in fact, the point about Rafa rebuilding is pretty much the point i was making here. it seemed grossly unfair to hold MON’s management record up to scrutiny against his spending and almost take the view that ‘he can’t be that good because he’s spent £85m and hasn’t delivered champions league yet’.

with close to 80% of that spend coming in the last two seasons it seems harsh to judge him this way at this time. especially when we’re not out the running for 4th yet, although we’re clearly not the favourites.

the main point though is that after many years of investment, the “big four” are in a position where they’re effectively dealing in more expensive players both in sales and purchases. the net spend will be comparable to teams dealing in cheaper players.

if we reach the point where we’re selling more gareth barry’s than gavin mccann’s, then our net spend will fall back into line too.

When we try to compare Benitez’s reign to the other clubs over that period, we often take into account that he had to completely rebuild from when he arrived. It was interesting to see you compare clubs from the start of the premier league, and see how level we are with UTD in terms of spend, something I hadn’t really considered before.

I think what I’ve learned from reading this is that the comparison of each clubs spending is slightly floored (not just on this blog but in general) although it does make logical sense. Each club has it’s own situation. Each has had it’s own good/bad management (both on and off the pitch) at different times thus making the job of fairly scrutinising each manager and club pretty impossible.

you almost make my point for me. Rafa apparently spent a net £50m over 04/05 & 05/06, but we’re to ignore that and then say that MON has spent more than Rafa in the last 4 years? a period which including receiving £30m for Alonso? i don’t think so.

the relative qualities within that transfer spend is entirely subjective and outside of what i was trying to tackle here. incidentally, i wouldn’t necessarily disagree with you in that area. i think we’d all like to see some amazing new talent unearthed or some grand marque signing, but, as i say, that’s not the point of this post.

If your comparing MON’s transfer policy to Benitez’s you have to remember he didn’t inherit Alonso, Reina, Kronkamp, Garcia, Morientes etc.. he purchased them. The squad which Benitez inherited was desperately poor too, but for ageing stalwarts like Hyypia and Hammann. Gerrard was considered good and a future Vieira but never idolised in the way he is now (world class platitudes, etc)until they won the CL final.

MON is good but his transfer policy lacks that bit of invention that is needed to bridge the financial gap.

Hmm, we’re too close in our way of thinking, it seems.

I’ll have to try and look into ways of debate.

How about I pick you up on your lack of capital “I”s when you start a sentence?

Keep up the good work.

when i first started getting involved in the “online debate”, which sadly was a couple of years ago and the content was essentially identical to now, i asked the question ‘if not MON, then who?’.

there were no realistic alternatives that anyone could reasonably describe as a better option.

i like moyes, as you do, and match your appraisal of hodgson too. good candidates if we needed to find someone should MON move on, but not to replace him.

i believe we have a man at the helm who can get us to where we want to be, given time, but, more importantly, leave a legacy for the next man to continue.

sustainability once again.

Perhaps I have a few years on you, but I’m prepared to wait, as long as I see things are progressing.
Whilst I can understand the “I want it now” attitude, that requires megabucks. I’ll piss myself if Man City don’t get top 4 this season, fwiw.
You can either see the likes of Delph as someone who’s going to be good or a waste of money.
I see the former.

“time will indeed tell, but the negativity can eventually become to a self-fulfilling prophecy if we’re not careful, which is another topic i have bouncing around my little head at the moment.”

Absolutely.

“my real fear is that the boo boys force MON out and then we have to start all over again. even if the next manager is “better”, we still go through another rebuilding period we can’t afford.”

Who’s better that would come to us?

Maybe Moyes (who I very much respect) or Hodgson (who I also respect but did nothing at Blackburn).
I’m not madly convinced by either.

It’s just nice to see that you’re balanced in your views and it’s not all kneejerk reactions

time will indeed tell, but the negativity can eventually become to a self-fulfilling prophecy if we’re not careful, which is another topic i have bouncing around my little head at the moment.

my real fear is that the boo boys force MON out and then we have to start all over again. even if the next manager is “better”, we still go through another rebuilding period we can’t afford.