THE Barclays Premier League trophy was given only a short trip yesterday compared to the arduous journey it has taken to get here.

Manchester City celebrated winning a top-flight title for the first time in 44 years yesterday, the taste of champagne in the air only sweetened by the fact it had come at the expense of Manchester United. While the blue half of the city erupted into a party, many a poor soul across the way may well have been reaching for the hemlock.

We could probably all do with a stiff drink after this. Yesterday had been billed as a dramatic end to a sometimes traumatic season, a day of days when champions would be crowned, European places divvied up and others sent packing back down to the npower Championship. Admittedly, Sky would fervently advertise that the Chelsea Flower Show was an unmissable event – or even a missable event – they were right this time, though.

It was an enthralling a final day, replete with drama, a few dizzying changes in direction and the sight of Roberto Mancini being chased by Edin Dzeko as he wielded a bottle of bubbly with mischievous intent. Their supporters cheered as their manager was duly drenched by his striker – many likely hoping that their outpouring of emotion was echoing inside a cavernous Old Trafford somewhere across town.

Given the depth of feeling, you warrant that United would rather have lost the title to anybody else. City could not have won it from anybody better.

The trophy was already at the Etihad Stadium, with the likelihood always that City would do what was necessary to wrest it from their cross-town rivals, after all they had been doing just that for weeks. Yet after Scotland internationalist Jamie Mackie headed Queens Park Rangers ahead emphatically, the FA dogsbody charged with looking after it was probably back outside warming the car up.

United were on their way to defeating Sunderland, their grip strengthening around the title once again. Wayne Rooney had scored after 20 minutes – pouncing on uncertainty within the Sunderland defence to direct Phil Jones' cross into the net – to cause pangs of anxiety inside the Etihad, despite Pablo Zabaleta having put City ahead and Joey Barton having trudged off following his red card for lashing out at Carlos Tevez. Then Sergio Aguero. Then Vincent Kompany. It gave the QPR midfielder something to tweet about if nothing else.

With United ending their match at the top of the table, the squad lingered on the pitch and stared hopefully at the screens inside the Stadium of Light for news from City. They knew they had done their bit, they knew QPR would not yet have been aware that Bolton were relegated instead of them – having drawn at Stoke City – and they knew that City were running out of time. Within five minutes they knew that it had not been enough.

The match at the Etihad had stumbled into injury time as City continued to pummel a QPR side that were reeling on the ropes but which refused to go down. Dzeko, Aguero and David Silva all spurning good chances to restore advantage to their side in the match, but more importantly in the title race.

The London side were finally put on their knees when Dzeko rose to glance a header into the net, and they fell with just a minute of stoppage time left to run when Aguero darted into the penalty area, collected a lay off from the Mario Balotelli and flashed a shot past Paddy Kenny into the net.

City were standing tall. The Argentine wheeled away, whipped off his shirt and was enveloped by team-mates as a sea of hysteria washed over the Etihad Stadium. Mancini's boisterous celebration belied the reticence he has relied upon over the past few weeks, the City manager having insisted adamantly that his side would not lift the title. Sir Alex Ferguson simply turned and strode back down the tunnel in Sunderland.

The United manager will have been typically irked by losing out to his side's arch rivals, his words afterwards far from magnanimous. Mancini won't care. Come to think about it, nobody bedecked in light blue will likely give a stuff this morning. And yet it is easy for others to remain cynical about their achievement. City – or rather Sheik Mansour – have splurged vast sums of cash into the club, their playing budget enough to make most other clubs come over a little queasy. It reportedly took £38m to attain Aguero's subtle artistry, and a further £74m to garnish their squad with Dzeko and Tevez. It is hardly small change, is it?

There is an argument – or an accusation if you have a leaning towards United – that City have effectively bought the Premier League title. Of course they have; but, then, so has any club that got their hands on the thing. Chelsea spent big to overhaul a squad and install a feted manager to lord it over English football and claim consecutive titles in 2005 and 2006. In the Premier League, silverware comes at a price.

The only difference is that City have taken that to almost unfathomable levels. Not that their supporters will be looking too closely at the bill at the moment. They have suffered for decades as United fans subjected them to jibes and sang songs about them, goading them for their lack of success and a perception that they will never be able to enjoy any of their own. Yesterday, City delivered a warning that they may well be ones that deprive their haughty rivals of domestic success for some time to come.

Mancini has his hands on the league trophy now, while the manner at which he attained it will have been as exhilarating as it was draining. The City manager can relax for now, revel in the success and be titillated by the glum faces knocking around Old Trafford. You can't really begrudge him that.

The league title only had a short journey across Manchester yesterday, yet City's reign at the top may well have a wee bit to run yet.