I appreciate and admire the strength of your conviction

hope I didn't wind you up too much - I love a good argument and it's actually a very interesting topic for debate.
Personally while it is darned interesting and fun to debate I can't really get passionate about it because I think it's pretty inconsequential. I think clubs in Spain, where it seems most commonplace, largely make such payments not because they really think it'll make much difference but for appearances sake i.e. because a) they can and like all people with money they like to show that they have it and can afford to throw it about, and b) it is allowed and they don't want to be seen by their fans and the press not to be doing everything possible to achieve success.
I'd be surprised if there was an instance where it actually affected the outcome of anything more than once every 5 years, if that.

Posted By: mr carra, Sep 21, 12:37:46