HAVE WE BEEN UNDERPERFORMING ALL THESE YEARS, OR DOES THE TRANSFERMARKET WEBSITE PROVE OTHERWISE?
Following on from AndersS thought provoking article the other day, I decided to take a visit to the site myself and spent quite a while looking at what they have to offer.
One of their excellent spreadsheets keeps one up to date with what each club players values are, on a rolling season by season valuation.
This enables one to look at, not only total spend, but then also, how the valuations compare to where a club finishes and also the actual nett figure regarding the ins and outs of players (I have put in brackets their positions on spending and value for each season).
So, this is what I copied out from the site (adding the placings) and the figures relate to millions i.e. city’s first valuation in 2012/13 is £386.1 million of players at the club.
CLUB……2012/13…..2013/14….2014/15….2015/16…….2016/17…….2017/18……2018/19
CITY……386.1(1) ….389.5(2) …409.0(1) …447.1(1) …610.0(1) ….728.8(1) ……765.5(1)
UTD……278.3(3) …..306.6(3) …391.2(2) …390.6(4) …478.1(2) …..590.7(2) …..608.7(2)
POOL…..242.4(4) …..289.2(4) ..285.5(4) …..406.9(3) …464.2(3) …….408.0(3) ……554.8(3)
CHELSEA……364.7(2) ……..391.0(1) ….340.5(3) ……..411.2(2) …….445.8(4) …….342.7(5) ……393.7(4)
EVERTON…….. 68.2(7) ……….70.8(7) ……..98.2((7) ……130.1(7) …..189.3(7) ……343.4. (4) ……388.9(5)
ARSENAL….179.9(5) ………182.6(5) ……241.8(5) ……246.2(5) ……..264.1(5) …….294.7(6) ……355.6(6)
SPUDS….144.7(6) ……….189.2(6) ……174.7(6) ……152.6(6) ……..211.6(6) …….258.8(7) ……241.8(8)
LEICESTER….0000………..0000……….26.1(8) ……..58.9(8) …….. 124.0(8) ………..200.6(8) ……269.9(7)
So, The Arsenal valuation has nearly doubled in seven years, much in line with city, while Chelsea’s has hardly moved, but Liverpool’s has more than doubled.
Also, worth noting that Leicester’s CL football revenue has increased their value and Everton’s new owner has been putting his money in to the club. spuds are…well just spuds, with the lowest overall running spend, perhaps due to their new stadium costs and no purchases for two seasons running?
In fact, only The Arsenal, Everton, City and Leicester (with two seasons less after promotion) actually increased year on year, with the four others showing at least one year of declining valuation.
Now, the really interesting thing is this – if we look at where The Arsenal finished in each of the seasons, compared to the value of the squad, we can tell if they were over performing or not, at least with regard to the valuation and transfer values that the site used in AndersS article.
In the 2012/13 season, we finished the league in 4th position – with the 5th most valuable squad…Therefore Over performing.
In the 2013/14 season, we finished the league in 4th position – with the 5th most valuable squad…Therefore Over performing.
In the 2014/15 season, we finished the league in 3rd position – with the 5th most valuable squad…Therefore Over performing.
In the 2015/16 season, we finished the league in 2nd position – with the 5th most valuable squad. Therefore, Over performing.
In the 2016/17 season, we finished the league in 5th position – with the 6th most valuable squad…Therefore Over performing.
In the 2017/18 season, we finished the league in 6th position – with the 6th most valuable squad… Therefore, In line with valuation.
Now, the point was made that we had spent the third largest amount of money since Kroenke had taken charge and the immediate reaction was to say that the club had been wasting money – the above stats show that, in actual fact, every single season bar the last (2017/18), the club was over achieving, thereby actually over performing versus the money being spent each season.
That’s not saying we have bought and sold wisely of course, we obviously haven’t in some cases.
I would also like to single out the season Leicester won the league when we were criticised for “only” finishing second.
Let me point out that City’s squad was valued at £200.9 million more than The Arsenal – Chelsea’s at £165 million more than The Arsenal – Liverpool’s at £160.7 million more than The Arsenal’s – United’s at £144.4 million more than The Arsenal’s – yet we were the only club who were criticised by the media and a section of our fans for missing “a golden opportunity”!!!!
We should also remember that during those seven seasons, only our club, The Arsenal, won the FA cup three times, while City, Chelsea and United won it once and Leicester, Everton and the Spuds a fat round zero.
ken1945
