The era of the mega-club and the taming of the underdog

Bayern Munich were ready to spend €100million of their own money this season

This is of course symptomatic of a larger trend across Europe. For several years, the domination of the English Big 4 (Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal) was lamented as damaging the competitiveness of both the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. In hindsight, a league that can produce four potential champions would today be hailed for its brilliance.

The reasons for this domination are not hard to fathom. Over time, as money becomes a regrettably (but understandably) important yardstick for players, clubs with strong finances can attract and retain the best talent. Soccernomics postulates that over time, due to the sheer aggregation of resources in large industrial cities, football clubs from these places will inevitably dominate the sport.

For such cities, the club’s performance is a matter of local and social pride: it is perceived as an instance of working-class toughies overcoming the middle-class toffs from other cities. It is no coincidence that England’s best teams have traditionally come from Manchester and Liverpool, or that Italy’s three best teams are based in Turin and Milan, or that Olympique Marseilles have been a strong force in France over the ages. All are large industrial cities. Such clubs can command huge fan bases that ensure regular gate money and loyal buyers of merchandising.

Conversely, smaller cities will be all but obliterated. The best example is Leeds United, who threw in the towel nine years ago, making the Champions League semi-finals in 2001 before succumbing to a fight against bankruptcy in 2004. That year was probably a turning point for cost-effective football. It was the year that Rafael Benitez’s Valencia won the La Liga (the last ‘other’ club to do so) and the UEFA Cup. It was also the year we witnessed arguably the greatest upset in football history when an unfancied Greece won the Euro over Portugal and France. All these teams punched above their weight by using old-fashioned common sense; defend well, target your opposition’s weaknesses and make use of every chance you get.

That approach can still pay dividends, as Chelsea (which ironically counts as a big club) demonstrated against Barcelona and Bayern last year. But the RoI (return on investment) is getting lower and lower every year, because smaller clubs now have to compete with a hitherto-unseen beast – a team that does not care how much money it has to spend to win trophies.

Returning to Bayern, under Pep Guardiola they were prepared to spend up to €100 million of their own money this season – without taking a loan. No one can compete with that kind of muscle. Even trying to do so can create a volatile situation, destroying a club’s long-term future for short-term success, as Inter Milan are now discovering.

There is no sign of this lopsidedness ending any time soon. The first night of Champions League football is usually a curtain-raiser; an indication of how competitive the new edition will be. As I watched PSG, United, City, Barcelona and Real tar and feather their hapless opposition, I exhaled wearily. The more things change, the more they remain the same.