To all fans, bloggers and supporters of Man Utd: Don’t feel apologetic about the way your club is spending this season; we didn’t either, in the last two seasons. This time, Man Utd has really splashed the cash, as they say. They’ve bought some good youngsters, who may not retire at Man Utd, but might still earn the club some handsome cash when they leave. All in all, some good business propositions.

Jose said this few weeks back:

People ask Chelsea, ‘Last season you won two trophies; why did you not win four?’ But not many journalists ask Rafael Benitez and Arsene Wenger, ‘Why zero?’ And not many people ask Manchester United, ‘Why only the Premiership?’. Is it about money? If it is, I hope that next season the media put pressure on the big spenders because the big spenders for sure will not be Chelsea. The spenders will be Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham and maybe Arsenal. I don’t know, but it won’t be Chelsea for sure. So maybe at the beginning of next season they will say that Chelsea are not the favourites any more because the club did not spend so much money.

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When Jose Mourinho said that the pressure is on Man Utd this season because of their spending, I thought he was just trying to psychologically pass the pressure to Man Utd. Either Jose did that to perfection or [tag]Man Utd[/tag] are truly feeling the heat to deliver. The Reds are a big club in every sense of the word and there is always pressure to finish on top. The aspirations of Chelsea are much more modest. If you remember well, Roman’s expectation, when he took over in 2003, was to win one champions league title by 2010 and and the second one by 2015. In a league where we have teams of high quality in the top 4, back-to-back premiership titles is quite an achievement and we could end up with one or two more by 2010.

Sir Alex had said this about Jose Mourinho:

Forget the mind games – I like him. I think he sees himself as the young gunslinger who has come into town to challenge the sheriff who has been around a while. He was certainly full of it, calling me “boss” and “big man” when we had our post-match drink.

This applies to Man Utd – Chelsea situation too. Man Utd has been the ‘sheriff (or gunslinger, depending on your allegiances) who has been around a while’ and Chelsea is the new gunslinger/sheriff that has moved to the town. To match clubs like Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal, without huge investments of money is not impossible but it would have taken much more time. You can call yourself a good team and forever finish at No.4. In all the premier football leagues in Europe, victory is not guaranteed without sufficient investment. If this sheriff/gunslinger has to challenge the one who has been around, they have to beat them in their own game.

When Chelsea spent huge sums of money, it was not without a reason. The club was bought by an ambitious football-loving billionaire businessman (unlike Mr.Glacier from the Himalayas) and he brought the best coach available. In such circumstances, you’d surely expect these two to revamp the whole team to get settled down with the players and staff of their choice. Roman and Jose were on a mission to rebuild the team and launch ourselves to send out a message to the Premiership. All teams would have done this at different scales at some point of their history.

This whole exercise came with a heavy cost and thus the 04-05 and 05-06 were expensive. In 06-07, only Shevchenko’s transfer was believed to be on the higher side. As of now, there are no confirmed reports on the total amount of the deal, so we can all that we want. In this season, we’ve spent only on [tag]Malouda[/tag] and probably would spend on a right back.

abramovich_chelsea2.jpgTruly, Chelsea does not seem to be interested in being the big spenders anymore. The core of the team is there. We’ve managed to retain the key players despite poachers from Europe. Free signings and high salaries would still mean heavy expenditure but, Roman is ready to take the losses now and you might know that Chelsea does not expect to break-even before 2010. And that’s why Chelsea may not be able to use the generated revenues for transfers, which is absolutely natural, given the circumstances.

Talking about future of these two football clubs, I’d put my money on [tag]Roman[/tag] than [tag]Glazer[/tag] to stay in the business of football. While Glazer came in and put Man Utd in a $850 mn debt, Roman has created a trust fund of about $900 mn for safeguarding Chelsea’s future. Also, Roman loves football. In addition to his ownership of Chelsea, his connections with CSKA Moscow, the Russian national team, his football academy and the new multi-million dollar training facility at Cobham etc all point to his love for football and his willingness to take this very seriously and also with a long term view. On the other hand, Glazer’s intentions with Man Utd are still unclear. Oh, I almost forgot. As a football fan, I had also contributed to Shareholders United with a little of my hardearned money.

So, surely Chelsea’s spending is not the same as Man Utd’s. After a buying spree during the seasons of rebuilding and consolidation, Chelsea seems to have settled down with their budget and their cost of transfers. Man Utd has been traditionally a big spender (from self-generated or borrowed or invested, whatever you call it) and after a couple of quiet seasons, they are back at it again.

I could’ve provided a lot of relevant links, but I’m too lazy to search for them now. As you made out, nothing significant in the transfer market. To end on a positive note, Gallas is extremely happy that he moved to Arsenal and he never waits for a moment to express that. Rot in hell!