Moneyball

Larry Blackmon look-alike, Ricardo Vaz Te's late, great strike on Saturday.

A minutes from full-time goal scored by Ricardo Vaz Te clinched promotion for my beloved West Ham United to the English Premier League (EPL) on Saturday.

Like Sergio Arguero's last minute EPL-title winning goal for Manchester City, Vaz Te's decider in the 2-1 playoff win over Blackpool may be the most important net-buster in West Ham's history.

After all, the right to sit at the top table of English club football brings its own rewards (to the value of around 90 million pounds) courtesy of generous broadcasting rights. 

That's a lot of wedge for a mid-sized club like the Hammers and will ease some of the club's major, mostly self-inflicted, financial pressures. Recruiting new talent is another priority and young Thomas Ince, who played out of his skin for Blackpool, would be a great addition if funding was available.

While I'm "over the moon, sick as a parrot" and slightly hungover, the rose-tinted sunglasses have been removed because it'll be a dog fight next season. Money, money, money, and even more money, is the name of the game in EPL land - there is no level playing field - who spends the most, ultimately wins.

For example, Arguero's strike to land Man City's first title since 1966, is tiny payback for the estimated one billion pounds invested in Manchester City by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nayhan over the past three years.

Truth be told, the competition has always been dominated by big, rich clubs but the uber-commercially driven EPL has significantly widened income gaps and reduced competitiveness at the top of the table.

Today, the EPL is like a Tarantino movie - teams involved in a number of sub-plot scenarios - i.e. two elite teams contesting the title; six more chasing a spot in Europe; the majority seeking mid-table comfort and the rest trying to avoid relegation.

This provides drama and all that, but being an old bastard I'd love to see the glory spotlight shared around the teams a little more (like the old days) - but that dream is antiquated and over. Congrats to the Hammer players, especially Carlton Cole and to Big Sam - enjoy the summer and look forward to reading some outrageous transfer market gossip and rumours in the weeks to come.