Blackburn Rovers and more recently Chelsea have seen daft amounts of money thrown at them in a quest to topple the best domestically and abroad and the success has since been littered.
Both sides did break Manchester United and Arsenal’s stranglehold on the Premier League title, but Rovers’ relegation four years after their title win proved that Sir Jack Walker’s back pocket, however deep, was no match for established success.
The men from the Kings Road lured successive league titles to Stamford Bridge after an investment on a scale that our country had never seen before, to the extent that no club was safe from Chelsea’s financial power.
The third bout of purchasing power in the Premier League has come from Manchester City, who after the rash signing of Robinho seem to have struck upon a formula of buying established league players, tried and trusted.
It speaks volumes about the stick-ability of United and Arsenal that they have been all but unmoved with all this money flying around and that despite an investment of over £100 million during last summer that City’s title ambitions haven fallen flat on their face. The question is, how long will they be kept at bay?
Tonight’s result might go along way to solving this mystery. If the Eastlands club are victorious, Sheikh Mansour has vowed to again bank role his second City manager, with Roberto Mancini this time the beneficiary.
The effects of that sort of money management, where price is no object, will create a far greater chasm between the top four and the rest of the division. With Champions league football on offer who can City not attract?
If they lose, then an air of realism will be shed on the issue, that no club can go from mid-table to Europe’s elite with just the flutter of a checkbook. And thank goodness that so far that hasn’t become a reality.
The worry would be is that if City are successful it would just open the floodgates to the extent the shape of the league we once knew will be nothing more than a distant memory.
There victory in finishing fourth would prove to any investor that they could take a mid-table Premiership side, for which City were, to the Champions League inside a year. Scary thought.
The gap is such that a nine-figure sum has seen a rise to possibly 4th in the league. How much could we see spent this summer to help topple either Chelsea or Manchester United? £300 million? Who knows.
Spurs are an entirely different story however. Yes, manager upon manager has been given license to spend money, and plenty of it, but the investment has purely been to keep pace with the rest of the league, not to try and surpass it in one fell swoop.
They’ve honestly built there way up the league slowly but surely. In addition it’s refreshing to see a team near top of the league headed up by a number of English players. Michael Dawson, Tom Huddlestone, Aaron Lennon and Jermaine Defoe have been at one time or another integral to Spurs’ progress.
You also have to admire Harry Redknapp as well; at least in the way he’s taken his side from dire straights last season, to Champions League potential this, with a mere quarter of the money available to their opponents.
So whom are you supporting? A team decked with stars and style that are going for hit or miss success? Or a side who’s steady progress is the sort of model that any England league side should pride itself on. All I’ll say is this; football rewards the decent and often not the foolhardy. Mr Redknapp will be hoping for as much this evening.
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