Last weekend’s Manchester derby was a truly remarkable match on a variety of different levels.

The Manchester clubs, along with Chelsea, are pretty evenly matched.It is a three-horse title race- James Calvert

Anyone who missed the game but saw the result later would probably have wondered if they hadn’t fallen asleep and woken up in the twilight zone.

Manchester United conceding six goals? At home? To their bitter City rivals? It’s almost unimaginable. A result which rightly sent shockwaves through the Premier League, if not further afield.

But let’s get one thing straight here – this wasn’t the shift in the balance of power some are claiming. It was nothing more than a freak result.

If you were to play the game again today using the exact same line-ups I can all but guarantee you the result would be completely different. I’m not saying City wouldn’t win – they quite possibly would – but certainly not by such an astonishing margin.

Just like earlier in the season when United beat Arsenal 8-2, this was one of those games that just had an aura of surreal. A day when one of the teams had a touch of which Midas would have been jealous while the other could have fallen in a bath full of lollipops and come out sucking its thumb.

City fans will probably complain I am only saying this because I don’t particularly like the world’s richest football club. And while it is undoubtedly true that they are not my favourite club, that is not my motivation.

The truth is City are now, without a shadow of a doubt, achieving their goals. They are no longer just a collection of very expensive stars but an actual cohesive unit. A real team.

Although I didn’t expect things to gel quite so quickly at the Etihad Stadium they have certainly come together very nicely for Roberto Mancini, and the scary thing is they are only likely to get better as the season progresses. I mean even Mario Balotelli, when he isn’t busy burning his house down, has started fulfilling his potential.

But, and this is my point, that doesn’t mean they have suddenly leapt to the top of the Premiership pile, and it certainly doesn’tmean they are streets ahead of Manchester United.

I would suggest that both the Manchester clubs along with Chelsea are pretty much evenly matched at the moment. What we are seeing this season, and I admit it is still early days, is a three-horse title race. And I think it will probably stay that way for the nextseason or two.

Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and especially Liverpool are not far off breaking into that elite pack, but you just get the feeling that none of them have that special something to really give any of the big three a serious run for their money. In one-off games, maybe, but not over the course of a full season.

Which brings me back to last Sunday’s derby and why I don’t believe the result was as monumentally earth-shattering as some people seem to believe.

As remarkable as it was, it still didn’t signify a shift in the balance of power, not in Manchester and not in the Premier League.

What it did do, however, is cement Manchester City’s place as serious and genuine title contenders. If anybody, myself included, had any doubts that they could maintain a sustained bid for the number one spot, they were emphatically dispelled at OldTrafford.

Manchester City are now officially one of the big boys of the Premier League. They are no longer just a football ‘project’, but a side who will be there or thereabouts when the final reckoning comes.

But you can bet your bottom dollar that Sir Alex Ferguson won’t be letting them have an easy ride over the next seven months. His pride, which has always been immense, took its biggest battering ever, and he will be hurting like never before.

And I can’t think of anything more scary than a woundedFerguson…

The only way is down

It would appear the England manager’s job is a poisoned chalice in more ways than we previously thought.

Obviously, while you are in the job it can be a very nasty place to be. Unless you actually win something – which none of them ever seem capable of doing – the fans end up hating you and the media hound you to breaking point.

However, it is now starting to look like having the England job has a more long-term effect on the careers of those who take it on.

Sven Goran Eriksson, for example, has gone from weakness to weakness since departing as England boss. An unremarkable stint at Manchester City was followed by a disastrous spell as Mexico manager. And last week he was fired by Leicester, and reputations don’t get much lower than that.

Don’t forget, before he took over England, Eriksson was one of the most respected managers in Europe who had won trophies in numerous countries with numerous clubs. Now he has been deemed not good enough for the Championship.

But it’s not a curse that has only struck the Swede. Steve McClaren too has been struck by Englanditis.

Fair enough, he did have a good time in Holland but he failed miserably in Germany and quit Nottingham Forest after just 10 games.

I’m fairly sure he isn’t having to fight off potential job offers right now.

And the list goes on. TerryVenables, arguably the manager who came closest to ending England’s years of hurt, also saw his managerial career fizzle out once he left the Three Lions.

Stints as manager of Australia, Crystal Palace and Leeds United ranged from disastrous to average, and today he is pretty much out of football entirely.

Graham Taylor’s career stumbled along for a while but he was never a top boss again.

In fact, looking back over the list of ex-managers, the only one who could realistically be said to have done some good after leavingEngland was Sir Bobby Robson, who built his beloved Newcastle United into a team to be reckoned with.

For the rest it has been pretty much downhill from the moment they have walked away.

On that basis, I hope Fabio Capello is looking forward to spending more time with his art collection…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade