From Hackney Marshes to Wembley Stadium, London is a city that eats, sleeps and breathes football.
Forget the supposed core countries and hotbeds of the north, the capital of England has more professional clubs than any metropolis outside South America – 16 of them in the top five layers, with seven in the Premier League.
Yet Erik ten Hag won more silverware during his gloomy Manchester United rule than the whole of London.
And after a large Meltdown in February, it is very likely that No London Club will lift a domestic trophy for a fifth consecutive season.
Arsenal has blown another title, the Gunners and Spurs lost the semi-final of the League Cup, while only Fulham, Crystal Palace and Millwall remain in the FA Cup without that none of them had lifted the trophy.
Arsenal has no striker and has no discipline, the owners of Chelsea have spent a billion and have no senior players, while Tottenham no longer wants to be called Tottenham.
West Ham is the worst Premier League team in the capital after firing their best manager in decades – and David Moyes is the only boss who has won a big trophy for a London club for a full stadium since 2018. As UEFA's Conference League even counts.
Chelsea won the Champions League for a post-Pandemic sprinkling of supporters in 2021, but the blues have lost six consecutive Wembley final, while Arsenal has no longer won the title since 2004 and Spurs has won nothing since 2008.
So with London such a res for football players, and with more than a third of the Premier League located in the capital, why do all major domestic trophies go north?
The winner of the Carabao Cup final of next month between Liverpool and Newcastle is the 14th consecutive English trophy winner winner from northern Watford.
A common factor, a multi -year problem for all clubs of the capital, is the enormous weight of derby luminaires.
Derby's are usually Levellers who take their tolls – and although Arsenal is the top of this season's derby table, they have lost twice in a row at West Ham at home and have not defeated Fulham.
Since the outputs of Arsene Wenger and Roman Abramovich-De two most influential figures in London football in the previous half century, the city is a trophy-free zone.
Wenger won the Premier League with his genius during his early years in Arsenal – and continued to win FA Cups, even in his dog days.
By that time, Vladimir Putin's friend Abramovich had arrived at Stamford Bridge and, as Arsenal director David Dein said, “Parked his Russian tank in our front garden and fired £ 50 nuts on us” – before we even heard of FFP or PSR.
With Manchester City in Meltdown, this should be Arsenal's time for a first title since Wenger's heyday. Nevertheless, five red cards cost them to ten points and the lack of a fit striker, or an authentic No. 9, means that their chances of catching Liverpool were always remote.
Under Abramovich, Chelsea collected five Premier League titles and the only two European cups ever won by a London club. Because he is in exile in exile, the blues have become prisoners of their own dogmatic business model – the signing of young players on extremely long contracts, without senior pros to guide them.
Now Cole Palmer, the 22-year-old who has worn the club for 18 months, is confronted with a different season without Champions League football.
And with six years to run his bluesal, a player who sees himself as a balloon d'Or material can soon get itchy feet. A title of the Conference League will not cut it.
Then the football club is previously known as Tottenham who, in a bizarre missioner, asked broadcasters to no longer call them as “Tottenham”, only as “Spurs” or with their full name, Tottenham Hotspur.
We knew that the men of Ange Postecoglou had a bad season, but we did not know that they had to look for a new identity under the witness protection program.
All in all it is grim to the south.
Different competition
Last season the clubs promoted to the Premier League all back.
While two of those exiled to the championship came straight up and the third, Leeds, the play-off final lost.
This period see the three promoted clubs relegation certifications.
And all three were hammered at home this weekend by a total score of 12-1.
Opposition players no longer even celebrate their goals against Southampton or Leicester.
In the meantime, two of last season's degraded clubs – Sheffield United and Burnley – are in the top three of the championship, together with Leeds.
If it seems that the gap between the top two divisions is getting bigger again, how the hell do you explain the plight of Luton Town?
The Hatters made a decent stab last year when surviving the top flight, but are currently rockbottom of the championship.
Ashwolk
Destroying the injury time awarded to Ashley Young from Everton against Manchester United proves that the assumed VAR 'High Bar' has been forgotten and competitions will be restored to Stockley Park again.
And after Ref Andy Madley had made a fair, instinctive decision on the field about a 50-50 call when granting the spot kick, it is also possible that his VAR might have time to take into account Young's previous for it taking a tumbling.
Which is not right.
Leaking wanderer time
If you thought Manchester United was bad on the field, consider the mess behind the scenes.
Chief Executive Omar Berrada threatens to dismiss the employees of the United that whistleblower and leaking news about plans to look for even more staff.
This job loss will help pay for the disastrous decision of billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe to offer a new contract to Erik ten Hag, then to dismiss him, and to poach sports director from Newcastle, just to fall out with him And to pay him and pay him five months later.
Ratcliffe's Chum Sir Dave Brailsford is apparently sick of hearing about the Sir Alex Ferguson era.
Brailsford thinks that it exerts unfair pressure on the Ratcliffe regime to mention that United dominated the English game under Fergie and won 13 Prem titles and two European cups.
In which case, why did Ratcliffe not bought a club that had never won as much as a lottery prize and that shouted in the ground instead?
Home rule?
You have to turn your home stadium into a fort because it is always difficult to win on the road in the Premier League, right?
Well, hardly harder than winning at home, actually.
There were seven victories in the top flight this weekend, which means that a total of 101 home victories and 95 road success this season.
With many teams enjoying success on the counterattack, with defensive 'low blocks' difficult to break down and to get out of home fans invariably ends, a home advantage is a thing of the past.
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