‘New money’ = success?

Tevez lifts City's first major trophy in decades

With Manchester City finally qualifying for the Champions League alongside winning a trophy for the first time in 35 years, and so much always being made about clubs needing vast amounts of money to break the traditional big clubs monopoly of prizes, I look to see if money is the answer. Does ‘new money’ guarantee success? Has any sustained success yet been achieved by clubs coming into ‘new money’? I argue it doesn’t & it hasn’t.
No ‘new money’ club has yet established domination, be it at league or European level.  The power still remains with the historically successful big clubs.

Evidence

Let’s take a look at the three major European leagues, and view the ‘big’ clubs who have historically dominated, versus the ‘new money’ big boys on the block and see if they have been successful in breaking the monopoly.

England

Historically, there are only two teams who have dominated England’s top division for extended periods of time – Liverpool and Manchester United. Between them, they have won the country’s top league on no fewer than 37 occasions (18 & 19 respectively).

Gerrard lifts Liverpool's 5th European Cup in 2005

Liverpool are the most successful team in English football history winning 44 major titles overall. The Reds main period of domination saw them win an astonishing 32 major trophies over a 19 year period - a dynasty that ran from 1972-1991. They are also English footballs most successful club in Europe, with 5 European Cup’s to their name.

Next is Manchester United, with an overall major trophy haul currently standing at 41. This is, at the time of writing, the most successful period in their history. Coincidentally, they too have had a 19 year period of domination, starting in 1992 until present.  During this time they have claimed 27 major titles.

Arsenal have earned their right to stand alongside Liverpool and Man Utd by consistently challenging for honours (winning 27 major trophies) - though their only true period of domestic domination was way back in the 30’s, pre-World War II (when in 8 seasons they won the league 5 times, finished runners-up once and won the FA Cup twice).

So, England has 3 established heavyweights. The historical big boys. But England is arguably the place where the ‘new money' revolution started. Indeed, the Premier League has been the place to be if you’re a billionaire foreign investor, with no fewer than 8 of the clubs being involved in major takeovers in the last 8 years or so.

It was Chelsea and their Russian billionaire boss Roman Abramovich who led the way. Was instant success achieved? Yes, at domestic level anyway. Since 2003, when Abramovich bought the West end club Chelsea have won 7 major titles. During this period they have also finished runner’s up on every occasion they failed to take the title, bar one (when Liverpool finished second). So domestic silverware was instantly achieved, but what about their European challenge? The billionaire investors want the most prestigious trophy and it doesn’t come more prestigious than the European Cup. Try as they might Chelsea have never won Europe’s biggest prize. In fact, in what is currently the best period of their history, they have only managed to reach the final once – losing on penalties to Manchester United in 2008.

Indeed it has been Manchester United, an established ‘big boy’, who has stood in Chelsea’s way of true domination domestically. They fail in comparison when measured against the historical big team’s records in Europe and until they win a European Cup or two, a question will be raised. This elusive cup remains Abramovich’s obsession. His ‘new money’ injection has given them success, but I’ll argue that their initial successes were more down to the management of Jose Mourinho, than the actual money itself. Yes money helped, but Mourinho was more of a major factor. You can have all the money in the world, but if you haven't got the right manager to handle the situation, the investment won't pay dividends.

Always number 1 at Chelsea - Jose Mourinho

Amazingly, Abramovich’s Chelsea are not the biggest advocates of ‘new money’ spending in the Premier League, with Manchester City’s owners from Abu Dhabi dwarfing the Russian’s spending power. It is here that we really see that ‘new money’ cannot guarantee any success instantly, and proof that the right manager is just as important. Since 2008 when the Middle Eastern sheiks bought the club, Manchester City have invested over £1 billion pounds on winning. Trophies they have to show for their outlay? 1 FA Cup (won this month). In the league since the sheiks took over they have finished 10^th, 5^th and now look on course to finish 3^rd. Indeed this will be the first season that they have managed to qualify for the Champions League. Their European forrays have been limited to the Europa League, where they have failed to reach past the quarter-final stages. 
  
Now that they have finally rid themselves of the trophy-less voodoo and qualified for the Champions League, Manchester City may well go on to be the force that their investments threaten. It’s been a slower process than most would have expected with their unlimited spending power, which goes to show that money does not equal instant success outside the established big boys.

Before we leave the Premier League, it is fitting that we mention Blackburn Rovers. Back in 1995 after spending what was incredible amounts of money provided by owner Jack Walker, Blackburn won the Premier League. But far from starting a period of success, that one league title was all they got to show for millions spent and Blackburn went into decline. It was a pre-cursor to the massive amounts of investment we see today on trying to ‘buy’ success and serves as a warning to all trying to attain such heights by throwing money at it. Recently Blackburn have been taken over by an Indian investment group, who promised to invest heavily, and challenge in the league by signing world superstars (linked with Ronaldinho to name but one). However nobody of note was signed during the transfer window and Blackburn have struggled – even being dragged into a relegation dogfight. If they survive and investment is made in the summer it will be interesting to see how they compare to similar Premier League clubs who have had none, or very little investment.

So for every Chelsea, Manchester City & even Blackburn, non have overtaken Liverpool, Man Utd or even Arsenal in establishing true domination.

Spain

Over in Spain things are much clearer. If you’re not Barcelona or Real Madrid, you can virtually forget the league title. These are, historically AND presently, the only two clubs which dominate La Liga consistently. Investments in La Liga clubs have been few and far between and the scale of money ploughed into any clubs pale in significance when viewed against the Premier League and the big two, making for difficult comparisons.

Real Madrid are the country’s most successful club winning a massive 64 major titles in their history including 31 La Liga titles. They had two major periods of domination, the first running from 1953-1980 saw them win 30 major titles, whilst the second, running from 1985-1990 saw them win an additional 8 titles. Real Madrid also have one other thing that other clubs aspire to be: they are the most successful club in European Cup history, winning the title a record 9 times.

Messi torments the Sevilla defence

Madrid’s power in Spain is shared by Barcelona, the countries second most successful team. At the time of writing, the view is that Barcelona are the best team in the world. In their history, they have won 61 major trophies, which include 21 La Liga titles. Their periods of domination have been spread over three distinct phases: 1944-1963 brought 16 trophies, 1990-1999 saw them win 13, and from 2004-present they have accumulated another 11 titles.

The pure trophy winning power demonstrated by these two giants of the world game have affected the ability of the other teams in the league to try and establish any kind of domination. Yes, other teams (Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia) have enjoyed successful periods, but overall control is in the hands of the Clásico rivals.

Such an established monopoly may have had an influence in why very few foreign owners have looked to break into La Liga. Malaga are one such club who have taken the plunge. In 2010 a Qatari'an investment group bought them and installed Manual Pellerini as coach as an interesting project appeared to take shape. However things didn’t go according to plan and Malaga spent the season fighting off relegation, narrowly avoiding the drop.

Italy

Once seen as the most glamorous, most expensive league in the world, Serie A has faded in recent years. However it remains home to some of the world’s best supported, closely followed and successful clubs. Similar to Spain though, no major takeovers, barring Roma (which has only just happened), have occurred. Roma, whilst being a big club in their own right, have never dominated Serie A and will be looking to establish a true period of success, which would see them breaking the stranglehold that the traditional top three sides in Italy have over the competition: Juventus, Inter and AC Milan.

Juventus are the biggest supported club in Italy; and with good reason – they are the most successful (domestically at least). The Turin giants have won a record 27 Scudetti and 46 major titles overall. 1971-1986 was their golden period, winning 16 different trophies.

AC Milan are Italy’s most successful club in European competition, winning 7 European cups. They have also won the Scudetto 18 times, achieving 41 major titles in their history. Their most established period of domination ran from 1987-1999 when they won 14 major trophies.
 

'Beautiful' scenes at a Milan derby

City rivals Inter Milan are the final team who have dominated the peninsula winning 33 major titles, which include 18 Scudetti . We are currently in the midst of Inter’s most dominating period, who have benefited most from the Calciopoli scandal which decimated Juventus. From 2004 until now, whilst Juventus have failed to win a thing, Inter have accumulated 10 major trophies.

So whilst Roma have challenged from time to time, they will be looking for this new investment to equate to a dominance, only achieved by the Milan giants and Juventus. There are signs that Serie A will be more competitive in the coming seasons, with Inter failing to win the Scudetto this season for the first time since Calciopoli. It may be Roma’s chance...

Europe.

The ultimate sign of any club establishing domination on the game has to be by winning the biggest prize on offer – the European Cup. Since the ‘new money’ explosion hit European football has any club that has benefited from major investment won the biggest prize on offer? The answer is no. In fact, since this time (taken from 2004 – a year into Chelsea’s investment) European club football’s most prized possession has been contested by the established elite, barring one occasion when Chelsea reached the final – and lost. As we can see:

Champions League finals (since 2004-2005):
Contested by: Manchester Utd (3), Barcelona (3), Liverpool (2), AC Milan (2), Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Chelsea.

Puyol lifts Barca's 3rd European Cup in Rome

In this group, the only club, other than Chelsea, not to win the trophy in their history are Arsenal. Bayern are Germany’s most successful club and have won the European cup on 4 occasions – a definite traditional powerhouse of their domestic league and the European game.

Summary

Yes, the traditional powerhouses of club football are mostly richer than the others in their respective leagues, but this has been earned throughout their history; years and years of winning & domination – it has not just been handed over by somebody unconnected to the club, in the hope of gaining power and a fast buck. The more you win, the more money you earn. This becomes a vicious circle for every other club trying to break in and compete. This leads them to seek investment in the hope of becoming successful – which brings us back to the point; it still doesn’t and hasn’t brought sustained success. Will it ever? Manchester City, Chelsea and Roma will be hoping so.

Until then, domination still lies with the traditional big boys.