One of the most asked and debated questions in football has been, “does money buy you success?”. When a team is able to flex their financial muscle in the transfer market, does it achieve success?
Manchester City spent over 200 million on new players over a three year period and subsequently won the Barclays Premier League for the first time in 44 years last May. This makes a clear case that money can buy you success, but other teams have done the same; had unimaginable financial backing and not done anything notable like FC Anzhi Makhachkala of Russia.
Undoubtedly the greatest example of money buying success is Manchester City who after finishing 5th and 4th won the Barclays Premiership for the first time in 44 years. This was mainly down to an outflow of over 200 million on new players including £35 million on Sergio Aguero, £27m on Edin Dzeko and £24m on both Yaya Toure and James Milner, just to name a few. The main aim City’s Abu Dhabi-based owners had was to first qualify for the Championship League, which they did, then win the Barclays Premier League which they did; but people have accused City of buying the Premiership title.
But interestingly looking at the cost of each Manchester clubs’ starting line-ups when the clubs played each other in May this year, City’s starting eleven cost £187m, whilst United’s cost £167m; hardly a mammoth difference, when United had £30 million man Dimitar Berbatov sitting on the bench as well. Continuing to look at the debate around English teams, the success of Newcastle United was a major talking point last season when they finished 5th proving money doesn’t have to buy you success; their starting eleven cost less than £50 million pounds.
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Looking abroad at the issue of the example of foreign clubs being taken over by wealthy backers from Abu Dhabi and Qatar etc have proven this debate is still up for discussion. French Ligue 1 team Paris St Germain (PSG) were taken over by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) in 2011 with the sole aim to build a squad capable of winning the Champions League. The journey to do so was underway when they finished 2nd in Ligue 1 last season behind Montpellier and qualified for the Champions League. With Carlo Ancelotti signing players such as Ezequiel Lavezzi and Thiago Motta, PSG could be a real contender for next year’s Champions League.
Although the richest club in football, Russian Premier League team FC Anzhi Makhachkala finished only 5th in the RPL last season, after even purchasing Samuel Eto’o, (reporting to be on 400,000 euros a week) Roberto Carlos and Balázs Dzsudzsák, for around the 44 million pound mark; which keeps the debate on-going.
Looking at Spanish football of probably the most substantial example of does money buy success is of the dominance of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga over the last ten years. Only these two teams have looked likely to win La Liga in that period, by being renounced to buying competing team’s best players, such as Barcelona have done with David Villa and Jordi Alba both off Valencia CF.
Looking at future examples which could decide this examination is of Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua, who have signed two of the most prolific players to grace the English Premier League, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka; though both players moved when their contracts expired, both are reported to be on excess of 200,000 per week.
So is there an answer to this debate, if a team flexes their financial power to attract world class players are they guaranteed to be handed instant success. The answer is still unclear as examples have proven it does and doesn’t. Maybe over time this question will be able to be answered. For now however, we’ll just have to make do with uncertainty.
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Great article, I think that money can buy you success but it who you buy with the money that counts. Take Chelsea and Man.City for example: One team spent their money of quality players and ended up winning the league. The other spent big bucks on the likes of nervous looking David Luiz and where left in a dissapointing position. I also write for this is Futbol, please check my articles out!
David luiz being the best centre half in the premierleague last season? Let’s be fair, city haven’t bought quality players, they just bought whatever looked good for stupid money, eg. James Milner. And got lucky with a few, eg. David silva, your team consists of joe hart, questionably the best keeper in the world, 7 athletes, 2 footballers, and 1 man who can only be described as insanely brilliant, yes… City have solidarity, but please do not try to say that Mancini didn’t get lucky, it’s like buying a million lottery tickets and winning a tenner, satisfaction that you’ve won, yet the fact you’ve also lost over half a billion pounds.
Cheers for the feedback Joe:) Be interesting to see if Chelsea after already splashing 40+ million for Hazard and Markin, will end up paying another 40+ million for Hulk as well. If they do I would strongly fancy Chelsea next season for the Premiership. I will also have to have a look at your articles
Fantastic article! Money obviously can play a key part in how good a side can be, however, the spirit in the squad can be equally, as Newcastle have proved over the season. It also depends on who you buy, as I believe Mancini has bought big, but bought well.
Cheers Tom:) There is always a risk in spending millions of pounds to achieve success and when it pays off great, but when it doesn’t, managers get the sake e.g. Mark Hughes. Mancini didn’t get lucky, he brought quality such as Kompany, Agureo and Yaya Toure, who are worth the money City paided for them.