MANCHESTER CITY CAN WIN THE TITLE... BUT IS IT REALLY FAIR THAT THEY CAN?

At the start of the season, most pundits stated that Manchester City would probably be happy with a top four finish and a place in next season's Champions League. But now, as we enter the final third of the season, there is no doubt in my mind that City can actually win the title.

The squad at Eastlands contains an unbelievable amount of quality and experience, and Roberto Mancini is definately a manager capable of winning titles, as he demonstrated in Italy. The 46 year old claimed three Serie A titles in his time at Inter Milan.

I have over-heard some analysts make several ill advised comments in relation to their squad. These so- called experts (I constantly gripe at ex-players who make outrageous statements just for affect without backing them up with any real evidence) have suggested on numerous occasions that the players lack the winning mentality of those at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge. But this is absolute nonsense.

Granted, the players at City have not yet won any silverware together, but the squad is littered with players who have won trophies at the very highest level at other clubs.

There is Kolo Toure, a member of the Arsenal 'invincibles' of 2003-2004, and a player who was twice an FA Cup winner while in North London. His younger brother - Yaya Toure - has twice been a Champions League winner at Barcelona and three times a La Liga winner with the Catalans.

There are other players with experience of winning silverware on these shores. Patrick Viera won three titles at Arsenal (including two doubles), and was skipper of the superb 2004 Gunners side. In addition, the Frenchman has won international honours with his country and appeared in two World Cup finals. You can't get much more experienced than that! As well as Viera, Carlos Tevez has picked up two league titles at Manchester United and has a Champions League winners medal to his name.

The newly acquired Edin Dzeko, has a Bundesliga title under his belt from his time at unfashionable Wolfsburg, while David Silva has won two major titles with Spain and the Copa de Ray with Valencia.

Nigel de Jong has won the championship in Holland with Ajax, while even the temperamental Mario Balotelli has experience of being involved in the pressure cooker of a title race. The Italian international has won three titles in his homeland (one of which was under the tutorledge of Mancini) and the Champions League (all be it as a substitute). This is made more remarkable by the fact he is still only 20 years old.


No club in the league has better attacking options than City. Their four first choice strikers have a combined transfer value of over £120 million and Silva has really began to adapt to the pace of the Premier League in the last couple of months. The Spaniard has been in sparkling form and this has coincided with a terrific run of the results for the team.

I actually thought Silva (along with Marcus Senna) was Spain's best player at Euro 2008, and he is starting to demonstrate that talent at Eastlands, especially away from home. His ability to keep the ball in tight situations and his tremendous passing and speed of thought on the counter attack are a vital weapon in the team's armour.

In addition to City's attacking threat, the central midfield shields the defence superbly. They need to, because the back four, although solid, contains no great superstars. There are few better holding midfielders about than Nigel De Jong and Gareth Barry, who compliment each other superbly.

Yaya Toure, meanwhile, in my view, is one of the best midfielders in the world. Very few players are able to fill the role of defensive midfielder and attacking midfielder to equal effect, but the Ivory Coast international offers this unique versatility. He is a wonderful player, and the sort of player any team would like to have in their side. Even Barcelona may live to regret letting him go (although on second thoughts, probably not).

Mancini also has valuable options within his rotation system, where he has has two hungry English players in James Milner and Adam Johnson at his disposal. They are both match winners on their day and vital to City's hopes. It is always important to have English players within a squad and the Italian coach recognises this. These players offer an authentic element crucial in certain matches throughout the campaign, ie the proverbial 'wet Wednesday night at Stoke' fixture. Every side needs them.


While much of the burden in the first half of the season has fallen on Carlos Tevez's shoulders, the arrival of the Bosnian internation, Dzeko, means that the Argentine can be rested occasionally if needs be. Although whether the Argentine wants to be rested at all is open to debate. I have personally never seen a work get through so much work during a match, but also be such a match winner at the same time. For me, Tevez is the player of the season so far, although Luka Modric, Rafael Van de Vaart and Sami Nasri are not far behind.

But.. and this is an important question. Is the power of City's spending really fair?

Of course market forces dictate football (especially in England) but six strikers all acquired for over £19 million is ridiculous, un-precedented and excessive. Surely there should be some type of law imposed concerning the amount of games played by these individuals every season or a maximum amount spent on players per position. There could even be a law implemented which puts a quota on the maximum amount of players per position within the squad (ie a maximum of five strikers).

Players of the calibre of Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz have barely pulled on a City shirt this campaign. But how can two players worth over £40 million combined be allowed to rot in the reserves, while other clubs could be reaping the rewards of their services. It is not anywhere near approaching a level playing field and it will destroy the competitiveness of the league in the years to come.

I have also noticed how City have clearly laid out money on players to deny their rivals the opportunity of buying them. Chelsea did this with Shaun Wright Phillips several years ago, but Manchester City seem to do this even more frequently now. After all the Abu Dhabi group have an endless pot of riches and are able to execute such methods.

In addition, the club, it seems, refuse to sell or loan any players to anyone within the top six clubs. Poor Shay Given, Shaun Wright Phillips, Joleon Lescott and Adam Johnson will probably have to take a step down the league ladder or risk rotting on the bench, as Wayne Bridge has just done, moving to West Ham (the league's bottom club). I also suspect that Craig Bellamy's surprise move to Cardiff at the start of the season was not singularly down to the Welshman wanting a move back to South Wales. He was probably not given the option of joining any other of the major clubs.

It does all seem a little unfair, but until the rules are altered, City have the power to do as they please. They are not breaking any EU rules and have plenty of English players to fill their UEFA quota of home-grown talent. It could be said... good luck to them, but in American sports this would not be allowed to happen.

Now I am not a big fan of American sports aesthetically, but I do like the way in which they attempt to keep the leagues competitive by implementing strict laws on spending and wage boundaries. It is not always the same teams competing for titles every year and this is a good thing, in my view. And although the franchise system (teams changing location etc) would not be welcome in English football, surely we could replicate some of the financial ideologies into our game. It is certainly something that should at least be considered.


On the playing side, in recent games City have even become quite an entertaining team, something that would have been un-heard of at the start of the season. While some people criticise their defensive performance at Arsenal (the Gunners actually dominated play and missed plenty of chances in reality) few seem to say anything remotely negative about a number of Manchester United away performances this season.

At both Old Trafford and Eastlands, United were superb defensively but offered very little going forward. The majority of the press hailed the defensive brilliance of Vidic and Ferdinand on those occasions (especially at White Hart Lane), but at the Emirates, Mancini's outfit were branded negative. This is just another example of the 'pro-Fergie - pro Manchester United' press that exists in this country.

This is an argument for another day… But Manchester City could well topple their much loved Manchester rivals come May. And, on the flip side of their excessive spending power, it can, this season anyway, surely only be good for football.