With Manchester City 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League table having dominated all before them - including their two closest title rivals Chelsea and Liverpool - critics have begun suggesting the club is set to rule English football for years to come, and that this represents a problem for the game.
Putting aside the debate about whether City are bad for football or not, it's interesting that so many people think the Blues are set for a thousand-year rule.
Certainly at the moment, with Pep Guardiola at the helm of a club whose whole infrastructure is tailored towards his needs and vision, it is hard to see anyone knocking City off their perch.
But when Guardiola leaves - whether at the end of his current contract next year or later - then surely there will be an understandable short term drop-off in fortunes.
As much as he likes to insist that City's brilliance is solely down to his players, Guardiola's genius plays a huge role. He is the best tactician in the world with an unrivalled ability to get his players to buy into his methods and strategies.
Recruiting the right players to put his ideas into practice has been extremely important too - any good player can play in the Premier League, but only some have what it takes to play under Guardiola.
Txiki Begiristain is the man in charge of City's transfer dealings and a very good job he has done of it too. Well, since his great friend Guardiola arrived anyway.
Txiki has been City's director of football since 2012, but it's fair to say that some of his signings pre-Guardiola were questionable, while others were downright bad.
His first summer transfer window, 2013, didn't go to badly. Alvaro Negredo and Jesus Navas made instant impacts for Manuel Pellegrini's team, while Fernandinho turned out to be one of the most astute signings in Premier League history.
However, Txiki couldn't keep up his magic touch over the next two seasons. Between 2013 and 2016 Martin Demichelis, Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi were all signed to try and solve City's centre-back problem, but all failed to live up to expectations. That Otamendi was the best of the trio says a lot.
At the other end of the pitch, things didn't get much better. Stevan Jovetic proved a £23m flop, Wilfried Bony was one of the worst January panic buys in recent memory and Bruno Zuculini and Patrick Roberts barely saw the light of day.
Perplexingly, arguably his worst signing - clunking midfield misnomer Fernando - is now playing the football of his career in Spain with Sevilla. At City he was far too slow and error-prone.
It must be said that Begiristain has completed some excellent deals since Guardiola became manager - Kyle Walker, Ederson, Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias to name a few, while Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne were crucial foundation stones a year before the Pep era began.
But it does appear that Guardiola, who worked with Begiristain during his time at Barcelona, has brought the best out of City's sporting director.
Working alongside a coach who can clearly earmark the players he wants and identify the profile of signing conducive to his system has clearly made life easier for Txiki. Famously, the two men are completely in-sync.
The question is, if he stays put when Guardiola leaves, will his recent excellent transfer record continue or will his old struggles return? Contrary to what many people say around Manchester City right now, nothing is guaranteed.
Do you think Txiki Begiristain will keep making good signings after Guardiola leaves City? Follow our City Is Ours writer Alex Brotherton on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
