Andrew Fifieldpredicts a season of little change in the Premier League despite the huge sums invested by the division's lesser lights
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The FA Premiership might have been spruced up this summer, rebranding itself as the Premier League, composing a new pre-match anthem and tweaking its rule-book, but beneath the surface little has altered.
This year, even more than last, it is money which will be the most crucial player of all. More cash has been spent this pre-season than any other in English league history, and by more clubs. When Chelsea - the prime market movers in 2004 and 2005, but more cautious in recent months - are made to look like penny-pinchers the situation is clearly serious. Jose Mourinho was last night preparing a formal bid of €29.5 million for Sevilla defender Daniel Alves. But if that deal goes through, Chelsea will make €40 million from the likely sale of Arjen Robben to Real Madrid.
This was always likely to be a spendthrift summer, with club coffers swelled to hitherto unprecedented levels by a new €2.5 billion domestic television rights deal with Sky and Setanta Sports, but the shock has come from seeing the Premier League's lesser lights attempting to out-dazzle the glitterati.
Fulham, Wigan and Sunderland may expect to be scrambling to avoid relegation by the end of the season. But in spending terms they are Champions League contenders, with Roy Keane sufficiently emboldened to fritter a staggering €13.2 million on the relatively unproven Craig Gordon. Scottish goalkeepers used to be the butt of a thousand cruel jokes; now, in the money-laden Premier League, they are record-breakers.
The man who has set the standard in profligacy is Manchester City's latest ringmaster, Sven-Goran Eriksson. This in itself is not surprising; the former England manager has always had a taste for the finer things in life and, to his credit, his previous shopping sprees have generally been swiftly rewarded. At Lazio, the millions of Sergio Cragnotti bought the Serie A title in 2001.
Yet the most telling aspect of Eriksson's eye-watering €51 million outlay was his recent revelation that most of the new arrivals have been acquired simply on the basis of flickering DVD images and positive reviews from a clutch of trusted informants. It does not smack of sure-fire planning and the fact the manager's first glimpse of his new signings in live competitive action will be in today's trip to West Ham United is enough to have City's long-suffering supporters howling at their blue moon.
That is the way of things in the modern market. In the pre-transfer window era, a new manager had time to assess the limitations of his new squad and act accordingly, reducing panic-buying to a minimum. Now, with the new TV deal inflating prices and the August 31st deadline looming large, an air of desperation has taken hold, even of the supposedly ice-cool Eriksson.
The Swede's sense of urgency has been heightened by the presence of Thaksin Shinawatra, the controversial former Thai prime minister whose consortium completed a €126.7million buy-out in July.
New owners - especially ones who have attracted unsolicited attention from Amnesty International - know the only way to placate supporter anxiety is to take out their cheque-book, but that in itself can become a burden.
Asking prices are notoriously flexible when the buyer is flushed with new money, as West Ham discovered when Kieron Dyer's value suddenly leapt by 33 per cent just as he was about to relocate to east London, and with seven clubs boasting owners who have been in charge for less than 18 months, the market-place is dangerously unstable.
Money also brings pressure. Rafael Benitez has enjoyed a blissfully peaceful three years at Liverpool thanks to both his remarkable Champions League record and the relatively meagre resources granted him by the club's former power-brokers. But Benitez's plea for funds, made in an emotional press conference the morning after the Champions League final defeat to Milan in May, has been answered emphatically by the new American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
The duo's pockets are now €73.6 million lighter, with 30 million of that reserved for the exciting Spain striker Fernando Torres, and they will demand a palpable return. Liverpool were out of the title race before Christmas last season; a repeat showing would place Benitez's position as manager in serious jeopardy, regardless of the club's European exploits.
Martin Jol is under similar scrutiny at Tottenham Hotspur. The Dutchman's gregarious nature and habit of producing aesthetically pleasing football, with mainly British players, ensures his popularity. But Spurs' board are growing twitchy and they have informed their head coach of the need to start accumulating more than just positive write-ups. A top-four finish and a cup should be the target, especially as so much uncertainty shrouds Arsenal's post-Henry future.
Manchester United and Chelsea should still feel confident of maintaining their duopoly at the top of the Premier League, but the influx of cash in the division's nether regions should at least ensure the new season's relegation battle is more tightly-contested than ever.
Derby and Birmingham have been written off with good reason, but Reading, Aston Villa and Bolton - who have all kept spending to a minimum this summer, though hardly through choice - should be casting anxious glances over their shoulders. If this summer has proved anything, it is that the new-look Premier League is no place for pragmatists.
