Jose and Wenger losing the plot is another sign they fear their golden age is over

YOU won’t find too many fans of teams securing a top-four finish on Sunday agreeing with Roy Keane.

Stay-away Gooners may be miffed, believing it lessens the chances of their manager being sacked, but the majority of Arsenal supporters, like the majority of Manchester City’s and Liverpool’s, will be chuffed and mightily relieved if they make the cut. Few will be “cringing” – like Keane (below) – about settling for a Champions League place, due to an awareness that “Real Madrid and Barcelona would never celebrate getting fourth”. The gist of Keane’s complaint – that clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool, with 38 titles between them, should only ever settle for being first – is understandable but out-dated. In the 1990s Liverpool boss Roy Evans may have been deemed a failure for finishing third twice and fourth twice, but that was partly because all that earned back then was a consolation ticket to the UEFA Cup. Plus, in pre-abramovich days, many seasons often saw two-horse races. Just like it’s been for some time in Spain and Germany. Which is another way of looking at Pep Guardiola’s claim that had he not won the title with Barcelona or Bayern he could have been sacked. Germany currently has an elite of one, Spain of two, maybe three, England of six. Here it’s much harder to be the best. On Sunday the real cringing will be done by the two clubs who finish below the top four. Especially if, as seems likely, Arsene Wenger joins Jose Mourinho in missing out. Because neither managerial giant has been there before. For the last 20 seasons Wenger has delivered Champions League football. He knows that failing to do so now would be the surest sign that his powers are waning. Which may explain why he’s currently doing a Neil Warnock impression, attacking teams he believes aren’t busting a gut to beat his rivals for him, despite too many of his own players failing on occasions this season to burst into a sweat for him. Since winning the title with Porto in 2002/3, Mourinho has never ended a season in charge of a club outside the Champions League places and has only once finished outside the top two. As he now finishes sixth he tries to kid us it’s intentional. He claims in England, due to the amount of games, it’s impossible to win the Europa League and gain a top-four place, despite Rafa Benitez doing it at Chelsea four years ago. So he’s chosen to qualify for the Champions League by going down the glory, glory route of winning the Europa League. Which doesn’t begin to wash. Before the season started, bookies had United second favourites to win the title. With the players he inherited and the money he spent, he knows a sixth-placed finish could be a sign that he, too, is on the wane. If Wenger joins Mourinho in missing out on England’s top four for the first time, could it also herald a changing of the guard? Were Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp to join Antonio Conte and Mauricio Pochettino in the top four, it would mean for the first time this century every manager finishing in the Premier League’s elite spots was still in his 40s. A sign that the triumvirate of Alex Ferguson, Wenger and Mourinho that has dominated English football for a generation is making way for a younger one. The fear of which may account for Wenger suddenly deciding he doesn’t understand the fuss over a top-four finish and Mourinho claiming league positions are far less relevant than winning Europe’s second-string cup. Now that is something to make old-timers like Keano truly cringe.