Can City eat at the Top Table?

After a packed, hectic weekend of football we now look closer to having to place a new chair at the Top Table.


Manchester United's noisy neighbours are one game away from crashing the party. Worryingly, they also have the means to stay there for years. 


City looked to have blown the title race a month ago but after United's very own wobble the Blues have taken charge and could seal a famous victory over their local rivals on Sunday.


City fans will revel in their victory and rightly so. Fans elsewhere will bemoan the unfairness that money brings to the game. 


Michel Platini will use the win as vindication of his quest to "level the playing field"  Something he never cared about when he played for the most successful and wealthiest clubs on the continent. 


This is a modern, regular gripe that raises it's head at times like this. The argument goes something like this:


"Out of touch Sugar Daddy, usually foreign, invests heavily in team that is down on it's luck. Thus completely unbalancing the league and spoiling it for everyone else.Team goes on to success and everyone pines for a fairer league like they have in American Football or the one that existed when their grandad watched football."


City will face accusations of buying the title and unbalancing football. City fans should get their comebacks in place now.


Firstly, success in football has always been about money. Even when the wage cap was in place, not everyone got the maximum. The best players got the biggest pay and you can bet that the most successful managers got the largest pay packet. So yes, money and success go hand in hand. 


So what's the next problem?


Ah yes, City did not earn the money, they had it given to them.


Most clubs these days have been the beneficiary of a cash injection, be it from an individual like Jack Walker, a group of like minded individuals like Rangers' Blue Knights or many individuals from a share float.


Manchester United probably would not exist today if it wasn't for John Henry Davies and other Mancunian businessmen who found £2000 when United were served with a winding up order. United have also benefited from public money from a flotation on the stock market and private money when the Glazers bought them.


Which club has never benefited from cash investment? Right ok let's leave that one.


Next? 


Ah but City have unbalanced the transfer market.


Erm yes but so have many other clubs. Mainly United! Ferdinand, Van Nistelrooy, Veron were all record transfers and Rooney is the most expensive teenager ever. If anyone has inflated the transfer market its United.


Next?


Well yes, but it's just unfair.


Yep it is, but that's great. What fan really wants to see fair?


All fans are partisan and turn up to watch their team murder the opposition. The last thing they really want are fair contests. Even underdogs don't want this. They want to have their glory day against a far superior team. Sometimes, however rarely, they actually win!


It's the unfairness of football that makes it so unpredictable and drives fan's through the turnstiles.


Since the Premier League started, when the league supposedly got more and more unfair, attendances have risen to record highs even though prices have gone through the roof. 


Unfairness is good for football.


So what's really the problem? 


Deep down, it's just that your team didn't win. Fans are great at rationalising their teams losses. particularly English fans. Of course it wasn't our fault, it was the hand of god, those pesky Germans or another cheating Argentinian. Of course, we're good enough.


City fans should enjoy their glory and be pleased that investment came. United fans may want to steam roller every team in the league and win by Christmas...but tough. Life is not like that.


Everyone else should dream of similar investment and hope that next year, it's their turn for glory.


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