Jonathan Wilson: “Manchester City won 6 of the last 7 Premier League titles, an unprecedented level of dominance. You can put that down to Pep Guardiola, the resources, 115 charges etc. But superiority of that kind is unhealthy for a league that has historically prided itself on its competitiveness”
by TheBiasedSportsLover
28 comments
Did they say this when Fergie was outspending everybody else by a country mile?
I’m not convinced that the Premier League has ever been notably competitive in that way. Man Utd, Chelsea, and Man City have won 24 out of the 32 seasons between them. 13 of those were just Man Utd, who also won 8 out of the first 11 seasons.
Yeah, I am not buying the “competitiveness” argument. That’s not the reason City winning 4 in a row is bad for the league. It’s bad for the league because they’re owned by a state and because they are not at all interested in honoring the rules of the league in which they compete.
Perennial champions are good for any league in any sport.
It must be so odd to be a long-time supporter of this club.
Historically competitive?
Man U and City have 80% of the titles.
I think the most interesting part is that they’ve won the last 9 games with two goals or more. Everyone else is dead tired from a long season and City kicks in to gear. I wonder how that’s possible.
Said this in another thread but, why weren’t people asking this when United were winning the league every year?
I mean competitiveness is subjective too. If we have a league with 7 different winners in 7 seasons, but each season was over by Christmas, and a league with 1 winner in 7 seasons, but every season was decided on the last day, which would be considered more competitive?
I mean it went right down to the last day, I’d hardly say this is a 1 team league. There’s always extra context you have to look at.
Pep guardiolas genius and drive is the difference. Arguably the greatest manager we’ve seen in the league.
Perfectly encapsulates the entire debate: People are jealous of the success and cover it behind faux moralistic outrage and concern for competitiveness – which is particularly ironic when the same teams then are voting for measures that keep power with the big teams and screw over small teams.
In fairness to City, it’s not like they’ve walked the league in most of those six seasons.
We all know the outcome, that they are going to win it but they have been pushed by Liverpool and more recently Arsenal and it’s only because City go on these ridiculous unbeaten runs in the tail end of the season that they’ve been able to win those titles.
Compare that to the other big leagues. Real are over 10 points clear, Leverkusen are almost 20 points clear, Inter are almost 20 points clear and PSG are almost 10 points clear while City won it by two points.
There’s different ways to be competitive but someone does need to get over the line against City eventually.
There’s only one solution to this problem – deduct more points from Everton. That’ll sort everything out.
this stuff is quite over the top really. city are obviously not playing by the rules but they won’t keep winning every year when pep leaves
Sigh another dumb take that ignores context. Just look at how many of the past few title races came down to the very last day and you will understand how competitive the Premier League is. Pep and Man City’s standard of play forced the rest of the league to up their level as well, not only did they not decrease the competitiveness, if anything they increased it.
>But superiority of that kind is unhealthy for a league that has historically prided itself on its competitiveness
lol no? Also I would not care if they were doing it legitimately. A competitive team dominating happens in every sport.
CRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
5 out of 8 of city’s titles have been won on the final day of the season. Is that not competitive?
Arsenal midway through the season: Man City fell off. Who cares about 115. Arsenal will win. Pep who, SakaFC
Arsenal end of the season: 115, No HeritageFC, worthless trophies 😂
The third one on the list, before e.t.c
nice little dig at brexit fc in there.
‘Historically prided itself on its competitiveness’ – What a load of horseshit. There have only ever been 7 winners in a league thats featured 51 different teams.
Utd absolutely dominated the league, winning it 13 times in 20 years. Nobody seems to be able to remember that now though.
There is also no longer an established Top 4, and instead we have 8 or so teams who are capable of cracking the top 4 spots.
City have been taken to the last day multiple times which shows you the level of competition at the top. Historically its only ever really a two or, if you’re really lucky, a three horse race for the majority of a season. The idea that the league isnt competitive anymore is ridiculous.
Anything to fit the narrative though.
City have won 4 of the last 6 on the last day you fool
Yea so what are going to do about it?
Yeah, it was _so much_ more competitive when Salford were winning the league at the start of April, wasn’t it.
No one complained when Juventus won Serie A several times in the mid-2000s.
I think it’s time to introduce salary and spending caps. The money being thrown around in football is obscene