Henry Winter foresees an intriguing era ahead for English football after Manchester City's show-stopping ascension to the Premier League title.
Roberto Mancini's men looked liked they'd blown their big chance as they trailed QPR 2-1 heading into injury time with city rivals United 1-0 up at Sunderland, but Edin Dzeko nodded them level before Sergio Aguero popped up to send the Etihad Stadium into delirium with a last-gasp championship winner.
City have spent big since being taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, but Winter feels that with United manager Sir Alex Ferguson determined to regain the crown next season and UEFA and Premier League directives to increase financial fair play, defending the crown will be far from routine.
The Daily Telegraph football correspondent said: "I think Ferguson would have been far more likely to walk away from Manchester United and his great career if United had won the Premier League, but he'll be plotting now.
"He's already being linked with one or two players so United will hit back. Clearly there's a big gap between second and third place but Arsenal could keep Robin van Persie and they have Lukasz Podolski coming in and players like Jack Wilshere coming back.
"Then you have the likes of Newcastle on a terrific run and Tottenham too. There are lots of other teams out there and City only won it on goal difference. We've had eras of domination but they don't last for year after year after year. Even during United's period of domination, we saw other teams coming in like Blackburn, Arsenal and Chelsea."
Youth
There is a solid contingent of English players in the City squad, but Winter believes the club should be increasingly focused on their academy and bringing through young players rather than spending big on already-established star names.
Winter added: "It's a fantastic time to be a Manchester City fan and they deserved it. Those five minutes have clearly completely changed the mood. They're going to build from here and I quite like what the owners are doing.
"What I'd like to see, and I know that people like Brian Marwood, Patrick Vieira and a lot of other behind the scenes are working on, is bring young players through. City have a great tradition of that.
"I think they'll probably win it again next season but I don't have an issue with that if they're the best team. If you did an all-star team, Joe Hart has been the best goalkeeper, Vincent Kompany the best centre-back, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero have cases too. They have bought good players. Joe Hart cost them £600,000, so it's not just about the big money signings."
Uncertain
The Sun's Shaun Custis was more sceptical of City's attitude towards young players, with promising young English players such as Adam Johnson and Micah Richards failing to hold down regular first-team spots.
Custis said: "Even if you talk about financial fair play, I still think they're going to go out each year and try and buy the best player to improve the team. I don't see this bringing through young players because I don't see it happening like that.
"I heard it all about Chelsea when they were building for the future under Frank Arnesen, how they were going to have a huge academy of young players coming through and it never happened.
"I was told Josh McEachran was going to be knocking on the door but he went away to Swansea and has hardly had a game, so it's not a foregone conclusion that you're going to bring young players through."
But Winter was sure of the impact of the upcoming rule changes, adding: "In terms of the UEFA fair financial play document, it is so important what they are doing there in terms of encouraging people to grow your own and spend what you earn.
"It's not just financial fair play from UEFA, it's also the new Premier League rules that are coming in, and if you actually look at the City squad, they are encouraging English players."
