Arsenal, ManUtd, Liverpool, Chelsea. The impregnable top 4, forever, never to be replaced, so say the media, mostly the cockney media, strangely.
Turn back the clock to the onset of the premiership. The Sky deal was negotiated while the Big 5 were ManU, Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton and Spurs. These clubs supported the idea to capitalise and build on their impregnable status.
NUFC were nowhere. We were stuck in the depths of the old 2nd division, and hadn’t had a sniff of this elite for the thick end of 40 years.
Turn the clock forward 4 years, and the Big Two were ManUtd and Newcastle. Nobody had a chance of catching those 2 clubs, who simply had the best managers, the best players, and the league was a 2 man race, Liverpool looking in from the outside and the club to sneak in, if anybody
Go back to the end of the 1970’s and early 1980’s. Liverpool and Forest were the Big Two. Villa broke them up, winning the League and European Cup, just like their 2 rivals.
Hmmm.
See the Pattern ?
What of the current impregnable Big 4. ManU have regained the title, they are going nowhere fast, until Sir Alex calls it a day anyway. Chelsea too, for as long as Abramovic enjoys playing with his rich mans toy. Liverpool have been the most consistently well run and successful team in the past 40 years, but can you see them winning the title in the immediate future ? Their new owners don’t appear to be showing much in the way of determination to help their manager along this road, do they ? Shite directors, how much will they back their man ?
Arsenal ? Well, following the departure of David Dein, they are vulnerable. All is not well, Wenger appears to be anything but at ease with the new regime. Henry, their prize asset, has gone, and cited this as the backround. Other top players have indicated they will follow him out of the door.
Logically, if one or more of them falter, someone will take their place. Who will it be ? If it is shown they have been taken over by inferior directors, with different ideas, who appoint inferior managers, they will be taken over by the club who has made the good moves and appointments.
Newcastle United are on the up. We appointed the right manager, and the club appears to have been taken over by an individual who desires success.
Nice to see we weren’t taken over by the new owners of Liverpool and Arsenal, who may well be about to take their clubs backwards.
There’s no such thing as a permanent Big 4. It changes all the time, and this time, my heart is ruling my head when I say we may just well have hit the jackpot.
This article was written by NE5. As well as Newcastle Online, NE5 writes for the Mag and on the following site :
Loading ...
Got to return the favour.. Mike’s right, well he agrees with me so I guess I would think that, but anyway yeah suddenly Spurs think they’re superstars with their rad-tad bunch of b-class players, and think 5th for them is a given or that they can possibly “break into the inpregnable 4″. Just not gonna happen anytime soon..
West Ham think they’re the new Chelsea flashing their cash around.. they must’ve forgotten that only a year ago they were in the Championship and a whisker away from going back down last season too. Being stubbed by Bent (and probably a lot more unmentioned people too, knowing how much Curbs has been snooping around) has really deflated their zeppelin-sized heads hasnt it?
Villa have been more introverted about their money, and have certainly been more miserly in the transfer window.. not really splashing out much cash and hence not much talented players have arrived at Villa park. I still think they have more of a chance than West Ham, despite the giant buzz around the hammers.
Everton, are as Mike said, never consistent enough to be taken seriously. But when they’re on their game, they can take quite a beating. Although, I don’t think they can keep up with the ‘big spenders’, cause unlike most of the teams in the Premiership they haven’t been bought… yet.
I guess I should’ve written an article.. didn’t mean to drag on…
Sent in on: July 13th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I think you might be being a bit ambitious. Arsenal might be behind the top 3 but only Spurs are capable of catching them. Uefa Cup might be possible if the front 3 stay and some more defenders come in. Bolton and Reading will fall behind but Spurs and Portsmouth have strong squads. It will be between Newcastle, Everton and Villa for the other spot. West Ham are still not good enough, their signings have been worse than the players sold. Parker, Bellamy and someone crap for Reo Coker, Tevez and Benayoun
Sent in on: July 13th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
jay-jay I think you’ve got it spot on. Why West Ham, and other clubs with new owners for that matter? Sven will work out well at city - but in time. O’Neill’s the most over-rated manager in a generation. And cash won’t necessarily make teams like the mackems, West Ham, Brum, Pompey etc better.
The league will be closer this year, but with four more defenders (I honestly think we need four more even now) we should be quietly confident of fighting for sixth or fifth.
The threat to us will be from Spurs - best of a bad bunch but pathetically believing their own hype now, they’re nowhere near the status they think yet - Villa and Everton. And Moyes’ record is up and down, so it could be another dodgy season for them, while Villa just haven’t brought in enough class to push on (yet anyway).
As for the “top 4″ - well, in my opinion Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal will always be the big three in terms of trophies, history and fan bases - and will always be there or there abouts.
But Chelsea - they’re nothing without the russian. They weren’t too much before him either, just a pain in the arse to the rest of us. Delusions of grandeur. Let’s hope their dodgy owner gets bored soon.
The biggest injustice in football history was when he made that club a successful one again.
Sent in on: July 12th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Nothing stays the same forever, but I don’t really agree with your main idea that what we’re seeing with the top four now is just a re-run of similar situations in the past.
The Champions League money has allowed the big four to open up a gap which has been very consistent over the last few years. Standards are rising all the time, and it’s more difficult than ever to win a trophy. No-one outside the big four has even won the FA Cup in the last 11 years, and that used to be a much more open competition, even in the days of Liverpool domination.
Yes, we or some other clubs can bridge the gap, but it’s getting harder all the time.
Sent in on: July 10th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
mathew, linda… West Ham? It’s so annoying now how West Ham are in the limelight, they were almost relegated last year and now people are tipping them for europe.. why not Wigan, they finished in the same fashion. So West Ham have bought Newcastle rejects like Bellamy and Parker (and that’s really about it).. who cares? Is that really going to sky rocket them to europe; hope not, or we’ve made a grave mistake letting them go. Hey Wigan got Titus and Sibi yet I don’t see much buzz, in fact they’ve made better buys than West Ham, Koumas anyone? Plus the Hammers lost a certain instrumental little Argentinian to the league champs.
I think if we want to finish top 6, or even more unlikely- 5th, since it’s getting hotter and hotter in that area with the giant influx of foreign investors- we have watch out for Spurs, Everton and Villa.
(Man City might score some goals this season aswell if they buy well)
Sent in on: July 10th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Very optimistic…
Man Utd - Are NOT going no where fast, as a good point from “Ian” states their purchases. They are soaring higher. European champions anyone?
Liverpool - You say “Their new owners don’t appear to be showing much in the way of determination to help their manager along this road, do they ?”. But they’ve just purchased Torres for £25M+…. That looks like help to me.
Chelsea - Malouda, Pezzaro… Great squad.
In my opinion, the top three is sealed.
Arsenal, however, I agree face uncertainty. They are the weakest of the top four. However, this doesn’t mean to say they won’t finish in the top four. Eduardo could end up being the next Henry… He could also be the next Jeffers…. Allot will be decided by his adapting to the prem.
In my opinion 4th place next season is a fight between Arsenal, (and depending on transfer market dealings) and anyone potentially from Tottenham, West Ham, and ourselves. Manchester City and Villa can’t be discounted either.
We need 5 or 6 more quality signings and a year of bedding in to truly challenge for a champs league spot.
Sent in on: July 10th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Lynda Wright has got it spot on & I’m a bit surprised no one sees it that way.We delivered a load of dross last season and a lot of the players responsible for that dross are still there. I appreciate the new signings might help drag the mind set up a notch, but I’m not expecting much better than a top 10 finish (maybe Top 8)this season.Instaed of concentrating on the “Top 4″ — and I think L’Pool and Arsenal may struggle to maintain their positions — we can’t just ignore the others around us who are as hungry as we are for some sort of success and have supporters with high levels of expectation. Lynda mentions another 8 clubs who now have healthy financial backing but she has left out Bolton & Reading who both finished ahead of us last year not to mention the other promoted club Derby who could do a Reading in their 1st season back up.
As with most opinions, a top 6 finish will probably be out of our reach this season with the stronger competition in the 2nd and 3rd tiers of the Premier League beginning to heat up.A top 6 finish for me would be a stupendous success after last seasons garbage.
Sent in on: July 10th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Thats very optimistic. I think what we have to aim for in the next 2-3 season is consistent Uefa Cup spots (6th). And some good cup runs, maybe a Carling or Fa Cup victory. Then start pushing for Champions League(4th). Tottenham are better than us at the moment, with Jol doing wonders. But Big Sam is better that Jol in my opinion, and will make this club a big success, given time!
Sent in on: July 10th, 2007 at 10:00 am
ManU going nowhere fast? I’d say adding Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves and Tevez suggests they’re moving forwar pretty quickly, if anything further away from Chelsea.
I reckon Arsenal and Liverpool are catchable in the nearish future, but so much depends on us sorting out the defence and holding on to our best attacking players.
Think we have every reason to be optimistic at the moment, but let’s not get carried away with thoughts of the Champs League just yet.
Sent in on: July 10th, 2007 at 9:52 am
The first thing we need to do and can do now is to offer Martins a new contract before he is tempted into moving to other clubs. Then if possible make Owen stay and let him know that we are a club moving forward with ambitions. He may change his mind after this season. We have 3 of the best strikers in Owen, Martins and Viduka. To build the club, it is important not to buy in players and not let these and many more players go. The board also has to make sure that they will give the time to Big Sam as promised. The big 4s did not change their managers like what we have been doing for the past 10 years.
Sent in on: July 10th, 2007 at 4:12 am
First thing first, big Sam needs the backing of Mike Ashley, 2nd it’s going to take big Sam at least 3 years to build a team capable of making a decent challenge, 3rd I’ll be happy if Sunderland (sorry for swearing) get relegated before any of this happens.
Sent in on: July 10th, 2007 at 12:09 am
Everyone is being too optimistic about our future. Right now, we are rubbish, everyone thinks we are rubbish, even the majority of our fans think we are rubbish. We’ve got a long way to go. Even if next season is a good season, we need several seasons of consistency to bring long-term success to the club
Sent in on: July 9th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
The problem with this approach is that it ignores the new wealth of West Ham and the very tidy side they are developing; the awesome young squad that
Spurs have put together; the wealth and excellent manager at Aston Villa. Add Man City with Sven and Thaksin’s dubious wealth, Sunderland backed by the Drumaville Consortium and even Birmingham City with their new investor. Everton and Blackburn had very respectable seasons last time out, too. All of a sudden the PL landscape looks very different. For me, Spurs and Arsenal will battle out 4th and fifth. Sixth will be between all of the clubs mentioned above and us.
Assuming we fill out the defence, I’d back our squad against any of the above. But I imagine their fans are saying the same thing.
Sent in on: July 9th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Cast your minds back to the summer of 2001…….we signed Bellamy and Robert and finished in the top 5 for the next 3 seasons after being mid table plodders with a centre back pairing of Andy O and Titus!!
All it took was a managerial genius (do we have one now?…not sure,time will tell) and manure & chelsea may well have dissappeared over the hill squad wise,but the spurs team that finished 5th last season was in truth a pretty mediocre “best of a desperately poor bunch”.
All we need is to be almost unbeatable at home (like we were under SBR) and pick up points here and there away (the season we finished 3rd we were nowhere near as good as the season before when we finished 4th)and 4th place is in the bag folks!………sounds too easy?……well it did appear to be that easy under Robson to break the top 4,and the rest of the chasing pack really aren’t that much better than us on last seasons evidence…..we no need to sign the right players.Over to you Sam.
Sent in on: July 9th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I think newcastle and (begrudingly) spurs have a good chance of breaking that top 4, but there is also aston villa, everton, man city(anyone?) I wont hedge me bets, but I reckon next year will be one of the most competetive seasons so far. Bring it on I say.
p.s Good to see N-O.com is back and running regularly. Used to check this site all the time! keep up the gd work.
Sent in on: July 9th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
give it about 5 years before we can start thinking about consistent champions league, let alone title. and thats if it goes well! anything more is pure fantasy.
Sent in on: July 9th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
I think Spurs are close to breaking into the top 4 now in place of Arsenal but i think the Toon will not be far behind them over this next 12 months.
Cant see ManU or Chelski being caught in the next 2 seasons cause they are just too strong at the moment.
When we overtake Arsenal and Spurs in 12 months we’ll hopefully not be far off catching Liverpool during 2008/09. (by then hopefully Roman will of left and Chelsea will be busy selling players and the Glaciers will of gone bust from overspending)
Basically 2009/10 could be the season (if Ashley’s the business man we all believe he is) we could finally take the Premier League title…..That’s how quickly i’m hoping for it to happen anyway…..
Sent in on: July 9th, 2007 at 9:21 pm