Many years ago I read a book titled "Left Foot in the Grave". Written by Torquay player-coach Garry Nelson, it chronicled a tumultuous 1996-97 season in the old third division. It was "a view from the bottom of the football league", far removed from the fantasyland of the Barclays Premier League.
Nelson was charged with the impossible task of resuscitating a team that was, essentially, beyond hope. There were no transfer funds. When he wanted to bring a new player to the club, he had to 1) sell off useless deadwood; 2) only bring players in on loan; and 3) somehow convince those loaned players that it was worth their while fighting for his lost cause.
When you follow a Premiership team, it's easy to forget that most clubs aren't owned by ridiculously successful businesspeople, sheiks, or oil oligarchs.
Queens Park Rangers were the big spenders over the winter transfer period as they snapped up Bobby, Djibril Cisse and Nedum Onuoha, among others. But which teams have performed the best in relation to how much they spent before the season began?
Unsurprisingly, Manchester City had the most lavish outlay when recruiting new talent. Mancini spent £68m (NZ$128m) to bring Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero, Stefan Savic, and Gael Clichy to Eastlands. The result? Sixty points after 25 matches, two more than deadly rivals United, and enjoying the view from the top of the Premier League tree.