Breathe easily, this isn’t a post about flame-topped crooner Mick Hucknall and Simply Red, it’s a counter piece to my article about the Championship’s big spenders, that you can find here.

Although I may be alone in this thought; though I doubt it, I yearn for a time when football clubs were an important part of a town’s make up, a focal point for its inhabitants and the first thing that people talked about on a Monday morning as well as the last thing on a Friday night. With the money that has poured into the English game over the years, clubs have seemingly got further away from ‘real people’ and are now being run as businesses rather than joyous football teams. Recent communication with one of the biggest clubs in the country saw them refer to themselves as a brand and in my eyes that is, for want of a better word, sad.

Some would argue that this is essential in the modern day and I have to admit to not having the knowledge to challenge this view, especially when looking at the succesful teams in recent times. Chelsea and Manchester City have owners whose wealth is calculated in billions and look where they are now. Similarly, QPR were by far the richest team in the Championship last season and will be plying their trade with the big boys in the Premier League this term. It’s no coincidence that money and glory pretty much go hand in hand.

However there are examples to suggest that the little guys can be succesful. At the beginning of the season before last, Blackpool were tipped for relegation but the acquisition of a little-known Scotsman from Rangers called Charlie Adam changed everything. He helped propel a team tipped for the drop through the playoffs and into the promised land of the Premier League. Burnley before them defied the bookmakers to escape upwards, despite not being blessed with overwhelming wealth.

To borrow from a league outside of my remit, the Community Shield final was something of a case in point that money won’t always triumph. While Manchester City’s team has been put together over a couple of years with fees mentioned for players equivalent to that of a small country’s worth, it was perhaps fitting in relation to this piece, that United’s team included so many young players that had come through their own system. Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley and Jonny Evans have all become good players thanks to good coaching and the ability of the club to spot and develop young raw talent. It could even be argued that players such as Nani and Chris Smalling were plucked from relative obscurity. If teams in the Championship can learn to trust their staff, rather than going out and spending big on established names like Leicester are in the Championship or Manchester City in the example I just referred to, then glory may be available on a tight budget.

Right, back to the Championship. Every season the relegated teams from the Premier League are in and among the early favourites with the bookies to bounce straight back, and the £40m parachute payment that they receive goes someway to explaining this. In the same vein but at the other end of matters, the promoted teams are generally among those expected to struggle. This of course, has its exceptions, such as when Leeds United returned to the Championship or looking back as far as when Manchester City were struggling in the lower levels of the English game. However generally, their step-up from League One means that they will have struggled with a lack of money, if they have spent any considerable amount of time at that level.

While it is easy to see why the bookmakers name the big spenders as favourites for promotion (big money means bigger names and supposedly better players), it seems almost lazy that the clubs without much to spend are always installed as the most likely to suffer the dreaded drop. Rather than look at the team’s philosophy, playing style or coaching staff, it is easier to see how much they have spent in a transfer window and decide on their fate from that.

Barnsley FC are a fine example. This season will see the Tykes playing in their sixth Championship campaign since winning promotion from League One. They are the club that has spent the most time in the second tier of English football since records began. Last term, they even flirted with the playoffs, having been perennial strugglers beforehand. Despite the setback of losing their main star in Adam Hammill to Wolves in January, now ex-manager Mark Robins still guided his team to a 17th place finish; a whopping 14 points above the relegation zone. Although Robins has been replaced by former Rochdale boss Keith Hill since then, the Reds have only had to sell one player and have recruited wisely from the lower leagues. A mix of youth and experience has been brought in and a blistering pre-season points to good things for Barnsley. So taking all of that into account, where are they tipped to finish this season? 24th. With comments such as “Hill has to work on a shoestring budget” justifying the prediction, it seems that their form last season, with almost entirely the same team, means nothing when journalists and in turn bookmakers can look at their bank statement instead.

The point is hit home when looking at the odds that teams have been offered for relegation. Coventry City are the favourites for the drop, while Doncaster Rovers, Crystal Palace and Peterborough United make up the rest of the bottom five alongside Barnsley. A quick Google search for each team individually brings up stories about the clubs’ finances, with words like ‘catastrophic’ and ‘grave’ fairly common place.

If this is the case, and the potential of a football team is merely down to the size of its overdraft then do teams even need to employ coaches anymore or have a good manager? Injecting so much money into the game, and throwing cash at transfers in order to ‘buy the league’ leaves a sour taste in the mouth of those who value highly the workings of strategy and inventiveness. Doncaster’s manager Sean O’Driscoll has regularly been praised for getting his team to play exciting, attacking football but should this be forgotten about because he can’t afford to bring in players worth millions of pounds? To hark back to the Premier League again, it is a commonly-seen comment on Twitter that Manchester City have a fantastic squad of attacking flair but a manager who wants his team to be as exciting as a wheelbarrow. Remember, this is the man who angrily subbed Mario Ballotelli for enjoying himself in a pre-season tie. The same man that, when he needed a shot of inspiration in the Community Shield took off Ballotelli in favour of Gareth Barry. Money can buy you a lot of things, but it can’t be relied upon for a tactical knowledge and approach that wins games.

Interestingly, you don’t have to read too far down the list of Championship favourites before discovering Birmingham City’s name. As I previously mentioned, relegated sides are often prime candidates to go straight back up but the big news story when ‘Brum’ came down was the implications that relegation would have on their finances, leaving them in semi ruin. While it can’t be argued that they have sold a number of players, surely a squad that was only relegated on the final day of the season shouldn’t be looking over its shoulder before a ball had been kicked.

Only time will tell if it is true that money brings success and a lack of it breeds failure. For now, it seems like it is just the ‘easy thing to do’ to pick on those without millions to spend. Let’s hope that come May we’re celebrating the success of a team that have been promoted thanks to hard work, style and talent that they didn’t go out and buy this summer. Blackpool part two? It would certainly restore a little of the faith that the business-orientated football club ‘brands’ of today have stolen from me.