Spend Spend Spend… then spend more
Published: September 1, 2011
THE CROW
ARSENAL’S dizzying and uncharacteristic, some might say Redknappesque, rush to sign as many players as possible in the past couple of days has been quite bizarre.
It should be set to music, the Benny Hill theme. Chasing anything with a pulse, I don’t think there has been a time when the club has signed or made offers for as many players in such a short space of time. It’s a shame then, that this last-minute dash has the worrying feel of a man who goes out to buy his wife a present on Christmas Eve, returning home just before the shops close with a foot spa, a DVD box set of something pink and flowers from the garage.
Unwrap that and it looks even more pathetic when the bloke down the road is splashing out on fast cars, a villa in Spain, diamonds and other expensive stuff. Arsenal’s decision to only really spend what they earn and having to wait for Manchester City and Barcelona’s cheques to clear before entering the market means they are operating in their own little world. There is a moral high ground to their financial fair play and in truth, in their most private moments, Man City and Chelsea fans are a little sheepish about how their success has been bought rather than nurtured. I even know some Chelsea fans who yearn for the days of John Bumstead and a greyhound track around the pitch. But the world has moved on – to a place where if you don’t spend £100m in the summer you are at risk of getting a walloping at Old Trafford. And what a walloping that was.
RICHARD OSLEY
BRAD Friedel has played two games for Tottenham, let in eight goals and can’t be blamed for any of them.
Manchester City’s 5-1 destruction of Spurs at White Hart Lane on Sunday is a lesson in what happens when you stand still in any walk of life – and frankly what happens when you don’t. It’s said that money isn’t everything, but like my dad retorts, “it’s better to have it than not!”
Since January we’ve spent very little money, especially compared to City who have spent over £70m! Like it or not, money talks.
On the final day of the transfer window we signed Scott Parker from doomed West Ham. Parker is a good player but we have a plethora of midfield players and even if and when Luka Modric does eventually leave, why buy another? Apparently it’s because of injuries.
Tottenham need a presence in defence and up front that they don’t already have. Some would describe Peter Crouch as more of an annoyance than a threat and it’s obvious that the love affair between Harry Redknapp and Jermain Defoe is over: so what now?
Spurs are too good to go down (where have we heard that one before?) but unless they do something soon we’ll be like Liverpool were last season, chasing the pack. To be fair, at times four-goal City striker Edin Dzeko was unplayable, making runs that puzzled Spurs derisory defence. I’d like to say Arsenal’s 8-2 mauling at Man United made up for it. It did, but only a little.
TONY DALLAS