After the latest round of games in the Champions League, one thing is evident. Madrid and Barcelona have squads that are heads and shoulders above anyone else. Say what you like about City and their promise this season, but the fact remains that in Europe they simply have not done the business. United are also struggling, and lets not even go there with soon to be manageress Chelsea. The thing that is striking about these sides, and even Arsenal to a lesser extent is the money that has been spent on their squads over the last few years, and the question of if it has really meant success.
Don’t get me wrong, all the fore mentioned teams have frightening quality, and in the Premier League, it looks like being a two horse race between United and City, but with regards to the rest of the top four, does money really mean a great squad and an automatic place in the Champions League?
Look at the squad that has been complied by Harry Redknapp at Spurs – call him what you like, a wheeler dealer – it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Harry and Levy have managed to put together a squad of players who are more than capable of a top four finish – in fact a top three finish – and all on much less of a budget than London rivals Chelsea or even Arsenal down the years. Shrewd buys like Friedel and Parker have been much more successful than big money names like Torres or Mikel.
It even goes down to the amount spent on wages – when Spurs qualified for 4th place, they spent £56 million less on their wage bill than Liverpool – who did not even finish 5th that season – and have an all-round better structure in terms of finances – something that seems to be more attributable to Daniel Levy than anyone else.
Chelsea and Liverpool especially have spent big money on players who have not delivered of late – Torres and Carroll – and cannot claim to have a better squad than Spurs. In fact, they have less solidity at the back, less quality up front and both have less creativity in the middle of the park.
Any team in the Premier League would be hard pressed to claim a better midfield than Spurs, who have flare players in abundance and can change a game in a split second. Their streak of 8 wins in 9 games is no coincidence, and after the purchase of Parker, a steel was added to the heart of their team, and they have looked miles better for it.
Likewise with Newcastle, who are serious contenders for a top 6 spot this season, a squad has been built without spending tens of millions – now don’t misunderstand I am not under the impression that Spurs or Newcastle get their players from poundland or the park across the way, I am merely making the comparison between their spending and clubs such as Chelsea, who cannot claim to have a much better squad.
good article there
Excluding wages, I would say Aresneal have spent far less than us, especially if you include sales in that.
What a stupid and ill onformed article. I suggest you get your facts right and look at how much they have spent in the last 10 years or even 5 years, and you’ll find it’s about treble what Arsenal have spent.
What a dullard.
I appreciate your opinion on the ability of spur to be a top gun on a smaller budget but to assume they have better players than chelsea, liverpool and arsenal would seem farfetched to me. Spurs has an excellent run of games which we all take note of but I think its been partly due to the fact they never played first team in europe which they will have to do at a later stage.I think you should also check how much spurs has spent over the last 3 years and see if you still think they have not spent big. You should also check how much newcastle has spent on players . I guess if ‘arry had 100m he could have spent it on torres. I also suggest we still need a little bit of time before suggesting this season has been ‘arry’s sroke of genious.
Dont forget many of our top Players were here before Harry arrived, Modric, Bale, lennon, King, Bene etc. But we have to buy top top players if we are to seriously challenge for the title, purchases of VDV and Parker have been good but they have a limited shelf life due to their age and loan deals for Adebayor are only stop gap as he connot play against City. He is our main striker, what if we have to beat City to win the title and he cannot play, how sick will we feel !!!!!