THE PREMIER LEAGUE

Well, that was one of the most exciting finishes to a football championship for some time. After dominating for most of the season, Manchester City suddenly fell apart, letting their cross-town rivals Manchester United build up an 8-point lead. Then United themselves fell apart, losing a match they should have won, drawing another 4-4 when they were 4-2 up, and then losing 1-0 to City. Going into today's last matches of the season, the two clubs had the same number of points, but City had the much better goal difference. So all they had to do was win, in order to take the title for the first time since 1968.

That task looked to be easy, given that their home record this year had been 17 wins and a draw, and that their opponents were Queen's Park Rangers, who were in danger of being relegated. When my son and I tuned in for the second half, City were 1-0 up and looked to be cruising. Then they made a couple of defensive mistakes, and suddenly QPR were up 2-1 with 25 minutes to go. Despite losing Joey Barton to a red card, QPR packed their defence, their goalie played an absolute blinder, and City couldn't get through. After ninety minutes, it was still 2-1; City needed to score twice in the five minutes of extra time.

Amazingly, they did so. Fans who looked gutted minutes beforehand erupted in joy, and there was a pitch invasion when the final whistle went.

Being a Manchester City fan has not been easy the past 40 years, as they have not won very much, while Manchester United have won a slough of championships and trophies. True, this year's victory has required a vast amount of money, pumped in by Middle East billionaires and Etihad; but that is true for all of the major football clubs these days. Over the season as a whole, City undoubtedly played the best football, and deserved the title. Even if it was by a whisker.

Walter Blotscher