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David Gallop must wish Sir Alex Ferguson coached the Bulldogs instead of Manchester United. Considering the Scotsman stood firm in the face of a 70 million pound bid for Ronaldo, Sonny Bill wouldn’t have got halfway to the airport under Ferguson’s watch.
At least Gallop can console himself with the knowledge that his league is more competitive.
Anyone could win the NRL, but only four teams are really in the running to take out the Premier League.
And even that’s fast becoming a two horse race.
Especially given that Tottenham look set to lose Dimitar Berbatov, the man whose goals have helped put them on the cusp of an elusive Champions League place, to United for 28 million pounds.
Retaining Ronaldo and the imminent acquisition of Berbatov could be the defining deals of the upcoming season.
It will be interesting to see how Berbatov meshes into a frontline that was irresistible at times last season. Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez have an almost sixth-sense like understanding, and with Ronaldo to return from injury shortly, there’ll be no shortage competition for spots.
Berbatov may just become the most expensive impact player in the league not wearing a Chelsea tracksuit.
The defending champions have the inside running, although they’ll have to rely less on the aeing guile of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs in midfield and do without the tactical nous Carlos Queiroz.
Ferguson’s long-time assistant has been crucial to United’s recent successes and his departure to manage Portugal is said to be one of the major reasons Ronaldo wanted to leave.
Michael Carrick’s consistent form, and the emergence of Nani at the backend of last season, and a fully fit Owen Hargreaves, should be enough to see them over the line again.
The biggest threat to Chelsea’s title tilt is their embarrassment of riches.
Big name players such as Michael Ballack and Andrei Shevchenko don’t take to sitting on the bench well. New manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has the unenviable job keeping all those overpaid egos in check. But ‘Big Phil’ has enough tickets on himself to mix it with the best of them.
Much will depend on how new signing Deco slots into an already crowded midfield with Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ballack also competing for places.
Portuguese newcomer Jose Bosingwa should keep the Stamford Bridge crowd entertained with his marauding runs from right back.
And the petulant Didier Drogba looks to have found peace after an unsettled 2007/08.
Drogba at his best is a handful for even the leading defenders in Europe. If the grossly under-qualified Avram Grant managed to make United wait until the final day of the last term to clinch the title, Big Phil will have to win the Champions League if the title eludes Chelsea again.
Otherwise he’ll have to massage his own jobless ego next off-season.
Arsenal must be quietly confident of crashing the party this season. They led for much of last season and only finished four points adrift in the end.
In the end, it was their lack of depth that undid them and it could well be their undoing this time around, too.
Despite bringing in France international Samir Nasri from Marseille, they’ve lost first team players in Mathieu Flamini, Alex Hleb and Gilberto Silva.
Arsene Wenger will need to buy another player who isn’t a teenager to ensure Arsenal greatest achievement this season isn’t in making a profit on the transfer market again.
Rafa Benitez, on the other hand, could learn a thing or two from thrift-minded Wenger.
The Liverpool manager seems intent on breaking the bank, with little to show for it on the domestic front. Signing Robbie Keane for nearly 20 million pounds to partner Fernando Torres up front when his Euro 2008 winning strike partner David Villa was reportedly available for a similar price could come back to haunt Benitez.
Chasing Gareth Barry when he already has (the arguably better) Xabi Alonso was just plain disruptive.
Given the resources he’s had access to, this could be Benitez’s last shot at it with Liverpool.
Unless he can put out a consistent line-up, Liverpool will stay bottom of the top four.
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