Can they ever be caught?

[KS55]

Before I pop my clogs I would like us to be 3rd or higher on every one of those lists. It's doable within a decade.

Can’t wait till I’m 84 then.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

You never know. You see it in other leagues all the time. A team going on a run of 9 or 10 titles in a row and suddenly being way out in front. I can't imagine the PL ever allowing that to happen though. And it's quite clear that they'll do whatever it takes to make sure there's a different winner at least every few years. It could even be next season where the number of changes take a while to bed in and that's enough to cost us the league, because it's so competitive.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I was chatting to a City supporting neighbour last week when the local armchair rag joined us. As anticipated, he turned the conversation round to them within seconds, bemoaning the fact that the Premiership is now "all about big business" and that he'd lost interest in going to see his beloved team as a consequence (clearly, a poorly disguised snide dig at us). I bit my tongue but was tempted to ask him whether he felt that way when the rags were outspending everyone and winning every trophy in sight. Isn't it funny how some fans have a selective memory?

Professional football, by definition, is all about big business. Otherwise Old Etonians, Wanderers, Royal Engineers etc. would all still be top clubs in an amateur sport.

Every football club who’s ever been successful since the sport became professional in 1885 have spent heavily on wages and transfer fees; probably more than most of the rest.

Arsenal’s successful 1930s team were called the Bank of England Club because they built the most expensive football team ever seen at the time, when they’d never previously won or even challenged for a trophy, which allowed them to become successful.
Liverpool’s successful 1970s and 80s era started their rise to the top after outspending everyone in the Second Division (where they’d spent 8 years and were going nowhere before the Moores family pumped money into them), and most of the First Division, to get promoted… then outspending everyone in the First Division to enter a period of dominance with the most expensive football team ever seen at the time.
United’s success under Ferguson certainly didn’t start with money from their own success like the Rags always seem to say, since all they won was 3 FA Cups in the 22 years before Ferguson’s successful era began. They spent their owner’s money to build the most expensive football team ever seen at the time, won the FA Cup and ECWC, then Knighton came in who floated United on the Stock Exchange to again allow United to build the most expensive team ever seen at the time who went on to win multiple league titles.

Through every era since the game became professional, the amount of money each club needs to rise up the league and achieve success perpetually grows. Therefore, the bigger the business always gets. That was the case when the likes of Arsenal overtook the likes of Aston Villa as a top side in the 1930s, and the same now as we’ve seen the likes of City overtake the likes of United as a top side in the last decade.

 

[pirate]

This was my post when this thread first appeared in 2019 and the goal reamins. However, I do believe that City are currently the best club side in the world but need to get those trophies to remove any debate.

No idea how long City will stay at the top but as I have just bought my 50th straight season ticket, I'm very relaxed about what the immediate future holds for the club.

More than trophies, I just want the team to keep entertaining me.

thought i had been going for ages, but my 35th straight season ticket seems a bit of a poor show now

 

[Lavinda Past]

Where we are now is more important than where the rest were 10, 20, or 30+ years ago.

I couldn't care less about their numbers. Only City matter in this household.

 

[manclad]

Professional football, by definition, is all about big business. Otherwise Old Etonians, Wanderers, Royal Engineers etc. would all still be top clubs in an amateur sport.

Every football club who’s ever been successful since the sport became professional in 1885 have spent heavily on wages and transfer fees; probably more than most of the rest.

Arsenal’s successful 1920s team were called the Bank of England Club because they built the most expensive football team ever seen at the time, when they’d never previously won or even challenged for a trophy, which allowed them to become successful.
Liverpool’s successful 1970s and 80s era started their rise to the top after outspending everyone in the Second Division (where they’d spent 8 years and were going nowhere before the Moores family pumped money into them), and most of the First Division, to get promoted… then outspending everyone in the First Division to enter a period of dominance with the most expensive football team ever seen at the time.
United’s success under Ferguson certainly didn’t start with money from their own success like the Rags always seem to say, since all they won was 3 FA Cups in the 22 years before Ferguson’s successful era began. They spent their owner’s money to build the most expensive football team ever seen at the time, won the FA Cup and ECWC, then we’re sold to Knighton who then floated United on the Stock Exchange to again allow United to build the most expensive team ever seen at the time who went on to win multiple league titles.

Through every era since the game became professional, the amount of money each club needs to rise up the league and achieve success perpetually grows. Therefore, the bigger the business always gets. That was the case when the likes of Arsenal overtook the likes of Aston Villa as a top side in the 1920s, and the same now as we’ve seen the likes of City overtake the likes of United as a top side in the last decade.

Just a couple of historical inaccuracies in your post that I thought you should be aware of -
Firstly - Arsenal didn't become a major football powerhouse until the 1930s .
They won the FA Cup in 1930 and then went on to win multiple trophies in the following 9 years ( City did exactly the same after winning the Cup in 2011).
And Arsenal also became infamous as the first and only club to allow a team from outside England to win the FA Cup in 1927 (Cardiff City).
Secondly - Michael Knighton never completed his proposed takeover of United, although he did eventually become a director of the club.
Martin Edwards remained in control of United throughout that period, until the takeover by the Glazers .

 

[TheBlueDune]

Would be best if we didn't win it every year as the league would become stale and boring like germany and bayern, so make it 14 in 20 miss out every 3 years as long as it isn't the rags or scousers winning it ;-)

You are Peter Scudamore and I claim my £50

 

[blue44]

 

[Cobwebcat]

On that top one it takes United until 1983 to pass us.

History boys.

 

[Hayley Croppers chopper]

They aren’t stupid. Every single club in Europe and South America count them in their honours lists. And rightly so!

So we did win a quadruple then?