Before the debate of Chelsea or City’s money was brought to the Premiership, jealous fans of other teams used to talk of Manchester United ‘buying’ success.
As City and Chelsea have kindly proven for us since then, having a load of money isn’t the be all and end all to success. There are several elements you need to create a dominating club and whilst money is essential, so is the guidance of a skilled manager, the dedication of a talented squad, and that little bit of luck that always seems to go hand in hand with successful teams.
According to Transfer League, United have spent £419,350,000 since the Premiership began, City have spent £486,110,000 and Chelsea have spent £563,340,000, yet neither of the biggest spenders have, as yet, bought the dominance we’ve seen from United over the past couple of decades, and Liverpool before that. Looking at spending over the history of the Premiership, as well as since Roman Abramovich’s arrival at Chelsea, gives us an indication of how much we’ve been spending in relation to others. I’ve even taken these stats and pretended Cristiano Ronaldo never existed, to prove that it’s not just because of the masses of money we collected for him from Real Madrid that puts us in such a strong financial position, in terms of transfers.
However, the problem with just looking at transfer fees is that obviously prices have gone up and up and up. Towards the end of last summer, the world transfer record fee was set at £80m for Cristiano Ronaldo. Ten years earlier, the record was broken by Inter Milan when signing Christian Vieri for £32m, which obviously indicates how rapidly prices have risen in football.
So, I’ve taken a look at several squads from over the years, starting off with United’s Champions League winning team in 1999, then our Champions League winning team of 2008 alongside Chelsea’s team for that final, before looking at the players who lined up against each other in the League Cup semi-final last season between United and City. Not only have I looked at the total cost of these teams and average cost of the player, but how expensive the players are in relationship to the British transfer record fee and world transfer record fee.
Manchester United’s Champions League winning team in 1999
Manchester United’s Champions League winning team in 2008
Chelsea’s Champions League finalist team in 2008
Manchester United’s League Cup semi-final team in 2010
Manchester City’s League Cup semi-final team in 2010
Conclusions
- The money United were spending, proportionally, increased between 1999 and 2008, with the average cost of our players becoming more in line with the British transfer record and world transfer record, from 20%-31% and 14%-21% respectively.
- The spending gone in to United’s 2010 squad is more in line with our squad of 1999.
- United’s Champions League winning team of 2008 cost £45.11m less than our opponents Chelsea. The average cost of a player in our squad was £9.5m in comparison to the average cost of £12m per Chelsea player.
- A player in United’s 2008 squad was on average worth 31% of the BTR fee in comparison to Chelsea’s 2008 squad, where a player was on average worth 40% of the BTR fee.
- United’s League Cup semi-final winning team of 2010 cost £35.65m less than our opponents City. The average cost of a player in our squad was £5.6m in comparison to the average cost of £7.6m per City player.
- A player in United’s 2010 squad was on average worth 18% of the BTR fee in comparison to City’s 2010 squad, where a player was on average worth 23% of the BTR fee.
Man Utd News 24/7
Scott – buckle up the non believers are coming in with the delusion beverage TM Costas : )
FUBAR – yet United are still standing
This club will never die
Great analysis and stats Scott…
I love using this site to prove a point to some of my ignorant mates!!
Lookng forward to them coming on and arguing with that!
Of course they will… and they will take no notice of the figures you put in front of their faces!
Great piece Scott.
Beware of City fans drunk with delusion.
nice article
Its great to see even more proof that all the exucses teams like CITEH and Chelski (and all the other ABUs) have made are bullshit. Man United pay high money for players because of how many we bring through the ranks. We never bought success, we earned it and have continued to earn it for two decades and are about to begin our third. Not arrogant, just better
Scott your wrong with this city are the future united are the past get used to it
Brilliant stats, Scott!
Just want to get that stipidy out of the way and hope it’s the last we’ll hear about it. What an amazing write up about something I already had a fair idea about put put there in plain black and white is amazing reading. Scott I tip my cap sir fantastic post. I take it you’ll be keepin this blog at been number 1 not only with this standard of posts but with early morning live blogs at 1:30 am ??
great piece!!
What I see here is conformation of an obvious truth: You need to spend money to have a chance, but spending money doesn’t guarantee anything. As a Drunk Delusional City Fan I can live with that (then again I was never a City fan that bitched about United spending. My issue with United is that it’s *evil*)
My issue with those that can’t shut up about City “killing football” is that I want to ****ing win a trophy before I’m dead and I don’t care if that pisses off “John from Bolton.” John should get himself a sheikh. Problem solved.
City isn’t killing football. City is trying to win using the resources it has. Why in hell shouldn’t it?
Off topic but loooks like Ferguson wants to experiment with goalkeepers like he did after schmeichel.
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_united/s/1311800_ferguson_plans_to_swoop_for_new_schmeichel?rss=yes
Surely it would be better to look at a longer period of time, the foundations of the UTD built their side prior to the formation of the PL. You also need to take into account the amount of extra money that Chelsea had to pay for the simple reason of them having it!
Miketheblue – United also had to pay that extra money before Abramovich came along.
GHTT
I’ve got a better one
“City are a gathering force – United are a dying one”
: )
Delusion beverage TM Costas available at all bad megastores around the country – overstock at the wastelands : )
NOT ARROGANT,SIMPLY BETTER!!!
Very interesting article, but one thing that’s confusing me… I was certain that when we signed Andy Cole it was for a new British transfer record of £7m at the time?
Also, if Ferdinand, Vidic and Berbatov were fit for the City comparison then things might not look as different.
In City’s case, some Arab has bought your club and let an Italian loose with his credit card to buy a bunch of average players at superstar prices so he can throw them all together and let them run around in that council house of a stadium.
Look at all these players you’ve been mugged on and still had to pay stupid weekly wages just to get them to put your shirt on:
Roque Santa Cruz (£17.5m from Blackburn) – not worth a fiver
Emmanuel Adebayor (£25m from Arsenal) – that celebration against Arsenal might have been worth £25 million but nothing i’ve seen from him since demands the money paid for him.
Kolo Toure (£15m from Arsenal) – mediocre (FYI if thats not in the MCFC vocabulary book it’s another word for ‘average’
Joleon Lescott (£22m from Everton) – where do we start with this one then, he doesn’t even come with a full head of hair!
Yaya Toure (£25million from Barcelona) – expensive especially seeing as he couldn’t get a game for Barca and City still have to pay him £230,000 per week for him to play. Expensive considering a Tesco Value hair dryer could have provided the bench with an equal amount of warmth.
David Silva (£24m from Valencia) – a good player when playing with players from the same country, yet to prove his worth and considering he signed from Valencia which has 95% Spanish players, I don’t see him jelling
Mario Balotelli – (£24m from Inter – if he signs) – spoilt winging little sh!t. It was amazing how fast MCFCs fans turned on Robini-who when they felt his attitude wasn’t right….if you think the vertically-challenged Brazilian was bad then wait until you see what this 19 year old is like. I cannot wait to see him sulking when Blackpool are up 3-0 at Wastelands.
Yes the future is bright for you, but take your head for a wobble would ya……it may be brighter than Dunne, Sylvinho etc but its only like replacing a 50Watt bulb with a 60Watt bulb. The lights a little bit brighter but it still shines off the same sh!t.
Good luck on derby day and I can’t wait to see Mr Monsour get bored and end up buying Stockport County instead. Hope he kept his receipt from his over-priced purchase.
CHELSEA FAN HERE!
GOOD READ AND VERY INTERESTING!
1 POINT(OR NOT REALLY A POINT) BUT MANSHITTY HAVE HELPED KILL THE MYTH THAT MONEY BUYS SUCESS, COS THEY STILL AINT GOT NONE! MONEY IS OK, BUT WITHOUT A SAVVY GAFFER ITS WASTED! THERE’S MY CITEH DIG OUTTA THE WAY
NOW FOR SOMETHING ELSE I THOUGHT WORTH BRINGING UP-YOU HAVE SPENT LESS, WHICH YOU PROVED ABOVE, BUT CAN SOME OF THAT NOT BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE FACT THAT DUE TO YOU EARLIER SUCESS, YOU WERE ABLE TO ATTRACT THE CREAM OF THE CROP WHEN IT CAME TO THE YOUTH SETUP? I MEAN IN REAL TERMS, BACK IN THE 90′S CHELSEA AND CITEH WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AN ATTRACTIVE PROSPECT COMPARED TO UTD, DUE TO YOU SUCCESS? AND WERE CONSEQUENTLY ABLE TO BRING THRU SOME OF YOUR TEAM THAT WERE AT UTD STANDARD AND HAVE NOT NEEDED TO SPEND BIG TO COMPETE, CHELSEA OBVIOUSLY HAVE HAD TO COMPLETLY OVERHAUL THEIR ACADEMY AND WE WILL HOPEFULLY SEE SOME PRODUCTS OF THAT IN THE 1ST TEAM WITHIN THE NEXT SEASON OR 3 AND THEN OUR SPENDING WOULD THERE FORE COME DOWN ON AVERAGE. IS THAT A VALID POINT? OBVIOUSLY IM IN NO WAY ATTACKING OR CONTRADICTING YOUR ARTICLE, JUS SOMETHING THAT CROSSED MY MIND? WHAT SAY YOU LOT??
@ Love it – I FUCKING LOVE IT!!!!HAHAHA What a post
@ SMOKIEJACK – Which ‘pre-success’ are you on about mate?
Before the prem we hadn’t won a title since 1967!!?? Our savy manager arrived, overhauled the system, comparitively on peanuts!, and the rest is history… (and not in a Shitty kinda way!!!)
How much more prove do they need? but you’ll still get City fans coming on here bitching and moaning that we’ve always bought the league. A question, Rio’s fee was reported as 29.1 million, but i’ve heard it was less than that. SAF in an interview said the fee was nowhere near 29.1 million, don’t no if there’s any truth in it.
I thought Andy Cole was a record 7M and shortly after that Liverpool spend 8.5M on Collymore. Also the BTR in 1991 was probably the SALE of Gascoigne to Italy. The real record that a British club spent was I think about 2.5M for the purchase of Gascoigne by Spurs.
Another factor here is that the Man Utd big buys have almost always been young (<25) so you get plenty of service or a sell on fee. It's not a new thing. Look at the years of service (or sell on fee) from Robson, Pallister, Keane, Cole, Rio, Rooney, Stam etc. Man Utd would never spend 30M on a 30 year old Shevchenko, or 16M on a 29 year old Anelka, or whatever it was on Makelele.
I reckon a better way of looking at these stats is to look at the prices in today's terms (comparing with the BTR). Like Andy Cole would be a 30M player, Kanchelskis would be about 5M (similar to Park), Lee Sharpe about 2M (similar to Obertan), Cantona about 10M, Irwin about 5M (similar to Evra), Bruce about 7M (similar to Vidic), Pallister 30M (similar to Rio). You start to see a pattern emerging. The spending profile hasn't changed that much. A team of one or two expensive players and a load of reasonably priced players and some home grown.
scott thanks again for a gr8 article and showing us once again that money doesnt make much of a differencee……. UNITED!!
great read.. as has already been said money can put you in the mix. also illustrates how screwed the likes of chelski and the bitters will be once the new fifa rules kick in
on subject of stats be interested to see an article shedding more light on how this new 25 player squad system will affect different teams. seen lots of stuff saying how it will gererally be bad for the dippers/bitters/chelski but no indepth comparisons of squads and for instance, how many of each squads most regular players from last season (by appearances) will have to make way for new signings/youth team players. gut feeling is that such an article might point to an manu arsenal 1-2
@ Scott the red
fantastic article – the prrof is there in black and white.
Expexted to read a shiitload of nonsense from city fans. All very quiet.
@ Smokiejack
fair point on city where cash doesn’t always precede success.
Have to question your theory that united were able to pick from the creme of youth talent. That theory can’t hold much water as the cards were definetely stacked in the south of england teams favour when the fa brought in the 1 hour from home radius rule. I don’t have a year when this happened but it was a seriously hamstrung youth recruitment. Only way round it was for the youngters family to uproot.
More ink through to the printer Cheers.
I looked as I am getting a bit pist, only at the left hand side on this occasion.
Was Gary Neville free!
Beckham Free
Nicky Butt Free
Wes Brown Free
Edwin Van der Sar, £2 million, thats surely missing a zero there right!
Scholes free, this is a joke.
Ronaldo £12.6 million aye right.
Ryan free, now I dont believe this.
The Pole in Goal free £2.5 million, this is not possible!
O’shea Free, how many more times am I disbelieving this.
Darren, free fucking lies
I gave up on this when I read Jonny Evans is a free, this is a outright fantasy.
Micheal Owen Free, sorta can get that, but I bet he does something majic for us next season.
Rafael £2.5 million, Calm down a decent right back costs how much.And a future world class one. lies.
Fabio.£2 7 million. I think I dont no why he is gonna be effing great this season.
Look at our competitors left hand side in a similar manner you wont see free or as much achieved from very little.
I think its case proven by och you no who! lol.
And like most lads you can survey the list and think, Did he really cost that much! As that twat on the Aviva commercial said Bargain!
Probably like our new star Javier Hernandez.Bargain.
And our fabulous scouting system and growing the club the side through the youth and adhering to the ethic as installed bye Sir Matt, and reintroduced By Sir Alex.
Scott bag on mate Brilliant!
I think the thing that grabs you the most on this is How many player’s we have bought for Nothing these day’s i.e Vidic ,Evra but turned them into World beaters.
Also if you look at City squad you will also see there better players cost nothing to what they have paid i.e Kompany, Given etc. City spending does not worry me one little bit. As I think there buying too much in one go and unsettling the squad in doing it. Just imagine what is going through the Players mind’s!
It is this and Poor Management, Leadership that will prove there downfall and it is this that will eventually see the back of the Shieks That is a PROMISE!
Nemanja and Patrice are certainly worth more than what United paid for them no doubt.
I guess what some people see as nothing, relates to hard cash to others.
Goodnight.
Cmon United. Lets be having you at 1.30 BST.
FAIR POINTS AND THANKS FOR ANSWERING, TBH IM NOT GOOD WITH OTHER TEAMS HISTORY, AND JUS PRESUMED THAT YOU WERE PRETTY MUCH AT THE TOP WHEN THE PREM WAS STARTED, MY MISTAKE, WHICH DOES KINDA KILL MY QUESTION! ALL IM HOPIN IS THAT AT SOME POINT OVER THE NEXT FEW SEASONS WE HAVE A BREAK THRU YEAR LIKE YOU DID WHEN BECKHAM, GIGGS, SHARPE, NEVILLES AND SCHOLES CAME THRU!
FINGERS CROSSED! COS IM SICK OF BUYING 27+ YEAR OLDS FOR THE CLUB, WHEN WE SHOULD HAVE EQUALLY EFFECTIVE OPTIONS COMING FROM THE ACADEMY. YOSSI BINDIPPER BENAYOUN AS POINT IN CASE! MADNESS
Am i the only one who noticed that Anderson Cost us 18 Pounds hehehehehe according to Scot. Lol
Just thought you might want to take a look at this:
http://dbs-football.blogspot.com/2010/07/citys-brats-will-be-hard-to-control.html
Interesting article
) I don’t think city will have the same level of infighting as the French World Cup squad. Mancini seems more capable than Domenech who had no support from his players, fans, or even the FFF. It will be interesting to see how some of these egos at city will coexist though. But we have to remember these players have already chosen money above glory, so they probably wouldn’t care if they are left on the bench as long as they are getting their 100-200k salary 
Maybe the only ego big enough to manage all those egos would be ‘the Special One’.
Petr Cech 3.5 million? It was alot more than that
Stop kissing arse about this poor attempt at statistical manipulation. I could turn these figures into something completely different by being selective of the date ranges or choosing specific games. Whatever you doctor the figures to say the only thing that is true is that it takes a lot of money to claim the premier league. The clubs that have money will win, those without will not, it’s as simple as that. Clubs will fall off as their finances diminish (i.e. the scouse) and be replaced by more affluent teams, and yes this includes United, Chelsea and even my beloved City once our benefactor has done using us as a plaything, which will inevitable happen. Stop trying to justify who is the better team on money spent and just enjoy the ride whilst it lasts.