by Greg Gandel

Created on: July 20, 2009   Last Updated: July 21, 2009

As you all know the once mighty and my beloved Newcastle United were recently relegated from the English Premiership. But believe it or not I am actually looking forward to the next season. For years the English Premiership has been dominated by mainly 4 teams: Arsenal,Chelsea,Liverpool and reigning champions Manchester United. These 4 teams have always been in and around the top four since the premier league began and have pulled away from the other clubs in the league. The last team to break the top 4 was Everton back in 2004-2005 season and before that Newcastle United in 2002-2003 (How times have sadly changed eh?) But now there finally is a team that could consistently challenge those "big 4", Manchester City.

In recent times there is only one thing that dominates the sports media over here in the United Kingdom, Manchester City Football Club and who they will buy next. Manchester City were just a normal premiership team a few years ago, didn't do well nor poor in the league. But all that changed on 1 September 2008, as they were took over by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited also known as ADUG. They are a gigantic oil firm based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and have recently gone into the property development market. Later in the day that ADUG took over it was revealed that the club had signed Real Madrid's Brazilian superstar Robinho for 32.5million. Everyone in English football was shocked at how not only could Manchester City attract a player of that calibre to the club from world giants Real Madrid, but also where they got 32.5million from. Little did we know that this was just the beginning of the big spending and even I, a Newcastle United fan, anticipated the January transfer window to see who the next big name would be. January finally came and gone and I think everybody was disappointed there was no big name players brought in , no disrespect to Nigel De Jong etc.

For all the money they had spent Man City's superstars were failing on the pitch and they eventually finished the 08/09 in a respectable but underachieving 10th position. I would have felt quite smug and had a chuckle at them had Newcastle not finished in 18th and got relegated after failing to salvage a point at against Aston Villa on the season's final day. I was obviously very hurt and let down by the players but i am sure even the "bottlers" that let us down can get us promoted back up again. Anyway before go off on a tangent, I flicked on the news last Tuesday and couldn't believe what I saw. "Carlos Tevez signs Man City" the headline read. Not for a long time has a club outside the "Big 4" been able to steal the top players from the likes of Manchester United. Then I thought to myself could we actually see a break in the "Big 4"?

Well if I ever needed convincing then the news that Man City had signed EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR from Arsenal ,did just that. Also the news that they are looking to sign JOHN TERRY, a defender who I rate as the best in the world, from previous money giants Chelsea's shows they really have the ambition and belief to break the this boring mould that the Premier League follows. I wish Man City the best of luck and I will be "supporting" them next year in the EPL as I adapt to Life in the Football League Championship and travel off to a cold Tuesday night game against Scunthorpe.

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