With a brand new logo that looks like Simba's passport photo the Premier League is back and with it the circus begins. The narrative has already been decided - this season's trophy is going to one of the Manchester clubs, and the mainstream media are going to make damn well sure of it.
The love-in has already begun and Jose Mourinho has returned to Demi God status despite overseeing Chelsea's worst season start since the Premier League began.
Since the Luis van Gaal era Manchester United have usurped Chelsea and become the Premier League equivalent of the Galacticos. With the 100 million pound spend on Pogba on the horizon potentially taking their total spend to £170 million it's fair to say that United's modus operandi has become spendus maximus. Yet the vast amount of money spent has yielded just one FA Cup. Jose Mourinho might be "the special one" but throwing money at the league will not necessarily bring instant success, as Luis van Gaal will testify.
Since the Luis van Gaal era Manchester United have usurped Chelsea and become the Premier League equivalent of the Galacticos. With the 100 million pound spend on Pogba on the horizon potentially taking their total spend to £170 million it's fair to say that United's modus operandi has become spendus maximus. Yet the vast amount of money spent has yielded just one FA Cup. Jose Mourinho might be "the special one" but throwing money at the league will not necessarily bring instant success, as Luis van Gaal will testify.
If Jose Mourinho is a Demi God then Pep Guardiola has been hailed as a Messiah, and on the face of it his CV matches the hype. But at Barcelona he inherited and maintained a system that was already in place, and at Bayern he inherited a team of superstars that had already won the treble. Manchester City are a different beast; the previous manager did well to win the Premier League and the capital one cup during his time there, but the squad Pep has inherited are older. Not to mention the serious questions about their keeper Joe Hart after his abysmal display in the European Cup.
Meanwhile Leicester, Tottenham and West Ham all had their best seasons last year and have kept hold of key players, their managers, and most importantly their philosophies. Leicester and Tottenham have the league's top scoring strikers in Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy; and West Ham have arguably last season's best player in Dimitri Payet. Although the coming season will be a tougher prospect, another fairytale from any one of these teams shouldn't be discounted.
