Has Manchester City’s spending been worth its rewards?
Manchester City have spent over £200 million pounds since the new owner in Sheik Mansour came onto the scene in 2008. City has brought in world class players such as Carlos Tevez and David Silva for no return in silverware, and although a significant improvement has been seen by City, the improvement of poorer teams such as Tottenham would appear to be even greater.
Since having new owners, City has become the richest club in the Premier League, and has not been afraid to demonstrate it with regular world class signings. City have finally risen to 3rd in this season’s Premiership, which does show their increasing progress in England, and also qualifies them for the Champions League. It would appear that Manchester City are definitely showing that short term rewards are less important than the long term gains. However, will City’s fans become too impatient to end their long wait for silverware?
City’s Champions League rivals Tottenham have seen a remarkable improvement in recent seasons with a significantly smaller budget. This success by Tottenham is hopefully going to be reflected, but surely Tottenham’s improvement should be equal to or at least lower than their Manchester rivals because of the amount of quality they have imported to Eastlands.
However, aside from on the pitch, City’s middle east revival has also given benefits to their stadium and it is clear the Mansour sees City as a long term investment with the club’s training facilities and academy going through vast improvements in the last three years.
Although Manchester City are improving at a slower rate than some may have hoped, their improvements are increasing with every season (or at least every transfer window). And although there have been few short term rewards for City, the path is being set for longer and hopefully greater achievements.
