Although it is a great achievement, anyone but a die-hard Man U fan would admit that it owes as much to money as talent. Since the inception of the Premiership in 1992, Man U have had the biggest domestic stadium, the largest merchandising effort and all the global links (the tie-in with the Yankees, for example). They have therefore been able to spend more money than any other team on players - usually far much more.
The only time another team came along willing to spend more than them, tellingly, Man U lost the title two years running to Chelsea, who basically went round on a multi-hundred million pound buying spree of the cream of European footballers.
Of the other top two in the "Big Four", Liverpool have been beset by club management and boardroom squabbles, and Arsenal (my team) have no cash to spend on players because they just built a new stadium (their previous stadium had half the capacity of Man U's Old Trafford) in order to try and compete financially.
The rest of the Premiership teams are a long way behind, and only one club not in the Big Four has won the Premiership in the last 16 years. People could be excused for calling it boring, these days.
Man U are in the English press only today discussing which players they want to buy this summer with their £50m spending budget - more than what the entire squad of most teams in the Premiership is worth. Not that a Man U fan would care of course, and why should they? But it's a long way from a level playing field and that reduces the Premiership's currency significantly.
[That's why there's a large and silent majority of ABU's among football supporters in the UK. ABU - Anyone But United!
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