Money only serving as a disguise to Premier League flaws
It would be fair to say that money is welcome in any sport. In fact, for the majority of sports it is the thing they crave the most. However, for Premier League clubs in England, money is not anything of concern, instead there is a problem of having too much money and a lack of knowledge of how to use it. Big money owners are still a relatively new addition to English football, a trend started by clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City. These days though, such times have changed. With so much money involved in the Premier League now, all the clubs have the onus on them to use their large amount of money wisely when investing in both players and managers.
One of the biggest differences of recent years is the spending power of clubs that you wouldn't necessarily associate with big money moves. The likes of Burnley, Watford and Crystal Palace all have transfer money to spend that they could have only dreamt of in the past. However, this has had its varying results on these respective clubs. Crystal Palace are a team that have seemingly not benefitted from an influx in cash. In fact, since their return to the Premier League at the start of the 13/14 season, they have gradually become less and less threatening despite funds being spent rising into the higher echelons. In their first two seasons back in the top flight, Palace finished 11th and 10th respectively having just spent a combined 23.5 million over the two seasons. The following seasons have yielded just a 15th and 14th placed finish, spending in the region of 118 million in the process. More money spent but no sort of corresponding finishing positions, a sign of poor investment and a naivety to big name spending?
Money is wonderful for these clubs and for the sport, yet it must be used wisely. Unfortunately in the last couple of years there are far more examples of poor use of the respective financial backing than good ones. Manchester United in their post Ferguson era would be a prime example of a over excessive use of money. With continued woes on the field under the guidance of Moyes and in particular Van Gaal, United found themselves falling into one of the worst traps. They started subscribing to the 'throw money at the problem' policy. In what could be seen as a shocking statistic, Manchester United have spent around 640 million in the five seasons since the departure of Sir Alex. Now you could argue that some of these players have been good and successful signings, but by no means all of them.
Another case of naivety of transfer policy was overseen by Dan Levy, the Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur. Back when Spurs sold Gareth Bale, Andre Villas Boas, the manager at the time went about bringing in a lot of signings at very sizeable prices. It would be fair to say nearly none of them were a success apart from Christian Eriksen. The likes of Soldado, Chadli and Capoue never pitched in with significant performances at White Hart Lane. However, unlike most of their fellow clubs, Spurs' transfer policy has been much better and structured over the last few years. Signings of Dele Alli, Victor Wanyama and Toby Alderwiereld for a combined fee of under 40 million are like gold dust in the present market. As a club they need to very much appreciated and perhaps followed in how they go about conducting their current business.
What conclusion we come to is down to individual perspective. The transfer market finds itself being very inflated at the moment and one would have to question the real value of the majority of these players getting bought. These financial benefits for the league are just allowing the majority of sides to paper over cracks that are evident to see. Money is great in sport but you can't abuse it, you have to treat it as it deserves to be treated. It would be fair to say most Premier League sides don't really think about minding their finances anymore, it has become a very laiseez-faire job and one that needs to be done carefully. Money is a very valuable asset, do not waste it.