Which brings me to a thought I've had wandering about my head for some time, to explain the recent competitiveness of the Premier League in the last couple of seasons. From the start I'll just say that I don't think the PL is in any way as competitive as the Championship or lower leagues for the simple reason that there are no clubs with huge financial muscle out there, so the level of player they are able to attract is fairly similar.
Having said that, the PL is becoming a noticeably more level playing field [sorry] and I'm almost certain it is because of the injection of recent TV money. People might say that that only hands more to the bigger clubs anyway, and that's certainly true. But at some point we reach the law of diminishing returns. Specifically, you can pay 250K-500K per week to one or two individuals, but they will only be marginally better than a whole swathe of guys on 100K and up. There comes a point where the big clubs aren't significantly big enough to stop the smaller clubs making inroads into their success because no one team can attract enough huge stars together to be significantly better. Real Madrid and Barcelona are obvious exceptions here, but they exist in a largely uncompetitive league and this is the PL I'm talking about. It's a different animal.
The truth is that a star player like Di Maria can't do it all on his own. He's just one of eleven. He may make the difference, but if he doesn't play at the very top of his capabilities he's no better than an 100K a week player who is. And that's where good management and coaching comes in.
Saints are in that second tier of clubs in the PL, who are benefiting from the TV money, excluding their own smart management methods. They can't attract a team of players like Di Maria, but they are now able to attract enough players who, very well managed, can be just as effective, and maybe this time, over the course of an entire season.
