Manchester United and Manchester City have had a bitter rivalry over the years and it does not look like it is going to change any time soon in the future. Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has sounded out to their derby rivals that despite being a cash-rich body, it will not essentially translate into winning the English Premier League this season.
Earlier, when Manchester City had begun to spend huge sums of money to buy the big-name players some years ago, Ferguson had barely paid attention to it. But with time, Ferguson seems to have come to realise that Manchester City now has the team to upset the other teams’ applecarts, thanks to the assembly that Roberto Mancini now has.
That Ferguson is now aware of this fact can be gauged by the fact that he spoke about the money-spending neighbours at the eve of the weekend’s traditional curtain-raiser for the EPL.
The Manchester United manager said that it was nothing new for the clubs to go on a spending-spree and get hold of many of the big-ticket players, but it did not guarantee good results. Citing the example of Chelsea, Ferguson said, “Chelsea had this great spell of buying when Jose Mourinho first went there and we accepted that challenge.”
He also acknowledged that winning the EPL had become much more difficult than before, what with the top six teams looking for the top four spots. Predicting ahead he said that the side getting to 84 points should go on to win the tournament this season, with the increased competition.
Interestingly, it isn’t City who have done the spending alone. Even Manchester United have paid nearly the same amount to get in the likes of David De Gea, Ashley Young and Phil Jones. City has given out $79.64 million to buy in Sergio Aguero, Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic while United has spent only a million and a half lesser to get in their players.
Aguero alone cost City a sum of $59.34 million but will miss the Sunday fixture after suffering from an injury for wearing the wrong shoes.
The Community Shield match will see Manchester United play Manchester City this year. Manchester United are the defending champions of this tournament, having beaten Chelsea last year. Manchester City have not played in the Community Shield since 1973, but it must be said that their FA Cup win last season was the first in 36 years.