Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, Colin. Thank you for getting in touch.
You raise an excellent point and whilst it’s easy to focus on the figures we’ve actually spent in order to reach this point, when you break it down, many of the signings we’ve made in recent times have been absolute bargains; either paying us back before being sold for an enormous profit (Jack Clarke, Jobe) or making a huge impact upon arrival (Granit Xhaka, Nordi Mukiele, Dan Ballard, Trai Hume, etc).
We’re basically the embodiment of the phrase “It’s not necessarily how much you spend, but how smartly you spend it”, and the results in recent times have spoken for themselves. We haven’t always got it right, but when we do, we really do.