After Fulham's 3-0 drubbing of Manchester United this past weekend, coupled by Aston Villa's steady climb up the English Premier League table, it leads you to believe that big money spending alone doesn't lead to success on the field.
Mark Hughes saw that formula doesn't always work at Manchester City, as he was fired this past weekend after big spending to assemble his roster didn't translate to any higher than 7th in the standings.
Kevin McCarra of the Guardian reports on the challenges of spending and competing in the English Premier League.
Shrewdness has become the principal currency now that cash itself is so scarce. The leading clubs in the Premier League can no longer be sure of the affluence that once overwhelmed opponents. A curmudgeon will sigh that this has led to a lowering of standards at the top of the Premier League, but those old-fashioned enough to enjoy uncertainty will find the game's appeal enhanced.
There ought to be celebration when Roy Hodgson is at present the most admired manager in England. He has not turned his back on money, but Fulham's resources are still modest. The half-dozen signings made by him in the line-up that beat Manchester United 3-0 on Saturday ran from Zoltan Gera, a Bosman addition, to Bobby Zamora, who cost £4.8m from West Ham United and, credibly or not, is being treated as an England candidate for the World Cup.
Budgets have shrunk almost everywhere, even if Sir Alex Ferguson explained low-key recruitment at United following the £80m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid with the claim that the sums being quoted were unrealistic. Whatever the circumstances under the Glazers, the manager is well-equipped for a battle of wits now that the game has ceased to be a trial of budgets.
That outcome at Craven Cottage will have had him wincing, but Ferguson simply had to exercise patience after running out of fit defenders. The restrictions encountered by United may have been extreme, but virtually everyone now lives in Arsène Wenger's world, where extravagance is never the answer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/dec/22/premier-league-fulham-canny
Mark Hughes saw that formula doesn't always work at Manchester City, as he was fired this past weekend after big spending to assemble his roster didn't translate to any higher than 7th in the standings.
Kevin McCarra of the Guardian reports on the challenges of spending and competing in the English Premier League.
Shrewdness has become the principal currency now that cash itself is so scarce. The leading clubs in the Premier League can no longer be sure of the affluence that once overwhelmed opponents. A curmudgeon will sigh that this has led to a lowering of standards at the top of the Premier League, but those old-fashioned enough to enjoy uncertainty will find the game's appeal enhanced.
There ought to be celebration when Roy Hodgson is at present the most admired manager in England. He has not turned his back on money, but Fulham's resources are still modest. The half-dozen signings made by him in the line-up that beat Manchester United 3-0 on Saturday ran from Zoltan Gera, a Bosman addition, to Bobby Zamora, who cost £4.8m from West Ham United and, credibly or not, is being treated as an England candidate for the World Cup.
Budgets have shrunk almost everywhere, even if Sir Alex Ferguson explained low-key recruitment at United following the £80m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid with the claim that the sums being quoted were unrealistic. Whatever the circumstances under the Glazers, the manager is well-equipped for a battle of wits now that the game has ceased to be a trial of budgets.
That outcome at Craven Cottage will have had him wincing, but Ferguson simply had to exercise patience after running out of fit defenders. The restrictions encountered by United may have been extreme, but virtually everyone now lives in Arsène Wenger's world, where extravagance is never the answer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/dec/22/premier-league-fulham-canny
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