Turning the clock back to 1986, a manager went about his task of achieving glory with a team that required what many would call a ‘fresh start’. This task however, proved to be no easy one considering it required them to dethrone the then dominant Liverpool off their ‘perch’. The team was Manchester United and they have no doubt been successful in achieving exactly what they set out to do hence climbing to greater heights in their attempts. More than their achievements however, an aspect that interests many is the way in which they managed to dislodge Liverpool to what they are now.
Ever since the 90s, United have been on a promising run that aided their bids towards the many titles since then and in the process became one of the most successful clubs across Europe. Sir Alex Ferguson is one person who deserves most of the credit for whatever the club has achieved in the past two decades. Ferguson, as many would agree, is the backbone of the Red Devils and is responsible for laying the foundation for a dynasty that has tasted success quite often winning the Premier League 12 times and held the European Champions Cup twice since he took over. During his tenure, the club has produced many greats such as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham along with nurturing the talents with the likes of Eric Cantona, Cristiano Ronaldo among the many. It wouldn’t be fair to say that United’s success under Ferguson was achieved through the traditional way of producing and nurturing talents into the system. Only in a perfect world would someone agree to that.
The team had to spend and it is but a bitter truth to swallow that teams do have to spend in order to be successful. He has made some high profile signings with the highest being that of the now out of favor striker Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham for about £30,750,000 in 2008 and about £27,000,000 for Wayne Rooney from Everton in 2004. Along with the above, all of United’s current wingers, the lot of Nani, Valencia and Young were bought for prices ranging from £13,500,000 to £17,000,000. Not all signings proved to bear fruit with the best examples being Owen Hargreaves (£17,000,000 in 2007), Louis Saha (£12,820,000 in 2003) and Juan Veron (£28,100,000 in 2001). For all those United fans and everyone else who continue to think that Man City, Chelsea and PSG are the only ones splurging cash to acquire players, take note, United have done no different. However though, they’ve emerged to remain consistent in the top flight of the Premier League and also European football.
History however, has an ironic, if not comical way of repeating itself. Where United had dislodged Liverpool, the newly crowned Premier League Manchester City may well be on the verge of doing the same to their neighbors. Mancini’s squad has been no less than dominant this season tipping their neighbors to win the premier league. They had announced themselves into this season with a 6-1 win away from home at Old Trafford giving their long-time rivals a beating to remember. While many proclaim that City have bought their way into winning the trophy, there are those who tend to disagree. Mancini has merely used the resources that have been made available to him. Ever since Manchester City have been taken over by their Arab owners, their financial troubles certainly seemed to have seen their end. With their coffers full, why wouldn’t one hesitate to make their move to achieve glory? High profile signings such as Sergio Aguero (£38,000,000), David Silva (£25,000,000), Yaya Toure (£24,000,000), Samir Nasri (£22,000,000) and Edin Dzeko (£27,000,000) certainly aided them in their pursuit for silverware this season.
United, with Ferguson certainly did produce talents, but Mancini doesn’t seem to find anything wrong with acquiring talent with the cash that’s at his disposal. The question that begs an answer is whether this team can achieve the heights that Ferguson’s United scaled? They certainly seem to have the potential to do so as we’ve seen this season. The ‘City Dynasty’ in the making? Highly possible.