Rovers fans be proud - money isn’t everything!

By: David | April 17th, 2008

Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and youre okay.
Money, its a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I’ll buy me a football team.

Pink Floyd - Money

I’ve been worrying over the last few weeks that our lack of financial power could cause us to loose ground next year - this may have been reflected in my posts. If we look at the teams around us - Everton, Man City, Villa, Pompey, the Toon, Spurs and West Ham - they have all spent far more money than us and look likely to spend more this summer. Even Boro and Sunderland have far superior spending power.

Money!

However I read an article by Martin Samuel of the Times (excellent journalist - non UK readers, go to timesonline.co.uk, and also check out Gabrielle Marcotti (sp?)) a few days ago which woke me up a bit and has made me much more optimistic.

He takes a look at two clubs who have spent big recently - West Ham and Man City. Both have recently been taken over by foreign consortiums. Both of these new sets of owners declared big ambitions - Champions League football and breaking the top 4 dominance. But have they done it? More importantly do they look close to doing it? Sure, West Ham have had injury problems but can you really say their squad is better than that of Rovers. Man City look more promising but still it’s hard to see them doing much better next season than Everton have done this year.

Spurs had high hopes a year ago. They spent big but an accumulation of behind the scenes quarelling and a lack of balance in the squad has stopped them. Everton are a team full of quality but they can’t get close enough to Liverpool. Indeed, how well have English teams done in the UEFA Cup this year - are they really that good? Can the top 4 dominance be broken?

The good news is for us Rovers fans is that money doesn’t appear to be the only answer, and we can be proud of that. A few posts ago I calculated that our first 11 had cost us about £20mil, or 1.25 Darren Bent’s! And to see us where we are now after considering that is a real testament to Mark Hughes but also his bosses. And I’m not so sure we would have done so much better if we had spent twice as much, like other clubs. Indeed I think the squad we have could have done even better this season.

The bad news for football fans though is that the EPL is becoming ridiculously uncompetitive. Next season will prove once and for all whether anyone can catch the top 4. What’s really bad is that other clubs are beginning to spend close to the amount spent by the big clubs, yet they don’t seem to be getting much closer. The big 4 (IMO) have advantages in other areas -refereeing decisions often favour them, and I think officials at the FA and PL are intimidated by their power and financial capacity. This is not to say that they are not a class above the rest - the Champions League is proof of that - but, as a mid-tabled team fan, I’m getting really bored of them winning almost all the time. EPL best league in the world? I think I prefer La Liga personally.

And this brings us to the weekend’s match - Man Utd are coming to town! A point would be great, but the Santa has been talking big about how the team are fighting for European football and will not lie down to the champions-elect. On a side note, even though it pains me to say it, Man Utd are by far and away the best in Europe right now and a double should be expected by the fans.

On another aside my “other” team, Spanish fallen giants Valencia, won the Copa Del Rey on Wednesday, so kudos! Hope Rovers’ fans don’t mind the shout out.

So come on Rovers! A bit of strengthening and more consistency next year could put US in Everton’s position, and more hopefully. The coming game will be a good indicator of how far we have come this season and how this team can handle the big games. It’s time to separate the men from the boys.

I’d like to take this oppurtunity to apologise for some quite awful spelling and grammar in my posts; past, present and future. I often don’t have time to do proper checks and when I do I’m quite appalled.