Manchester City

[grumpy01]

Congratulations to Manchester City on their domestic treble but that could lead to English football becoming like Scottish football.For Celtic and Rangers read Manchester City and Liverpool with the others trying to compete.

[fiction-factory]

It depends on several things, the main one being whether their managers stay as they have made the main difference. Other clubs like Man United will be prepared to outspend them buy may be a year or ywo away from challenging. Spurs have shown they can challenge - they were in the mix until Christmas and may win the Champions League. And maybe another Leicester (Wolves?) will surprise everyone.
The gulf between City and mid table sides though was highlighted on Saturday

[Ken4155]

The English Premier League will never become like the Scottish version. Almost as far back as i can remember, it was always Celtic (last 8 years) or Rangers who won their top league, with the odd Aberdeen thrown in now and then. Man Utd dominated the PL for a while, winning it almost every other year and sometimes twice on the trot, but we have had 3 different teams win the Trophy in the last 4 years. The truth of the matter is only those sides who qualify for the Holy Grail of football, the Champion's League, will attract the top players and so it follows that they will only get stronger and stronger. The rest of us will have to feed on the scraps and hope to improve gradually - survival being the name of the game for half the table.
As for United challenging in a couple of years? Not under their current manager. Sentiment and business (and let's face it, Man Utd is a business, not a football club) do not go hand in hand.

[10ClarionSt]

I've made a similar point to a few of my mates who are City fans. Similar to some teams from Eastern Europe, who wipe the floor with the domestic opposition, then do nothing in Europe. One semi-final in ten years of the Champions League. Not impressive, especially at times when everyone has been saying they are the best team in Europe. I don't think the European Finalists this year quite give a similarity to Scottish Football, though. Or east European, actually!.
As for the Cup Final, I thought Watford might have reverted to their trade mark for this game, the long ball. Deeney and another big lad up front, knock it over City's mid-field, then make them play from the back if/when they win the ball. City won everything in the middle and were on the attack straight away. Watford played right into their hands. I still think City would have won it though. Maybe 5-0, not 6!
As for United, they have to start again. Whoever is in charge. Utd fans should remember that OGS had one spell previously as a Premiership manager, and that team were eventually relegated. One negative factor in all of this is that since the Glazers took over the club, they have taken money out of Utd. They have also spent money too, for sure, but taking over Utd at the time was a money grab for them. That was the attraction and the reason for the take over. Mansoor has put lots of money INTO City. They needed it. They sure needed it, with a new stadium and a team bouncing up and down from the Championship. There is always the accusation that City just bought their way to the trophies. That is definitely true, because they had absolutely no chance of winning anything before Mansoor, but it's the way of the football world now. A very generous benefactor set City on their way to modern day success. Success bred success for United, not a benefactor and they need to have that success again to attract the players. But winning the FA Cup and/or the League Cup can't really be called success for Utd. It's the Premier League and the Champions League that count. A double that United have done twice. They'll be back. But when?

[Zacs-Master]

Liverpool were nowhere a few seasons ago. Silly analogy.

[10ClarionSt]

What have Liverpool won in the last 10 years? Compared to City or United? Hardly anything. There was nothing anal about my post! :o)

[garyinspain]

Or like la liga in spain, where only real madrid and barcelona have the recources to fight for the title every year. occasional a 3rd team appears then fades - recently this has been atletico madrid. you can usually tell who is going to win the title after a few weeks of the season. i reckon city alone will dominate the premier league for a decade.

[Hopkirk]

Don't worry, Man City will have a bad run before long.

These overpaid prima donnas get above their station from time to time.