Premier League End of Season Review
When looking back at the 2025-13 Premier League season, during its duration it morphed from one that was anticipated to produce an exciting title race, to one that will be defined as one of transition.
While the expression ‘end of an era’ is used rather liberally, a Premier League season that incorporates the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson will be naturally viewed as such. After 27 years at Manchester United, Ferguson finally called time on his unequalled managerial career by securing Manchester United’s 20th top flight title.
Although many believe this not to be a vintage United side, they nevertheless won the league at a canter, and at one time threatened the highest points total in Premier League history. These two statistics underline United’s superiority over their rivals this season, as does the fact that they’d wrapped up the league title weeks before its culmination.
United began the season playing quite moderately, producing some rather average defensive performances in particular in the early stages of the season, which gave their title rivals a sense of optimism that this was a vulnerable United team. David de Gea in the United goal hardly inspired much confidence during the early matches of the campaign, with the Spaniard repeating some of the habits he displayed last season; ie. flapping at crosses and generally looking ill-equipped to deal with the hurly-burly of Premier League football. Ferguson responded by rotating de Gea and his back-up Anders Lindegaard.
It says something of the recovery that both the goalkeeper and his team made that by the end of the season de Gea was considered a fixture between the United posts, and was voted into the PFA Team of the Year by his fellow professionals. Where United began the season looking somewhat vulnerable, by the end of the campaign, with Nemanja Vidic back from injury, Rio Ferdinand in superb form, and a combination of the young defenders Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Rafael da Silva providing plenty of youthful exuberance and no little quality, they looked considerably more ruthless.
Thus, United completed one of their easiest title victories in recent seasons weeks before the season was over, without really being seriously challenged. Once they had beaten Manchester City 3-2 at the Etihad in an entertaining early season meeting between reigning and champions elect, United never looked like relinquishing their lead at the top of the table. Those particular three points, in common with so many during the season, were secured via the boot of Robin van Persie, whose last minute free-kick at Eastlands won the points for the visitors. It was a goal that exemplified the gap between the two teams this season, which was precisely what City manager Roberto Mancini continually grumbled throughout the season, bemoaning a transfer window which took van Persie to Old Trafford instead of Eastlands, while his club picked up such duds as Maicon and Scott Sinclair.
By the end of the season, Mancini had been relieved of his need to grumble about City’s inadequate transfer policy, as his employers has relieved him of his position at the City helm. While many involved in the game, including Sir Alex, proclaimed this to be harsh, in reality a club that has invested many millions, and possibly as much as a billion, in a club expects to see better than Mancini delivered this term.
Not only were City nowhere near in the league, but they lost to Wigan in the FA Cup final, in one of the biggest upsets in recent history, and performed dismally in the Champions League, failing to win any of their six group games, albeit in an exceptionally difficult qualifying group. It seems that this failure was as much on the minds of the City hierarchy as anything else in handing Mancini his P45.
City weren’t the only English club to achieve less than expected in the Champions League this season. The failure of any of the Premier League’s entrants to reach the quarter-finals of European football’s premier competition was symptomatic of a mediocre Premier League season. United lost to Real Madrid in pretty controversial circumstances, Chelsea were dumped out in the group stage, and Arsenal were thoroughly outplayed at the Emirates by Bayern Munich before restoring some pride in the away leg, even though their game display made no difference to the result of the tie. Hopefully next season’s Champions League entrants will achieve more for English football.
Speaking of which, with both the title and the relegation places sealed before the final day of the season, Sky television were forced to focus on the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League on the last day of the season…ARSENAL
Reading’s maiden season in the Premier League ended as many predicted, with them returning back to whence they came, while Queen’s Park Rangers’ large investment in the future had little positive effect on how they fared, as they were emphatically relegated as well. Wigan’s unlikely triumph in the FA Cup could not be matched in the league, as they finally fell down the trap door that has threatened them so often.
Swansea City won the first trophy in their history when they walloped League Two Bradford 5-0 in the League Cup final. Along with West Brom, the Swans were the overachievers of the season, retaining a place in the top half of the table throughout the season. By contrast, both of the north east’s clubs, Sunderland and Newcastle, struggled all season, but ultimately managed to avoid the drop. Both will expect better next term.
Liverpool made moderate progress under Brendan Rodgers, with their mercurial striker Luis Suarez the source of both glee on Merseyside, as well as opprobrium, as he mixed brilliant with the ball with some pretty unjustified behaviour of the ball. Suarez will miss the opening six Premier League matches of next term having bitten Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.
In the other half of Merseyside, Everton fans will hope that whomever takes over from David Moyes does half as good a job. After eleven years of guiding a club with a small budget to consistently excellent league positions, no-one resented Moyes moving on to take the Manchester United post vacated by Ferguson.
Chelsea had a stormy season, firing the popular Roberto di Matteo, and replacing him with the spectacularly unpopular Rafael Benitez. But Benitez did a decent job for the club, steering them into next season’s Champions League and capturing the Europa League, as Chelsea became only the fifth club in history to win all three major European trophies.
With Benitez departing after his six month contract was up, and Jose Mourinho seemingly likely to be the new Chelsea manager, next season will be a hugely competitive and unpredictable one at the top of the table, with each of the top three being steered by new managers. The English football supporting fraternity awaits the new season with impatience.
