinho achieved remarkable success immediately, winning two league titles in his first two seasons in charge. But Chelsea were a lot closer before the huge cash injection, already a successful cup team in recent years, having finished third in the Premiership and with Champions League experience. Man City are nowhere near that yet, and their road to the top will not be as easy.
Hughes is a strong-willed manager, and early promises from the Sheikh owners not to interfere with his job are encouraging. They’d do well to follow the lessons from Stamford Bridge. After two seasons of success, Mourinho was undermined by owner Roman Abramovich, who bought Andriy Shevchenko from A.C. Milan against his manager’s wishes. It’s no coincidence that Chelsea haven’t won the league since.
The signing of Shevchenko was also the first time a real global name had come to the West London club. Mourinho brought in a number of young players with huge potential, but who had not yet won anything in their careers, arguably placing a winning mentality and hunger for success above even ability in his selections. More importantly still, the core of the side was English, with John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole reaching new levels of performance in their careers.
For all of the accusations of “buying the title”, he built a team, putting substance first and style later. Petr Cech kept a record 25 clean sheets in the 2004-05 season, as Mourinho based success around defensive foundations, before unleashing Damien Duff and Arjen Robben to add the flair upfront.
At Man City, Hughes will do well to resist the urges of the Sheikh shopping-list, full of galactico names, and build himself a team of players, not superstars. Unfortunately the early signs here are not too promising, with Robinho falling into the latter category, and the side looking exhilarating when they turn it on (the 6-0 win over Pompey in particular) but all too flaky away from home when they don’t.
The core of the team Hughes must take forward is already there: Richard Dunne and Micah Richards at the back, and the resurgent Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips going forward. Arguably, the sky blues have got a lot more young home-grown talent than Chelsea did, with Michael Johnson and Daniel Sturridge looking like excellent prospects. Hughes must make sure they still get a chance in the side.

The royal blues’ victory at the City of Manchester Stadium in mid-September showed the distance the home side are behind. After trailing to an early Robinho free-kick, which created a fervent atmosphere in the stadium, Chelsea showed their character to equalise within minutes. They dominated play for the remainder of the game, and were rewarded with a beautiful second through Lampard and a comfortable Anelka third to save Peter Kenyon from having egg on his face after missing out on Robinho’s transfer.
Chelsea showed similar ruthlessness to cut down young pretenders Aston Villa last weekend, while clinical Man Utd have won their last two with a dodgy first and a sumptuous second. With Liverpool showing they’ve finally got that bit of resilience needed to challenge, and Arsenal slipping away to join City and Villa in the battle for the final Champions League spot, the big four has become the big three, with three more tailing them.

City fans will quickly realise that money doesn’t buy you love, but it does get one heck of a rollercoaster ride. One or two will become disillusioned and go, but the rest will soon see that money doesn’t make success any less sweet.
After all, football’s traditional elite has always relied on having a bigger fortune than the rest. City’s noisy disruption of the big boys is interesting certainly, and will invoke a great deal of resentment, but it is far from the fundamental change to the face of football that it’s been heralded. Chelsea only did it a couple of years back.
In the enormous commercial business that is modern-day football, City are just a drop in the ocean. Just how Mark Hughes would want it.