Twitter......this is long, but well worth a read

In 1991, Kenny Dalgish took over an unfashionable club (Blackburn Rovers) lying in the bottom half of the old Second Division and won promotion to the new Premier League at his first attempt.

However, the real football version of coup d'etat happened in 1992.


Dalglish and Alex Ferguson (hereinafter referred to as Fergie or SAF of Man Utd) were both interested in a certain Alan Shearer of Southampton and everyone knew he would be very expensive.

Good news! Blackburn Rovers had owner - Jack Walker's million to rely on.



Man Utd were outbid & an English transfer record-breaking £3.6million was paid to the Saints (can't even buy Sikiru Olatunbosun with that figure now ), which saw Alan Shearer move North to Ewood Park in the middle of 1992

Welcome to the world of modern investments in football



With Jack Walker's wealth, Blackburn Rovers were able to add more players to their squad in an unprecedented way .

In July 1994, Kenny Dalglish bought Chris Sutton from Norwich City and broke Shearer's previous English transfer record of £3.6million.



With a price-tag of £5 million, Chris Sutton became the most expensive player in English football history.

In other words, Dalglish had broken the English transfer record twice in just 2 years and had assembled the COSTLIEST ENGLISH STRIKE FORCE EVER (£8.6 million) at the time.



Backed by Jack Walker, Dalglish continued to splash the cash.

He bought a goalkeeper - Tim Flowers - from Southampton for £2.4million and that made Flowers the most expensive goalkeeper in Britain at the time.

Yet, Dalglish was not done spending ("done talking" - Davido)



Apart from Shearer, Sutton and Flowers, other notable additions were Henning Berg, Ian Pearce, Graeme Le Saux, Stuart Ripley, Mark Atkins, Tim Sherwood, and Jason Wilcox.

These guys became very important to Rovers in 1994...



...when they finished 2nd behind Man Utd & when they won the title in 1995.

Particularly, Sutton & Alan Shearer (SAS) developed a strong partnership (long before BBC, MSN, CANE {Clement, Aguda, Nwobodo, Egbuchulam} or any other acronym) you love.



Alan Shearer scored 34 times that season while Chris Sutton scored 15 Premier League goals to help secure Blackburn Rovers' first league title since 1914.

Therefore, long before Chelsea, PSG, Man City and AC Milan...Dalglish existed



Alex Ferguson got "angry" & convinced the board at the time in Man Utd to splash the cash if they were to wrestle "their title" back from Blackburn

Investments were made on Andy Cole (£7m) {BRITISH TRANSFER RECORD} & David May (£1.25m) in 94/95 season; Jordi Cryuff (£1.3m), ...



...Karel Poborsky (£3.5m), Ole Solskjaer (£1.5m), and Ronny Johnsen (£1.2m) in 95/96 season; and Eric Nevland (£1.5m) and Teddy Sheringham (£3.5m) in 96/97 season; Jonathan Greening (£1.15m) and Henning Berg (£5m) in 97/98 season; Dwight Yorke (£12.6m), Jesper Blomqvist (£4.4m)..



... and Jaap Stam (£10.75m) in 98/99 season.

Fergie was CLEARLY NOT JOKING as THESE purchases represented massive investments.

No club in England could match UTD financially as revenue had risen astronomically

After Blackburn in 1995, Fergie won 5 of the next 6 titles



No One, including gentlemen such as @biolakazeem, @TheYomiKazeem @SegunThePundit, accused Dalglish or even Fergie of buying titles

It was seen as what it is: "INVESTMENTS".

in 01/02 Season, Fergie went on to buy Ruud V. Nistelrooy & Juan S. Veron for £19m & £28.1m respectively.



Fergie was vexing.

He could. He had the funds.

For £28.1m, Veron was the COSTLIEST PLAYER in the EPL until 02/03 season when Rio Ferdinand became the MOST EXPENSIVE PLAYER/DEFENDER in the EPL for £29.1m

Fergie bought anyone he deemed fit.

Did he "buy" the titles too?



The narrative is NO.

He chews gum, isn't bald and has his allegiance to one club, unlike "some glory-hunters"

Then came Roman's money into Chelsea and Arab money into Man City and the narrative has changed.

Coaches are suddenly buying titles. Well, Dalglish & Fergie didn't.



It must be emphasised that not every coach/team that spends is successful.

In 13/14 season, Spurs spent £103.7m (Paulinho, Chadli, Soldado, Capoue, Eriksen & co. - Gareth Bale money) & finished 6th behind Liverpool (2nd) and Arsenal (4th) who spent £42.5m & £48m respectively.



In 15/16 season, Arsenal spent a paltry £15m (Cech & Elneny) and FINISHED 2nd above HEAVY spenders like Man Utd and Man City.

Utd spent £103.6m (Martial, Depay, Darmian, Schneiderlin) and finished 5th.
City spent £152.1m (Sterling, Delph, Otamendi, De Bruyne) and finished 4th



Matter of fact, Utd out-spent City in the 14/15 season (as Fergie did all through the 90s & early 2000s).

Utd spent £145.5m (Herrera, Shaw, Rojo, Di Maria, Blind) & finished 4th.
City spent £87.5m (Mangala, Bony, Fernando, Caballero) & finished 2nd.

Where were the cry babies?



I didn't see cry babies accusing Man Utd of trying to buy titles in 14/15 Season.

I didn't hear noise about one coach dominating football because he spent heavily. Something Fergie did for many years.

This seems a curious case of selective amnesia.

Read on please.



Since 16/17 season (when Pep arrived England), three top-6 teams have crossed £100m in player transfers per season. Utd, City and Chelsea.

Utd: £149m (16/17) & £146m (17/18).
City: £168m (16/17) & £212m (17/18).
Chelsea: £119m (16/17) & £187m (17/18).



This clearly shows emphasis on INVESTMENTS in players.

It's saddening and hypocritical that those who WAIL the most about Pep Guardiola and what he offers the football world are those that have benefited (still benefiting) from their team's respective investments in players.



Your team does it, "We are the best".

Pep does it, "He is buying titles".

Shush it. Let me give you more facts. Facts only.



The most consecutive WINS in La Liga history is 16.

First achieved by Barcelona between 16 Oct 2010 & 5 February 2011. Blaugrana outscored opponents by a combined 60 - 6 margin.

It was equalled by Real Madrid from 2 March to 18 Sept 2016. Blancos achieved a 51-12 margin.



Who was in charge of Barcelona when they went on this winning streak, scoring so much and conceding little? PEP GUARDIOLA.

Oh!

"He has Xavi and Iniesta, and Messi particularly. He can't do anything outside Barcelona"

Dude moves to Germany, where there is no Messi, et al.



Set a new Bundesliga record of 19 straight wins in his first season and wins the title with 7 games to spare.

All achieved without Messi, Xavi and Iniesta.

"Oh he cant try that in England. The lower teams can defeat anyone on their day"

Dude accepts the challenge.



Joins Man City.

Into the 2nd season, 16 straight WINS. Not just that.

Playing some of the most amazing, breath-taking, swash-buckling football ever since the Arsenal's INVINCIBLES.

Can't we see a trend fellas?

When shall we admit PEP's Legend?



He has his faults like every one, like every manager.

But he is a natural-born purist. He has his ideas about how he wants his team to play & they interpret that for him on the pitch

Be it Man Utd, Chelsea or Man City, PEP will not be the first or the last to INVEST in football



But he will be one of a few who demand that football should be played in a certain way and enjoyed (Has he ever parked the Bus or adopted a defensive-minded approach? Can't recall).

You cannot erase the legacy of PEP.

He is one of his generation's finest.



Whether he spends 1 Billion in 2 years is immaterial.

People have been spending before he arrived and people will still spend long after he is gone.

But he has proven this is arguably the best team in English history.

Res ipsa loquitor. The facts speak for itself #End

Good read indeed Andy....although it isn't us that this needs to be read by.
This is something we're all aware of.