My mornings start off virtually the same every work day. First, quickly browse and see how our Google/Yahoo/MSN paid search accounts are going and second, check the latest news from England about the Premiership league and my team, Manchester United.

 Today was a bit different then other days. I noticed something intriguing and whimsical. The Premiership League consists of 20 teams, for the most part, 16 of them don't make much of a push into the top four teams in the league. Sure they exist, sure people watch their matches, but they just can't compete financially or competitively to that of who are referred to as the "Big Four." These big four consist of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal (in that ranking order). What struck me this morning is the striking similarities to the search realm. 

 When talking about search engines, we all know who the big four is; Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask. Depending who you ask, this next part is debatable. Manchester United is the Google of English football, Chelsea is Yahoo, Liverpool and Arsenal are both like MSN, but we'll give that honor to Liverpool for the sake of argument, meaning Arsenal is Ask. Regardless of which team or engine you favor, you are likely to follow all of them for one purpose or another.

 In recent years, I would compare Chelsea to that of Google. Not just cause one of the owners of each is Russian, but because they like to spend big money. Chelsea has spent over £450mil in the acquisition of player. Google has consumed the likes of YouTube and a huge deal with MySpace, amongst others. Worldwide, Manchester United is one of the most recognized and supported teams. They definitely have the market share of supporters, just like Google. Plus they branch out like none other. Just as Google has expanded from search, leading with projects like Gmail, Google Documents, Google Earth, etc., Man United has set up soccer schools, finance companies, humanitarian foundations and more. Sure you have the others like Arsenal, MSN, Liverpool, and Ask, and sure, they'll win trophies or take part of the market share, but they will never truly be in the game for any time to come. 

 Basically, I realize I may have to add comparing English Football to Search onto Matt McGee's post of the Top 21 Signs You Need a Break from SEO and actually take a break. My other suggestion is for any of you, especially the English Football deprived Americans that are over for SES London is go check out one of games this weekend. I know it's the FA cup, but there are several matches being played in/around London this weekend. Personally, I would shoot for seeing Fulham play Tottenham on Sunday or if you can get tickets, either Chelsea vs. Norwich City or Arsenal vs. Blackburn (assuming Arsenal don't lose today), all on Saturday. Can't wait to hear how SES London goes!