Can money really buy trophies in sport?

Football is one of my favourite sports and the English Premier League can get my heart racing like very few things can. One such day while sitting on the couch, I was enjoying a game of football between Arsenal and Manchester City when the camera was panned to a placard in the audience. It read “You Can’t Buy Class”. It was a taunt by one of the Arsenal fans about the ‘big spending’ attitude of Manchester City and it really got me thinking. Can spending a lot of money really win you competitions? Is the trophy always reserved for the team with the fattest purse? Let us start analyzing this with football.

The world of club football is filled with uncertainties. Loyalty to a particular club is a quality that is rarely seen in any player these days. The best players are always being bid for by rich clubs and more often than not, the bid is accepted. Clubs like Manchester City, Real Madrid, Chelsea, more recently, Paris Saint Germaine are always active in the transfer market spending huge amounts of dollars so that the best players can be bought. All these clubs are very popular and boast of a huge fan base around the world but have they won every trophy they have competed in? Not Really. In fact some of these teams have won far less than their rivals who have fuelled in a lot less money. It is because in a team sport like football, the gelling of players is of paramount importance. You may have players who are brilliant individually but it is often seen that they can’t play or it takes them a lot of time to adjust alongside other players of the team.

To be honest, enriching your teams with the best players does a lot of harm as well. Each of these world renowned players comes with their own set of egos. It is very difficult to keep them happy as they expect themselves to be the centre of all activity on the pitch, they expect to be the key in all strategies. It is a very tricky balancing job for the manager of such teams. On the other hand, teams who are not spending as much, and as a result are not bringing in new players, already have a team that is gelling well and players who understand each other. Their players know each other’s shortcomings and can make up for it. They need no time to adjust and can put on their A game right from the first match.

The fans of rival clubs always argue that it is money that these teams are banking on. It is the sheer power of money that is winning them matches. What they don’t understand is that this is not an individual sport where a world class, expensive player can carry his team solely on his shoulders. It is a team sport where other players are also required to perform well in order to win. Many a times those other players are talented youths who the club’s youth academy has transformed into brilliant sportsmen. That is why one feels their argument that money is winning them trophies doesn’t hold much ground.

Let us turn to cricket. The IPL and Champions League T20 has suddenly brought club cricket into the limelight. In the IPL it is the Chennai SuperKings and the Mumbai Indians who are the big spenders. They are known to spend a huge amount of money allotted to them on famous players but here, too, it hasn’t helped them much. Although Chennai SuperKings have been extremely successful I would attribute their success to some intelligent investment in specialist players instead of mindless spending. They built a team smartly which plays around their captain MS Dhoni and have backed some players like Suresh Raina, Badrinath and Murali Vijay, players with great potential. Their faith in these players is repaid each year since they play a key part in Chennai playing really well and being among the top four everytime. The Mumbai Indians have started prospering quite recently. They have been spending big right since the first auction but the fact that it is now that they are succeeding proves that it is certainly not money that is making them successful.

Not just cricket and football but all other sports which follow a club competition system are witness to this fact. Sport is not so fickle to buy with money. It is hard work and consistent efforts that make you successful. One may spend but if it is not backed up with discipline and consistency it won’t get you anywhere. The recent success of clubs like Rajasthan Royals further proves my point. The Rajasthan franchisee must be among the least spending franchisees but that did not stop them from finishing in the top four in the IPL and play the final of the Champions League. Thus, one feels some of the fans are doing a great disservice to sport by saying money can help you succeed. If that is the case, just give the trophy to the team with the most money. Why waste your time by playing and watching it?