No more English four play

It’s been a long time coming but I think it is fair to say the concept of a ‘big four’ in English football is about to come to an end.

For years we have only really ever spoken about Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea as teams with a realistic chance of winning titles.

Sure, there have been very occasional upsets like when Blackburn Rovers, supported by the finances of Jack Walker, clinched the Premiership. But for the most part it has always been that select group of four that have been considered the serious contenders.

However, with every passing week of the current season, I can see reason after reason to believe the playing field is levelling itself out. The days of the big four seem to be very much numbered because, simply put, the chasing pack have finally caught up.

For a start, when you talk about teams with a chance of winning the title, I think it can no longer be fair or justifiable to leave out the likes of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. In fact, I would go as far as to say leaving them out would be a gross inaccuracy.

This may not be the year either of them makes the ultimate breakthrough, but City certainly have the resources at their disposal to keep pushing (buying?) their way to the top. I’m not entirely convinced Roberto Mancini is the right man to turn their riches into titles, but you can bet your bottom dollar it is a case of when, not if, they are crowned Premiership champions.

And Spurs, with their infinitely more considered financial approach to achieving glory, are well on course to be taken seriously. They proved that with their stirring win over Arsenal and are also proving it regularly in the Champions League.

I’m no mathematical genius, but by my reckoning that already makes it a ‘big six’.

But it doesn’t stop there because I also believe that over the course of the next three or four seasons we are going to see other teams emerge to mount serious challenges to the established order.

How about Sunderland for a start? There may have been reasons behind their recent victory over Chelsea – like the Stamford Bridge injury list and the sudden departure of Ray Wilkins – but that shouldn’t be allowed to take away from Sunderland’s achievement.

They showed, in that one performance, that they already have a team capable of rising to the big occasion. Who’s to say that with the addition of two of three more quality players they can’t be genuinely challenging for a top four place?

Aston Villa are another team that are probably just a couple of players away from becoming a seriously good team. In Gerard Houllier they have a manager who likes winning things and I see no reason why they can’t soon start upgrading their ambitions from top six to top four.

And what about Owen Coyle’s Bolton Wanderers, who are making a real go of it this season against all odds. They possibly won’t be able to sustain their challenge for a European place all the way to May, but they have shown that even clubs with limited resources like theirs are capable of punching above their weight on occasions.

For as long as I can remember, one of the big four losing to a team outside their own little elite group was seen as a shock. But this season it is anything but surprising. Liverpool have lost to Blackpool, Arsenal have lost to West Bromwich Albion, and Chelsea have lost to Birmingham City, to name but a few ‘unusual’ results.

Only Manchester United are bucking the trend of losing to ‘lesser’ teams, but that is mainly because they have turned into draw specialists. They may be undefeated, but they are not running away with the league either.

The big four, as we currently know them, will always be up there towards the top of the table. It’s part of the natural selection process. Their status has been built on success, history, tradition and substantial levels of support.

But if the current trend continues, sometime soon we could have a scenario where we go into a season with as many as seven or eight genuine title contenders. Maybe even as soon as next August.

That may not be what the so-called elite of the game want to hear but it could easily become a reality. And it is a reality that will make English football so much more watchable.

Of course, I could be entirely wrong. The results we are seeing this season could be nothing more than a string of flukes and the return of normal service could be just round the corner.

But I get the feeling, and it is a very strong feeling, that we are witnessing a big change in English football: the end of the era of dominance by four teams.

And that, certainly for me, will only make the whole Premiership experience that much more entertaining.

Who’s up for the cup?

What is it about the English and their determination to snatch defeat from the jaws of any sort of sporting victory?

I am, of course, referring to their bid to host the 2018 World Cup, which will be decided this week by Fifa.

At one stage I believe some betting companies had actually stopped taking bets on England being awarded the tournament as it was seen as a foregone conclusion.

But then came the UK Sunday Times revelations about the two dodgy (I can call them that now surely) executive committee members which threw a massive spanner in the works of England’s bid.

If that wasn’t enough, the BBC will be broadcasting an episode of their investigative TV programme Panorama tomorrow night which looks into allegations of Fifa corruption. That’s right. The national broadcasting company airing a programme that will undoubtedly damage the nation’s bid just three days before Fifa take their vote. You can’t make this stuff up.

The English bid team have written to Fifa to distance themselves both from the Sunday Times story and the BBC programme. But I fear that won’t help much. The fact that the people running the bid have such little influence over the media is part of what Fifa fears over the next eight years if England are named as hosts.

As usual, when it comes to anything even remotely connected with sport, the English have shot themselves in both feet and then taken a knife to the open wounds just to make sure. Sadly, it doesn’t surprise me anymore.

Meanwhile, the hosts of the 2022 tournament will also be decided this week, and I am rooting for Qatar.

Although they are very much an outsider, it will be fascinating to see how they put the tournament together if they do win.

One of the things they have promised, for example, is that games will be played in a three-metre band of chilled air to combat temperatures that can reach up to 50˚ Celsius.

Another part of their bid is a promise that, once the tournament is over, the stadiums will all be dismantled and sent over to poor countries in the region.

Qatar may not be a hotbed of football, but I get a sneaky feeling that if they win it they will teach us all a thing or two about how tournaments can be organised.

Then maybe they can handle England’s bid for the 2042 contest…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com