Our columnist and Manchester City supporter Ian Cheeseman feels as though Pep Guardiola's team are hitting their best form of the campaign.

All the talk in the football world at the moment is whether Manchester City can win the treble. Since my last column, the Blues won convincingly against their Premier League title rivals Arsenal and negotiated a tricky trip to Fulham with a 2-1 win, which included a wonderful strike from their World Cup winner Julian Alvarez. 

I think it’s fair to say, they seem to be on course, and are now odds on favourites, to retain their title. As I write this, just ahead of Wednesday’s next test against West Ham United, the Blues are hitting their best form of the season. It feels like the next big challenge will be to face Real Madrid again, over two legs, in the semi-finals of the Champions League. 

The more City dominate and the more successful they threaten to be, the more jealousy from rival clubs and their fans come to the fore. Unless you’re a City fan, it’s tempting to want this type of dominance to end. I understand that. Imagine being a German football fan and seeing Bayern Munich win their title every year for over a decade. I’m not a Bayern fan, but I hope that anyone except Bayern wins the title this season. 

That doesn’t mean, I don’t admire how well run the Bavarian club is. Professional football is what it says on the tin, it’s professional. I watched the “The English Game”, a sports drama on Netflix a couple of years ago and it told how the game developed in the 1870s. It tells the story of how the established Old Etonians used every trick in the book to prevent a working class factory team, Darwen FC, from winning the FA Cup. 

Blackburn, who had more money and power, persuaded Darwen’s star player to sign for them, for more money, the FA board tried to expel Blackburn and Darwen from the FA Cup because the richer, establishment, didn’t want these upstarts to win. That was a long time ago, but anyone can see the pattern. 

Manchester City are a big City club, with a rich history. They first won the FA Cup back in 1904, just twenty-two years after the last win by Old Etonians, and thirteen years after Blackburn won it six times in nine seasons. City won the FA Cup earlier than Man United or Liverpool. 

The Blues were mismanaged in the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in their relegation from the top flight on more than one occasion meaning they missed out on the financial boom in the late 1990s. 

The clubs with the richest owners and best management, dominated during City’s absence from the top table, which also coincided with the introduction of a huge cash windfall from the new lucrative TV deals and a general improvement in living standards, which meant more cash for, and profits from, merchandise and sponsorship. City couldn’t compete. 

Eventually the Blues struck lucky and having moved into the Commonwealth Stadium, mega rich investors saw a huge opportunity. They bought City a seat back at the top table, but the Old Etonian mentality of UEFA and the established clubs attempted to stop City. 

This was a clever, new City though and they recruited a higher calibre of management and coaches. Sven Goran Erikisson, Mark Hughes, Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and now Pep Guardiola slowly built a new City, the envy of football. The critics blamed the investment, which of course City needed, but they ignored the talents of City’s owners, infrastructure and those managers. 

City were lucky when they “won the lottery” with arrival of Sheikh Mansour, but that’s how professional football has always been. The rich top the pile, but it’s not just about having the resources. Liverpool, United, Chelsea and the rest have spent just as big, but right now they are not at City’s level. Pep Guardiola is the best there is, they all know it and they’re jealous. If City do win the treble, they’ll deserve every bit of praise going. It’s not been easy competing, and beating the established rich, but they threaten to do just that. It’s Great to be a Blue!

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