Man U have balanced spending with sales so the net appears to be rather modest.

http://therepublikofmancunia.com/stats-uniteds-spending-vs-arsenal-chelsea-liverpool-city/

England have issued an extravagant, 82-page list of catering demands for their players during the Ashes, including detailed recipe requirements and instructions for preparing nearly 200 different types of meals and beverages.

In a move that has raised some eyebrows among cricket officials around the country, the England and Wales Cricket Board has gone to unprecedented lengths to ensure the tourists' dressing-room fare is the match of a top-class restaurant.
Among the 194 dishes and drinks in the document, which has been widely circulated ahead of the first Test in Brisbane, are piri-piri breaded tofu with tomato salsa, a quinoa and cranberry breakfast bar, mungbean curry with spinach, and pistachio and ginger biscotti.

Elsewhere, there are ''superfood'' ingredients such as kale and agave syrup.

Australia also sends food guidelines to opposition countries before overseas tours, but not with anything like the detail and depth of the England demands.

The delicate palate of the touring team goes beyond the traditional fish 'n’ chips.

A 12-page file titled, Test Catering Requirements, prepared by the ECB's performance nutritionist Chris Rosimus and sent to venues around Australia, lists specific breakfast, snack, lunch, tea break and post-match options that must be provided, from the Gabba this month to the SCG in January.

They include an extensive list of juices and smoothies, sandwiches, soup, salad, ''hot options'' and sides, finger food and desserts.

For example, after day one of every Test match, the following must be available in the England dressing room 20 minutes before the end of play:

■ Moroccan spiced griddled chicken fillets with lime and coriander mayo;

■ Lamb and pea kofta kebabs with mint yoghurt;

■ Roasted vegetable and halloumi kebabs with red pepper dip;

■ Ginger and garlic king prawn kebabs with garlic mayo;

■ Selection of whole-wheat French bread pizzas (parma ham and tomato/feta and red onion)

■ Selection of sandwiches (grilled aubergine, red pepper, red onion and basil puree; Cajun salmon, yoghurt and cucumber; Thai citrus chicken and rocket; avocado, raw slaw and butterbean; turkey breast, basil and pine nut);

■ Almond and cinnamon flapjacks;

■ Banana and peanut bars (protein based maxi-muscle) and;

■ Chocolate and coconut truffles.

The document details different food plans for each day of Tests and is accompanied by a 70-page recipe guide, marked as ''essential'' to use.

''The quantities must be followed, along with the ingredients listings,'' Rosimus notes, adding: ''For any meat used in sandwich fillings, please do not use processed meats, only freshly cooked meats will suffice. All fish must be filleted and contain no bones. Please only use low-fat mayonnaise and yoghurts.''

There are separate meal and drink requirements for England's Twenty20 and one-day internationals.

Cricket Australia's nutritionist, Michelle Cort, said Australia also sent food guidelines and instructions to venues before touring to ensure players were receiving the right nutrients.

But its meal plans were much less detailed, including on the last Ashes tour of England.

''That certainly wasn't 82 pages,'' she said on Thursday. ''Our set-up is a little bit different. From what I've seen of theirs, there is a massive amount of variety in the recipes that they provide. The variety is larger. There are more dishes to choose from.''

The England dining guide received the stamp of approval from the restaurateur Gary Mehigan, a judge on Channel Ten's MasterChef Australia.

''The first thing that strikes me is that is healthy eating personified,'' he said after running his eyes over the recipes. ''It's got plenty of on-trend stuff in there like grains, things like sunflower and safflower and pumpkin seeds, it's got kale which is the new superfood, and it's got quinoa.

''Things that are really on-trend in restaurants are duplicated through this. Actually whoever has written it has kept in mind that these boys in the off-season probably eat at some of the best restaurants in the world and probably enjoy their food.

''They've really gone to a bit of an effort to make sure that not only are they eating good food but interesting food.''

Mehigan added jokingly: ''I am just going through the desserts. More ice-cream. I reckon if the English eat more ice-cream, the Aussies have got more chance of beating them.''


http://images.smh.com.au/file/2013/11/07/4905023/2013-14%2520ECB%2520Test%2520Catering%2520Requirements.pdf?rand=1383825635483

http://images.smh.com.au/file/2013/11/07/4905022/aaa.pdf?rand=1383825699048

Sure, Liverpool had their time but it was a long time ago and they have been relatively unsuccessful in recent  times, compared to  Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal. I don't want Chelsea to win-because of Mourinho. I didn't want Arsenal to win because of Wenger (I hope they lose in the cup as well) and I don't want City to win because of their spending power. I would have liked Everton to win the league out of all the leading clubs. Having said that I gave up on Premier league Football a long time ago, but I still can't resist looking at the results. I have to pick Liverpool as the lesser of all evils.