 IT ALL began with David Dein's famous warning blast: "They've parked their tanks on our lawn and are firing fivers at us." Roman Abramovich had just brought his billions to bear on the Premiership and the Arsenal vice-chairman saw the threat to his own club's well-being, if not the well-being of the league's other elite clubs. Three seasons on, Sir Alex Ferguson voices exactly the same fears about Chelsea's ability to cherry-pick the topmost players, with only Real Madrid, and possibly Barcelona, able to match their pulling power. Real Madrid have never been short of cash or naked ambition. And, like Chelsea, they make their intentions clear and leave agents to prise the players away from usually reluctant sellers. But where Dein spoke from a position of credibility, Arsenal never tainted by bidding wars, Sir Alex's whining reveals only a reluctance to engage with his own mega-dealings in the transfer market. Long before Chelsea captured their Russian Tsar, the Scot set a benchmark for the kind of monetary madness that his friend Jose Mourinho now finds so conducive to his plans for European domination. When Sir Alex speaks of Chelsea's cash crippling the hopes of others, he fails to mention four stupendous signings that demonstrated exactly what rich clubs are all abo ut. First came Juan Sebastian Veron at £28mplus, next came Ruud van Nistelrooy for £19m, then Rio Ferdinand at £29m and finally Wayne Rooney, a snip at £27m. No other club in this country was then in a position to splash out so much money. And Sir Alex made no apologies for doing so, even when Arsene Wenger mischievously suggested that he'd paid £10m too much for the former Leeds United defender. Big clubs bought big to stay ahead of the rest and to put down a marker. Not buying the best was tantamount to complacency. The fans demanded more and for most of Sir Alex's reign they got it. The manager offered no regrets for breaking British transfer records and nor did we expect him to. | 
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