Football Capital at Manchester?

Football capitals, I can think of a few... Barcelona will hold claim to that, being the most successful club in Eurpe in recent history. But there really is only one football club in Barca, so you cannot really claim that it is THE capital based on club rivalry. Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid has a nice rivalry going on there, but Real is clearly seen as a bully in the La Liga these days, the wealth gap is so wide its offensive to even watch them play. So Madrid is out for me too.

Milan has two huge clubs, Inter and AC Milan. Both are competitive clubs at domestic and European level. But the Italian Serie A has been plagued with scandals, protests and crowd trouble, taking the lustre off the Milan clubs.

Rome? Rome can boast the fiercest rivalry in football. It is rooted in genuine hatred and politics. Lazio and Roma fans are passionate, Lazio often associated with the left wing extremists, and Roma often linked to the establishment.

London maybe? Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham have seemingly fallen off the charts haven't they? Chelsea in a still in a draggy period of transition from post Mourinho and a rookie manager AVB at the helm when it comes to the BPL, Arsenal's problems seem to mount every few weeks with injuries, low morale and loss of form, Tottenham's coffers are drying up now and they have little to spend on new players given that their own star players want to leave. Not good signs for London.

We need not then speak about Ligue 1 or the mega-oil rich Russian League, none of which has produced a European Champion nor capture the imagination of fans. The German League has only 2 teams, Dortmund and Munich so it isn't a world of difference from the La Liga either.

So that leaves us with the most exciting rivalry that is sure to fill the entire season with action and passion. The Manchester rivalry. The Reds are obviously the proven champions having won the Premier League a record 19 times, and you have the Sky Blues (the pretenders of sorts). But City fans have a huge backer in Qatari royalty, they have money to burn and a cool customer of a manager in Mancini who is bent on success.

Manchester is the new capital of football, the way both sides dismiss opponents these days spark nighmarish fears in opposing defences. It seems a match cannot end with either side putting at least 3-4 goals past the opposition. With a stellar cast of superstars and budding talent on both sides, the Manchester rivalry promise to lift Manchester into the upper echelons of footballing history.