Spurs defy transfer spend frenzy

Feb 25, 2012 by Wesley Young    7    Posted under: Sport

Harry Redknapp’s Spurs have defied the now commonly accepted rule that you have to spend big in the transfer window to achieve success.

Tottenham are positioned third in the table, despite spending a meagre £6.3m on bringing new players in compared to the heavyweights of Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.

With a transfer spend of only £120,000 per point earned and taking Spurs to third place in the Premier League, no wonder Redknapp is favourite to take the England job for EURO 2012.

Take a look at my infographic to find how your team compares. The graphic represents the value of each point earned in terms of transfer money spent for the 2011-12 Premier League season – which includes both the Summer and January transfer windows combined.

The data is correct as on 24 February, 2012.

Infographic: Transfer spend per point earned

March update:
> Note that there are some limitations to the data, in so far as the transfer spend shown is gross transfer spend (i.e. total transfer spend in) for the season and not net transfer spend (i.e. total transfers in – total transfers out) plus it excludes wages.
> To improve in future graphics, I hope will use net transfer spend (or ratio) and may compare the data for the last three seasons to gain fairer and perhaps more accurate findings, particularly since it may take a season or two for the full effects of new transfers in or transfers out to make a noticeable impact on a team’s performance.