The Manchester derby on September 20th must have the powers that be in the north-west city rubbing their hands expectantly with glee.

With the renaissance at Manchester City well under way, everything is in place to make this game the real stand out fixture of the Premier League season and another feather in Manchester’s cap.

Having competed for second city superiority for over a century the new millennium has seen the city of Manchester’s aspirations change with the emergence of the European Union.

The aim now is to create a regional European capital in the style of Barcelona or Europe’s many other recently regenerated second cities. In the wake of the IRA city centre destruction some 13 years ago the modernization that followed has now become a seemingly never-ending venture.

The BBC and British government recent announcement of the relocation of numerous departments to the city means the re-invigoration of the Manchester derby is the sporting embodiment of the brave new age that Manchester is about enter.

Sheikh Mansour’s money has brought international exposure that people with that very aim couldn’t be anything but excited about. Manchester City now have the opportunity to follow Manchester United’s lead in doing more for the city’s profile than the cranes that seem to be a permanent fixture on its skyline could ever do.

By bringing together the squad currently sending shockwaves through the Premier League they have injected competition into a derby which has long been a game with only pride at stake.

English football has always been devoid of a big game with real meaning. The closest thing being Liverpool v. Manchester United, a fixture without the bite or simultaneous domination that clubs like Barca/Real, Celtic/Rangers or the Milans take for granted.

At some point in history a team to get the blood of northern football fans pumping emerging from London would have quickly solved this problem. Exploitation and suppression of the historically hard-working north could seamlessly have been translated into a grudge match to rival any on the planet but sadly for the Premiership, it was never to be.

Football in England began as an exclusively working class pastime. No London team has the ties to London-centricity, government or royalty in the way that Real Madrid can be identified with the ruling class of Spain. Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham like all the London clubs have always been the representation of small working class areas and nothing more.

Despite the size and global importance of London it has always been lacking in focused representation and as a result is still yet to produce a European Cup winning side. Something any football city in Europe must achieve if it wants the world to sit up and listen.

The Manchester derby comes with the foundation and history that all local rivalries do, but what now marks it apart as a real event is what the clubs have come to represent in football’s modern landscape.

Manchester United are one of the, if not the, biggest club in the world. A position that has become more unassailable by self-sufficient means as the years have gone by. The monopoly set up by the now defunct G14 clubs put a stranglehold on trophies so strong it seemed it would never be broken.

Manchester City are one of the new breed of clubs backed by limitless outside investment, unhappy with this cozy arrangement and ready to wreak havoc on Europe’s football hierarchy.

The financial superiority that has kept the biggest clubs big has now been eclipsed in dramatic fashion. Manchester City, like Chelsea before them, have managed to prove that a good percentage of the world’s best players will go wherever the money is.

For those who were under the illusion that players like Robinho, Tevez, or Adebayor were ever in awe of the clubs they were bought from the worrying truth has now been revealed. Manchester City are well on their way to building a team as good as any and like Chelsea before them a place at the top of European football awaits.

The longevity of the Manchester derby's new found significance relies as much on the success of the Manchester City project as it does on whether the mark that Sir Alex Ferguson has left on Manchester United is etched in stone or scratched in sand. What is certain though is that for the next few years at least it’s a game the world will be queuing up to see.

Having already lit the blue touch paper with the transfer of Tevez and a poster campaign that seems to have stirred emotions in Sir Alex that he normally reserves for direct competitors, it’s obvious that the blue half of Manchester are unafraid of raising the stakes.

A Manchester City spokesperson on MOTD was recently asked the question, “Do Manchester City have to become the biggest club in Manchester before they can become the biggest club in the world?” his answer was immediate, “Manchester is the world isn’t it?”

The answer is no.

It just feels that way right now.

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