It may be Cinco de Mayo, but it’s all about 4th place today Why Tottenham must defeat sport’s newest evil empire

By Eric Beard

As I take a study break from my Macroeconomics final to write this, everything I am retaining from Joseph Stiglitz and Greg Mankiw’s textbooks tell me that I should be cheering on Spurs today as Harry Redknapp’s squad prepares for its season-defining game at Eastlands to take on Manchester City. Still, I can’t help but love Roberto Mancini and that scarf. Oh that scarf.

Anyway, if anyone read my piece as to why the Bundesliga is a better, more financially sound league than the Premier League, then you know why Manchester City qualifying for the Champions League is bad for English football.

If you didn’t read it, well the gist is that no team in any league around the world should ever splash cash like Manchester City plan to do. Because once Manchester City become powers in the Premier League, all other teams will try to keep up to stay competitive. The thing is, when clubs try to keep pace with City in terms of player salaries, transfer fees, state of the art facilities, etc… that is when some of England’s best clubs will be forced into financial ruin. While I know that if City qualify then they may attract stars such as Kaka, David Villa, Ibrahimovic, and whoever else you can think of that makes far too much money. But at what cost?

For me, the most important thing is life is to live in a dignified manner. The same holds true for football; the game must be played in a dignified manner. How is a group of professionals really supposed to feel like the group of superb athletes they are when they play a squad that has one player that makes more than the other team combined.

Is Gareth Barry better than all of Wolves combined? Well, he makes about the same amount…

Look at the New York Cosmos, for example. Spending vasts amounts of money on some of the best players in the world was a great spectacle. However, is the North American Soccer League (NASL) still around? No, no it is not. Manchester City want to dominate world football regardless of the resources that are needed to attain superpower status, which, economically speaking, will cause the club’s individual expenditures to rise dramatically, but will also prove to be a money multiplier as the aggregate expenditures of clubs will also rise.

So where does this leave the league? Well, just look at La Liga. Sure, Barcelona may not have spent like Real Madrid, but they are the only other club in Spain able to keep up with their rivals financially. And the standings in the La Liga table tell the whole story. Barcelona are in first with 93 points, Real Madrid are in second with 89 points (and a game in hand), but, more importantly, Valencia are in third place with 68 points. Yes, Valencia are in third place in Spain’s premier league, but that’s still 21 points away from Real Madrid and 25 away from Barça.

Now unless we all want to see the English Premier League turn into a battle of Russian oil money (Chelsea) vs. Middle Eastern oil money (Manchester City), I want Manchester City to spend as much money as they can without making any progress. I have nothing personal against the players and the manager; after all, Roberto Mancini is undeniably a class act. And while the club’s plan for global domination may not have diabolic intent on the surface, the truth is that Manchester City becoming a power in England could turn top-flight English football into a living hell for everyone else.

So come on ‘arry, how about getting (and making) a point today? Do it for your country!

Who are you rooting for tonight? England’s new evil empire or Tottenham Hotspur? Sorry Mr. Mancini, you’re great, but you can’t ruin the Premier League for me.