In the book Soccernomics, the authors research the factors that make certain tems - clubs and national teams - more successful than others. On page 48, having explored the regression analysis relationship between league positions, transfer fees paid and players' wages over a 20 year period (1978 - 1997) they determined almost no relationship between league position and transfer fees paid but a strong relationship between league position and players' wages. They summarize their conclusion as follows: "In short, the more you pay your players in wages, the higher you will finish; but what you pay for them in transfer fees doesn't seem to make much difference. (This suggests that, in general, it may be better to raise your players' pay than risk losing a couple of them and have to go out and buy replacements.)" On page 49, they continue: "While the market for players' wages is pretty efficient - the better the player is, the more he earns - the transfer market is inefficient. Much of the time, clubs buy the wrong players. Even now that they have brigades of international scouts, they still waste fortunes on flops..." While it is possible that more recent evidence will have a different outcome (as we all know the economics of the game have changed drastically over the last 15 years), perhaps it is worthwhile forwarding this research to Elland Road. Maybe? An earlier chapter explains England's national team's shotcomings and why they will never achieve success if they do not make drastic changes.
Let's look at this scientifically (and contrary to some possibly, I know regression analysis and it is possible that the authors have used completely the wrong statistical technique for what they are trying to prove) What we know is that every professional player gets a wage. This is undoubted fact. Where it gets complex is that we also know that not every player has a transfer fee. Some join from the normal ranks of the youth team, some are Bosman freebies, some are given away in order to free the club of their wages, while some do actually command a fee. So already we have a mismatch across the population that will relate to a player who has never transferred anywhere and is very good and is on a high wage immediately meets the first criteria but does not meet the second. So the premise is that the second hypothesis will always have a much wider variation. So Soccernomics actually merely proves a truism with regard to fees. That is completely different from claiming that paying a fee in order to get someone who has proven their undoubted talent is bad business. On the other part of the hypothesis, it will alwys be the better players who can command the better wage. Players who are in the first team, who make an impact, and who are sought after. Unless of course they play for LUFC where a polar opposite phenomenon is attemtping to be proven. So I would suggest that purchasing this book - Soccernomics - is a complete waste of anyone's money. You can buy my paragraph or two above for £7.99 from all good bookshops
Is that based on my two quotations above? Amazing that some posters appear to just post here to just see their own words in print sometimes. Try actually reading the book before making a recommendation. An informed opinion is usally more valid eh?
