A Defence for Fergie

Last night, Sir Alex Ferguson branded the spending by various clubs in the Premier League as "kamikaze." Obviously, this comment has drawn the ire of the media.

But, why?

If anything, he's right. For the past two years the spending at Manchester City has been down right pathetic. However, because Fergie has spent his fair share on players in the past, he is labelled a hypocrite. Fergie has topped the £30 million mark only three times (on Rooney, Ferdinand and Berbatov) over his twenty-four year stint at Old Trafford, whilst across the city his rivals have splashed the cash willy-nilly. Listening to Talk Sport radio earlier today, one of the hosts, 'Goughie' (a Google search tells me it's ACTUALLY ex-cricketer Darren Gough) argued that Ferguson has "spent loads" this summer. Well Darren, a quick Google search will tell you that Man United have spent only £27.4 million on Smalling, Chicharito and Bebe, whilst City have shelled out £126m on SIX players. You were saying, Darren?

Like any rational pundit, Gough then went on to accuse Ferguson of being scared of City. Right. In my humble opinion, Manchester City won't even qualify for the Champions League this season, nevermind "scare" Fergie. Ferguson argues that money doesn't always equal success, and once again, he is right. It's right for any sport. In baseball, the New York Yankees top the spending chart year after year and have only won the World Series once this decade.

The foundation of the Man United and Chelsea title-winning teams of recent years has been down to solid team structure and (for the most part) building from within. The majority of Manchester United's success the past eighteen years has been down to players like Giggs and Scholes, players that came through the ranks and built a team structure. Likewise, Chelsea have relied on the talents of Lampard, Terry and Drogba to bring them titles. To win the Premier League, you need four core attributes:

1. Pure talent.
2. Teamwork.
3. Room for growth.
4. Depth.

Without any one of the four, you simply can't win a title. Last season, champions Chelsea had pure talent, great teamwork, but still had room for growth with players like Mikel stepping up and taking the Essien role and running with it, which also showed the depth of their squad.

So, back to Gough and his "Fergie is scared" comment. Right now, I'd say City only have one attribute, that being pure talent (obviously). You could argue they have a deep squad, but what use is a deep squad if the first team can't play well together? We already saw in their draw at Tottenham last Saturday they lack teamwork. Room for growth is always a possibility, but they need to prove that they aren't just a team of stars, and be able to work together. City's best player in that match was goalkeeper Joe Hart, which is never a good sign. Also not a good sign? Coach Mancini appointing Carlos Tevez as captain. If your captain can't speak English to a majority English-speaking team, how can that work well in the long run?

Finally, Gough's last stab at Fergie was that he had never seen Bebe play before he spent £7.4 million on him. Sure, Fergie should probably have taken a look at the lad before he spent the Glazers cash, but it also shows faith in his scouts. His scouts watched Chicharito last December and recommended him, so Fergie watched him in action. Just because he hasn't seen Bebe play before doesn't mean he's ignorant or a bad manager, it shows trust in his staff.