What an end to the football season. What a story. Those two injury time goals for Manchester City, as they belatedly snatched the win they needed against Queens Park Rangers to win the Premier League title, was an incredible end to the most captivating football season in years. At that precise moment, the money poured into the club became a mere footnote. The story was bigger than that. It was a reminder the most important thing in football is what happens on the pitch, rather than in boardrooms.
It is for that reason the Newcastle fans have warmed to Alan Pardew, and have less to say about their controversial owner, Mike Ashley, than they once may have. It is for that reason the Blackburn fans despised Steve Kean and wanted him out, then went quiet for a bit when results picked up, before going into meltdown as they saw their Premier League status slip away.
Football is the people's game. It is a never ending story, of which a new chapter has just been completed and another is just starting. With that new chapter, it is also the first time in years that I want the next season to start straight away. Forget the play-off finals. Forget Euro 2012. Forget pre-season friendlies. I cannot wait for season 2012/13. I can only hope it is at least fractionally as good as the last.
Aguero's run which carved up the deep QPR defence, and his strike which won the title, will live in our memories for years. It concluded the closest finish to a top flight-season since 1989, a whole three years before football was officially invented by the FA Premier League in 1992 (yes, football did actually exist before then). 1989 was a bitter-sweet time to follow the game because of a mix of crowd disturbances and disaster with a more tactile and engaging experience as a fan. I never thought I would feel the excitement of a final day of any Premier League season as I did back in 1989.
That day, football was free on (and I am trusting my memory with this part) ITV. Furthermore, (and I am trusting my memory again here) the end of the season fixture between Liverpool and Arsenal was delayed due to Liverpool's piling up of fixtures following the Hillsborough disaster of the same year. English football needed the last day of the season to deliver, and deliver it did. Michael Thomas broke clear of the Liverpool defence to score a last minute goal for Arsenal which sent the title to Highbury.
A whole 23 years later, and the Premier League finally delivered the goods. Manchester City went into the final day of the season only needing to match Manchester United's score to win the title at the expense of their hated local rivals. United faced a tricky away visit to Sunderland. City faced relegation-threatened QPR at home. No surprise then that the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, declared City as having "two hands on the title."
It was never going to be as simple as that. QPR themselves needed a result to make absolutely sure of the Premier League survival. United have a habit of succeeding in what Arsene Wenger described as the "money time" - a reference to the endgame when those with the winning mentality step up and triumph. This is equally as applicable to injury time in matches (often known as "Fergie time" due to Manchester United's tendency to get plenty of it in matches and grab winning results in this time) as it is to crucial points of the season.
City on the other hand had developed a losers' mentality during over 40 years of failure. They were the ones with the tendency to lose matches in Fergie time. They were the ones who had been to football's version of hell (League One, in today's money) and back. They were the ones with the uncanny ability to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. To put it simply, they were the complete opposite to their multi-title winning neighbours from Trafford. Out of this discourse emerges pessimism. This pessimism can on occasions transmit to players, even if they are reluctant to admit it. On the day of the title decider, the impression I got was City fans were cautious about their prospects of finally winning the league.
What they needed was an early goal. It never came. QPR had opted for a strategy where most of the players were not just camped in their own half, but in their own 18-yard box, with the hope that they might just snatch something at the other end during a rare breakaway. This stifled City. The fans' jitters were worsened by news that United had taken the lead at Sunderland. Those jitters were briefly calmed by a rare goal from Pablo Zabaleta in the 39th minute. His fizzy shot proved difficult to handle for QPR goalkeeper, Paddy Kenny, who could only flick it into the net. The news of the goal was transmitted to United support by the Sunderland fans gleefully singing "1-0 to the City boys," to the tune of Go West by The Village People.
The relief was short lived, as QPR regained parity early in the second half. Joleon Lescott did his Euro 2012 prospects no good whatsover with some poor defending which allowed Djibril Cisse to pounce and level the scores. City fans could not believe it. Manchester United fans could not believe it. I could not believe it. What was on paper a straightforward task for City became something altogether more complicated, in keeping with City tradition.
City seemed to get the space they desperately needed when Joey Barton decided to behave as Joey Barton does, by getting himself sent off under provocation from Carlos Tevez. Regardless of how much provocation was involved, punching and kicking anyone in sight is not the way to stay on a football field.
In typical City fashion, they proceeded to make beating a 10-man relegation battling outfit at home look difficult. QPR went further ahead in yet another rare attack, to the incredulity of fans on both sides of Manchester. The title was swinging United's way. Tears and despair started to rain down on Eastlands. As the match went into injury time, I brazenly tweeted my congratulations to United, and how the last day failure was so typically Manchester City and that QPR manager, Mark Hughes, had served his revenge stone cold on the club that sacked him. Then, came the unimaginable.
The two injury time goals by Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero formed the late twist that all good stories should have. Despair became delight for the City fans at Eastlands. Manchester City had won the title in the most exciting way imaginable, and won many new friends in the process. Years of negative energy were erased in three glorious minutes. For QPR, it was relief that results elsewhere had gone their way. Again, the news filtered through to United fans through phones, radios and gloating Sunderland supporters. In a show of maturity, Wayne Rooney was the first to acknowledge the terrific support of the United fans.
On one hand, I could not believe what I had witnessed. On the other hand, I was not completely shocked, because of the capability of The Beautiful Game to surprise and enthrall. It was clear then, I was still trying to comprehend the magnificence and the enormity of what had just occurred at Eastlands. Firstly, the anticipation of a new name on the Premier League trophy. Then, the unraveling of City and an indication that United were set to edge things yet again. Finally, the most memorable last five minutes of a football season. Many thanks to the entire cast that made the great show possible.
