The Magnificent Seven

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Article by e-Football Writer Paul Glanfield

Suarez, Fellaini and Bale must stay put for the good of the Premier League – 24th July 2013

Between seasons 2003/04 and 2008/09, the Premier League went through the era of ‘The Big Four’ where qualification for the Champions League was the exclusive and largely unchallenged remit of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. The one exception was Everton’s qualification in 2004/05, but it was a deviation to the norm which made little to no impact on The Big Four given Liverpool also qualified that season via courtesy of winning the Champions League. The Big Four became the Champions League cartel, a set of superior clubs whom would continue to pull away from the chasing pack season after season benefiting from the additional finances, exposure and appeal to top stars that regular Champions League football gave them. Sky Sports buttered the pudding indulging in the delight of ‘Grand Slam Sunday’ on several occasions throughout the season where these four teams met each other. The gap between the top four and rest was huge with only occasional challenges from Everton, Spurs and Aston Villa that more often than not faded long before the end of the season. The teams outside of the top four were powerless to change the flow of footballing success whilst surrendering their top stars to the elusive Four without much resistance during the transfer windows. 

It wasn’t until 2009/10 when this monopoly was finally broken following Liverpool’s demise. Two new contenders battled it out for the remaining top four spot vacated by Liverpool with Tottenham emerging victorious over a free spending Manchester City. Since that season the race for Champions League football has been more open than ever, with Newcastle, Everton, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all fighting to secure a top four spot in the seasons that have followed. There has been far less predictability in the race for the Promised Land with only Manchester United securing a Champions League spot comfortably year in year out in recent seasons. Qualification for the Champions League is more regularly still up for grabs into May and the individual matches between the top seven or so clubs seem far more closely fought than in the days of The Big Four.

Managerial changes promise something new at the top end of the league this season. It remains to be seen whether or not Mourinho, Pellegrini and Moyes are all going to hit the ground running. Martinez also has a huge task on at Everton to maintain their current standing, which leaves only Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool as teams from the top seven going into the season with the same manager as last season. All seven of these teams will enter the new campaign with their current squads with aspirations at the very least of a top four finish, whilst the top four clubs from last term will all be eyeing a shot at the title, particularly Arsenal whom will be looking to capitalise on their rivals managerial changes and finally piece together another genuine title challenging campaign. 

This summer could well be a tipping point in this regard however. For the last couple of seasons we have seen competitive games between these seven sides where either is genuinely strong enough to win the game. The flux period between The Big Four era and present day has helped develop this scenario where the squads available to these teams are as closely matched as ever before. Better players are willing to join Everton, Tottenham or Liverpool because they can be convinced Champions League football is attainable there. Top players are being retained at these clubs because the gap is small enough for them to visualise it being overcome. Last season almost unquestionably the three star performers were Van Persie, Bale and Suarez. Two of those players came from teams finishing outside of the top four. It is unthinkable that a similar situation would have arisen in The Big Four era. Marouane Fellaini’s campaign with Everton is another marker that the top seven clubs all now possess genuine ‘title winning’ quality within their dressing rooms, even if winning the title for some of them is still most probably out of reach. 

My fear for the Premier League as a spectacle this season is that Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton allow their key men to leave. If Bale, Suarez and Fellaini are not available to these clubs come the end of the transfer window then the likelihood of the Premier League reverting to The Big Four format over this and coming seasons will increase dramatically. If any of these players are sold abroad that is one thing, if they are sold to rival English clubs it is unforgivable, regardless of the sums of money involved. If Liverpool do eventually succumb and allow Suarez to move to Arsenal it would be like holding up the white flag before a ball is kicked. Arsenal are still the most vulnerable of last season’s top four on paper and by selling them their best player Liverpool would be undermining any noises coming out of the club about trying to attain Champions League football again. 

The same sentiments apply to Spurs with Bale. Selling him to Manchester United would give the Red Devils a huge boost during their transition into the Moyes era, whilst effectively planting a cannon ball directly through the middle of talk amongst the Spurs faithful that the current squad being assembled by Andre Villas-Boas is not only capable of reaching the top four but also in with a shout of a surprise tilt at the title. Selling Bale to Real Madrid would be a better option, but nevertheless one that from a footballing perspective it is almost impossible to imagine Spurs emerging out the other side of in superior shape. 

With Everton, Roberto Martinez arguably has the toughest job to crack the top four, however one he will be relishing. It is undeniable that last season under Moyes Everton looked fully at home with games against the league’s top teams and there is enough quality in the current squad to mount a challenge again, providing the likes of Fellaini are maintained in the set up.

For all of the increased competitiveness in reaching the Champions League, we have now gone three successive seasons with the same Champions League qualifiers. Add a fourth season to that list and surely the gap will once again widen to the point where Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal are out of reach of the chasing pack akin to the days of ‘The Big Four’. 

Whether the Premier League’s top table will ever become truly fluid remains to be seen, but more so than ever we are at a stage where there are arguably seven teams who on their day are all as good as each other. It would be sensational to reach a stage where we entered a Premier League season with seven teams all genuinely fancied with a shot at the title, and we seem to be gravitating towards that point with the current squads being assembled by these clubs. It is not completely impossible to imagine that over the next few seasons we could perhaps move into the era of ‘The Magnificent Seven’ as opposed to The Big Four, with Champions League spots changing hands each season.

The unfortunate truth is that even by retaining their stars the likelihood is that only one of Spurs, Liverpool and Everton at best could actually gate crash the top four this season given the strength of the teams above them. Regardless of this, a strong Merseyside duo and Tottenham Hotspur are vital if we are to have any chance of enjoying a riveting chase for the top four and see the volume of top quality truly competitive clashes between the top teams maintained. The Premier League will be all the better for it.

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