Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Enjoy the while you can, City... for if you keep winning it will turn to hate
MANCHESTER UNITED fans were watching another defeat on the road as the curtain came down on their dismal season.
But still the travelling fans at Crystal Palace took unbridled joy from their cross-city rivals winning the league – by launching into a chorus of “You
Scouse b ******* s”.
At the Emirates, Evertonians thrashed around in ecstasy, despite getting smashed 5-1 and a section of Arsenal fans joined in the celebrations.
Across town, at Chelsea, they were going through their repertoire of anti-scouse songs to mark their delight at Liverpool’s misery.
Which is fair play in the world of football tribalism where celebrating your bitterest rivals’ pain tastes sweet. Even though some people don’t get it.
When Pep Guardiola was told, before Sunday’s finale, that most United fans wanted City to win the title, he was slightly incredulous, but admitted it proved he’d been wrong to claim that everyone in the country wanted Liverpool to win it.
Micah Richards was still peeved, though, about his old club not getting the warmth and recognition they deserve.
“Right now it feels like Liverpool get all the love,” he said.
But do they? In modern media able to accurately calculate how many people consume their output, Liverpool and United attract the most coverage in England because they have, by far, the most fans.
Chelsea have seen their supporter base and profile grow hugely since they started winning titles and the same could happen to City if they continue to dominate. But anyone still feeling sensitive about how City are perceived by outsiders should be grateful that Liverpool have pushed them all the way. Because, without Jurgen Klopp’s team, Guardiola’s would have dominated English football to an embarrassing degree over the past five years. And the emotional reaction to a side generally admired may have been different.
Many would have tired of 20-point title-winning margins as the norm and asked questions about how this immovable force had emerged.
Parallels with that other state-run club, Paris Saint-germain, would have surfaced, with critics arguing City’s oil wealth killed competition here as much as it had in France.
And many rival fans, unable to see a way to compete, would have developed an antagonism to them.
Before the final matchday, a website asked a supporter from every Premier League club who they wanted to win the title.
The Chelsea fan picked City, saying: “Unlike other big clubs, it’s always expected that they should be winning everything they are in… I’m apathetic to their success.” The Arsenal one voted the same, because: “Their wealth makes it much easier to just shrug your shoulders and ignore the noise around it. They are a bland and inoffensive option.”
Right now, with Liverpool being far from an inoffensive option to most neutrals, City are feeling less animosity than they might have.
The truth about football is that diehard fans love no other side than their own and, like most love affairs, jealousy lurks below the surface.
When your rivals win trophies and their fans gain a swagger, it threatens your own sense of worth.
Especially if there are legions of those rival fans to rub it in, as there are with Liverpool and United.
That’s not yet true with City, which is why most supporters and pundits do not resent their success. Had Klopp not been around to prove it’s possible to compete with them – and so unite Liverpool’s historic enemies behind Guardiola’s men – things could have been different.
City should enjoy the lack of fear and loathing while it lasts.
Diehard fans love no side other than their own, and like most love affairs, jealousy lurks just below the surface