Daniel Storey: A forgettable season, but Man City are worthy winners

Pep Guardiola leads the Manchester City title celebrations at the Etihad Stadium following their 5-0 win against Everton. Picture: Michael Regan/Getty Images

A forgettable season, but a worthy winner

This was always likely to be a season to struggle through rather than delight us. It contained a litany of unusual or unique circumstances: A shortened preseason after a relentless end to the last campaign, an equally busy schedule this season that made fatigue inevitable, a major tournament summer, an entire season without the full complement of match-going supporters, a lack of jeopardy in the final weeks — only the European places were left undecided, several teams almost always having games in hand.

And it was not a classic. Alisson’s late headed goal against Burnley was the most enthralling moment, but the majority of the best games were in early season. Nobody involved deserves any criticism for that.

As 2020/21 comes to a close, we should reflect that it was a mini-miracle that it could even be completed so smoothly.

Stuck at home, we were not in a position to demand constant peaks of entertainment and aesthetic wonder.

We did at least have rightful champions.

Manchester City started slowly, ninth in the table in mid-December with five wins from 13 league matches. But Pep Guardiola engineered a remarkable midseason run that took City from also-rans to champions-elect.

If late season brought the occasional slip-up thanks to rotation, Guardiola had earned that breathing room.

He has the second great team of
his Manchester City tenure.

Home comforts lost with the absence of supporters

We always expected that the lack of match-going fans would have an impact on home form. There is documented scientific evidence of the home effect: Supporters urge on their players, cause a detrimental psychological effect on opponents, and can influence refereeing decision-making.

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Nelson Semedo celebrates in front of the fans after scoring their side's goal in the 2-1 defeat to Man United. Picture: Rui Vieira

But the difference was still stark. Manchester United completed an unbeaten away season with a 2-1 victory at Molineux, but recorded their second lowest home points total since 1990. Everton were wretched at Goodison but brilliant on the road. Leicester City took more points on the road than at home; so too did Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Fulham, Leeds United, and Burnley.

Over the course of the entire season, there were more away wins than home wins. Not only was this the first such occurrence in Premier League history, it was the first time it has ever happened in any of England’s top four divisions. 

The return of supporters in larger numbers next season will surely shift that pattern back to normality.

Signs of title intrigue for 2021/22

The first half of this season offered hope of title-race unpredictability. When Manchester City went top on January 27, they became the ninth different side to lead the table (after Arsenal, Everton, Leicester, Liverpool, Southampton, Tottenham, Chelsea, and Manchester United). That was more than had ever done so in one Premier League season.

City barely relented from that point, extinguishing all hopes of a title sprint between two or more clubs.

But that unpredictability does bode well for next season. City will be strong again, Liverpool will rebound after the return of injured players, Chelsea improved immeasurably under Thomas Tuchel and we must finally expect a serious title challenge from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United.

Roy Hodgson’s departure from Crystal Palace means that Solskjaer is now the eighth longest-serving Premier League manager.

And for all the flaws and troughs this season, we cannot doubt the comparative strength of the Premier League; the presence of three clubs in this week’s European finals proves that.

Having fans back to witness a titanic title wrestle next season would provide overdue intrigue after two consecutive cakewalks.

Prepare for superstar summer sagas

It’s abundantly clear that the Covid-19 pandemic is going to cause financial headaches that football cannot escape from. Budgets must be tighter, long-term planning must be more rigorous, and we may well see a number of EFL clubs pushed towards the edge of financial oblivion over the next 12 months.

But the Premier League has actually reinforced its position of comparative financial strength. It accounted for a far higher percentage of spending than any of Europe’s other four major leagues, dwarfing Italy and France.

This summer promises to be fascinating. There are a number of high-profile transfer targets (Harry Kane, Jadon Sancho, Mohamed Salah, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland), but each probably relies upon another to happen to allow the dominoes to fall.

Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane (left) and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris after the Premier League win over Leicester. Picture: Shaun Botterill

With a European Championship and Copa America to fit in, expect these sagas to go down to the wire in a blur of leaks and counter-leaks.

Mind the gap to the Championship

For all the merited righteous anger over the European Super League proposals, there already exists a woeful imbalance between English football’s haves and have-nots. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the growing gap between the Premier League and Championship.

In 2018/19, Norwich City gained 94 points to ease their way to the Championship title. In the Premier League they finished bottom with just 21 points but surpassed their previous promotion points total this season.

Watford were promoted back to the top flight at the first time of asking, while West Brom and Fulham sank virtually without trace in the Premier League.

The parachute payment system exists to incentivise spending in the Premier League. Without them, clubs would be reluctant to recruit new players on higher wages and long contracts for fear of being burdened with them if they went down.

But when the current status quo makes life so much easier for those clubs coming down from the top flight, it feels appropriate to have a conversation about whether they do as much damage to sporting integrity and competition as they do to ensure it.