Blue Moon Rising

In February 2005, an expensively assembled team with a mute, billionaire, foreign owner, won a trophy. They were led by a dashing young manager, new to the country but with a proven track record of success in his own domestic league. The trophy was not the most prized or heralded in the world, but it was a trophy nonetheless. Roman Abramovich, Jose Mourinho and Chelsea went on to win the Premier League twice, and the club continued post-Jose to reach heights in Europe and domestically that they never had before. Many point to that come-from-behind Carling Cup final victory over Liverpool as a key factor in the success of Chelsea – forging a winning habit, becoming acquainted with success and notching an early, shiny, and very tangible signal of intent.

In the last few days, Manchester City claimed their first silverware in over 34 years with a comprehensive defeat of Stoke City. Stoke are having perhaps their best ever season, but failed to really show what they are capable of on the big day and were thoroughly outplayed by City – the scoreline of 1-0 does not tell the true story of the match.

The curious nature/wicked sense of humour of the fixture computer threw the two finalists together again just days later for a Premier League fixture – again won by City and again providing them with some real and tangible signal that they are a club on the up. Leapfrogging Arsenal into third place, which brings an automatic entry into the Champions League group stage, will (provided they remain there after the final game) secure the holy grail of a ticket to the money factory, but also will be duly noted in West London and across town. 3^rd place is an impressive achievement without question and Mancini can be rightly pleased with this seasons work.

Clearly the point of my opening paragraph was to draw a parallel with the Chelsea of 2005 and the City of 2011, and I believe that this FA Cup win could well prove the start of further success for Abu Dhabi’s finest. Entry into the Champions League was the main hurdle in their pursuit of players last summer – now that they can offer that as well as wages incomparable anywhere in the world, they may be able to hit the shops this transfer window with the reckless abandon of Michael Jackson buying bizarre Egyptian artefacts. ‘I’ll take it.’ (Remember that? Weird. Ow.)

Further to the acquisition of new faces, there should be no obstacle to City keeping their best players. Of prime importance in this category is of course Carlos Tevez, who gave a clear demonstration of his class on Tuesday night. Tevez scored two goals of such sheer quality and variety that Stoke’s defenders had no answer or possible way to stop him. After the twist and turn of the first goal, one of their defenders (I think it was Shawcross) throws a Kevin the Teenager style strop, seeming to throw his hands up and say “It’s so unfair, I hate you” at the ability of Carlitos. As for the second, if a player strikes a freekick with that much power, swerve and accuracy, then there is very little anyone can do to prevent the inevitable goal. Absolutely brilliant from Tevez who could well be the best player in England nowadays.

Having returned home for WeddingFest ’11, I have now made the long journey back to my native Australia. During the second flight I took a wander to stretch my legs and use the facilities. I struck upon a moment of sheer luck and awesome spectacle – the precise moment that I chose to visit the toilet with a view (when you stand up to do what you came to do, you’re looking straight out the window onto the world below, epic) – that precise moment was when the ocean below gave way to the Western edge of all Australia. To see the very limit of this vast, continent sized landmass suddenly arrive out of nowhere, displacing the endless blue and looming onward with nothing but desert for the next 4 hours, it was really quite something. Awe-inspiring and impressive, it definitely goes straight into the top five Best Toilet Experiences ever...you don’t want to know any of the others though, trust me.

The arrival of Manchester City on the trophy-winning stage, into the Champions League, 3rd in the League, should loom just as large on the horizons of football clubs across Europe. This could be the start of something big. Really big. Australia big.