Pep Guardiola has Manchester City purring but spent more than the debt of a Third World country... Sean Dyche's motivational masterclass on a shoestring is far more impressive

  • The Premier League is plagued by managers demanding cash to fix problems
  • From Pep Guardiola to Rafa Benitez, they all say money is the answer
  • They could do a lot worse tha following the lead of the prudent Sean Dyche

The art of modern football management can be summed up in one short but revealing sentence: Show me the money.

It is a philosophy which prevails from top to almost bottom of the Premier League.

From Manchester City, where Pep Guardiola has spent more on footballers than the national debt of a Third World country in mounting what is now a runaway pursuit of the championship.

Pep Guardiola is lauded for the way his sides play but he has always been a big spender

Pep Guardiola is lauded for the way his sides play but he has always been a big spender

Sean Dyche has worked with a far smaller budget and has Burnley punching above their weight

Sean Dyche has worked with a far smaller budget and has Burnley punching above their weight

To Newcastle United, where Rafa Benitez is bleating about the reluctance to hand him the fortunes he apparently deems more imperative than his powers of motivation if they are to avoid the drop.


To Guardiola's credit, he is decorating the English game with its most scintillating football for many a season. Yet, lest we forget, he was schooled in that luxuriant style at two more of the richest clubs in the world, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Pep does silver spoons, not hardship.

As for Benitez, the demand for cash or else he quits has become a familiar refrain. At Valencia, Liverpool and Inter Milan they took him up on that offer.

Newcastle next? If so, he will have us understand that relegation would be no fault of his. Nothing ever is.

Over in the red half of Manchester, Jose Mourinho is complaining that the £300million he has spent is not enough for United to compete for the title. He reminds us that City have spent more on full backs than he has on strikers. He has a point. But wasn't it his brilliance, almost alone, which enabled Porto to conquer Europe?

As for the value of defenders you would have expected Jamie Carragher – as much if not more than anyone - to be ecstatic about Liverpool breaking the world transfer record for a defender to shore up their leaky back four.

Rafa Benitez default position in adversity is to complain about a lack of transfer funds

Rafa Benitez default position in adversity is to complain about a lack of transfer funds

Yet no sooner was the £75m purchase of Virgil van Dijk announced than Carragher was on television pinpointing the technical deficiencies of the Dutchman.

As it happens, it looks as if he is right. Which leaves us wondering whether Jurgen Klopp still has a lot to learn about organising defences.

Whenever Spurs have a wobble or Chelsea slip ever closer to losing their Premier League crown, Mauricio Pochettino and Antonio Conte can be heard muttering about the lack of depth in their squads.

Even Arsene Wenger, once the most frugal of the big-time bosses, can hardly wait for the January transfer window to reopen.

As soon as Virgil van Dijk's purchase was announced his deficiencies were highlighted

As soon as Virgil van Dijk's purchase was announced his deficiencies were highlighted

Show me the money? Whatever became of the managers who took the players they already had and used intelligence allied to diligence to fashion fine teams from those materials?

Remember Jock Stein? The Big Man inspired an all-Scottish Celtic team – 10 of the eleven from Glasgow – to become Britain's first champions of Europe.

Also in Scotland, the opinion still prevails that Sir Alex Ferguson's noblest triumph of all came north of the border, not with Manchester United.

Yes, Fergie went on to spend at Old Trafford – he shattered the British transfer record several times - but it was at Aberdeen that he not only broke a 15-year Celtic/Rangers duopoly of the Scottish championship but won the European Cup Winner's Cup by beating Real Madrid in the final.

Sir Alex Ferguson won the European Cup Winner's Cup by beating Real Madrid with Aberdeen

Sir Alex Ferguson won the European Cup Winner's Cup by beating Real Madrid with Aberdeen

Bill Shankly and Don Revie transformed Anfield and Elland Road from muddy fields surrounded by tin huts into homes fit for champions. Sir Alf Ramsey and Bobby Robson who took the title and cup respectively to that genteel social club at Ipswich.

Brian Clough pulled off the seemingly impossible at Derby County and Nottingham Forest.

All those achievements were principally the product of single-minded obsession and a fundamental grasp of the working man's game.

Now the default solution to all and every problem at the big clubs is money.

It is a mentality put to shame by a handful of managers who the self-styled masters of the football universe would deride as 'old school' but who work wonders on shoestring budgets. Each in his own way.

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson thinks his way out of problems with his tactical approach

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson thinks his way out of problems with his tactical approach

Sean Dyche has pulled Burnley up into contention with the glamour pusses by their boot-laces. Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis roll up their sleeves and pick up shovels when it comes to digging teams out of trouble.

Mark Hughes keeps the faith with football the hard way. Roy Hodgson thinks his way out of tight corners.

Sometimes they and their teams are forced onto the defensive. But none go as far as crushing the spirit of the game as Benitez did this Wednesday evening. Never mind the Mourinho bus, Benitez parked his entire Newcastle team in their own half from the start in meek acceptance of Manchester City's superiority.

If only there was no transfer window. If only all the clubs had to play throughout the season using only the squads they had assembled before the start.

Then we might find out who is the real manager of the year. Take away the money and what price Sean Dyche?