I have found myself growing increasingly frustrated and disinterested in club soccer because of a conviction that it’s a sport ultimately decided by money. Nevertheless I still find the big international competitions fascinating. It turns out that at club level, statistics seem to indicate that football is indeed, decided by budget. There is a strong statistical correlation between a club’s wage bill and its final league position. Over the last decade, teams across Europe, have only deviated by plus or minus 2 places from their wage bill.

This means that if you are the fifth highest spender in the league, regularly averaging third place over a sustained period is the best you can hope for. Regularly averaging seventh place is the worst that you can expect. Therefore if you are the fourth biggest spender in the Premiership or lower, winning the Premiership on a regular basis is now impossible and it has been for nearly 20 years.

There are outliers to this. Teams can spend huge amounts and still go down, like QPR in 2012-13. Others have gotten into the Champions league on relatively low budgets, like Everton. But these are the exceptions that prove the rule. The actual tally between the average wage bill and the average league position is a staggering 85% throughout all major European leagues over a 10 year period.

This ultimately explains my preference for international competition. For an international team, success is determined by the players you produce. In club football, it’s determined by the players you acquire. And that, for me, makes a world of difference.