Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
The English Premier League transfer window finished with a flurry as £132 million was spent on four players.
At a time when FIFA is pushing its Financial Fair Play doctrines off the field Roman Abramovich and John W Henry played fantasy football for real.
In an attempt to match the points total of Man United and the financial muscle of their City neighbours, Chelsea acquired David Luiz and Fernando Torres, while Liverpool spent their cash on Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll.
This coincided with the highest-scoring weekend in Premier league history with 43 goals, 41 of them in the first eight matches on Saturday. So, which of these multi-million pound transfers contributed to this mammoth total? None of them!
The player doing the most damage was the much travelled Louis Saha in the blue corner of Liverpool as Everton edged an eight goal-thriller against faltering Blackpool. Arsenal's capitulation having romped to a four-goal lead was thanks to Joey Barton.
Torres had a dismal debut for Chelsea on Sunday as Liverpool's Raul Meireles bagged the winner for his old team just moments after he was substituted.
Yet it was top-of-the-table Manchester United's 2-1 reverse away to bottom club Wolves that raised the most eyebrows, ending the Red Devil's 20-match unbeaten record.
The result came as no surprise to some with a similar result occurring in January 2004 when both clubs occupied identical positions. Wolves have also toppled Chelsea and Man City at home this season. Wolves's manager Mick McCarthy cheekily was asking for this result to yield him five points, he was so pleased with the performance!
However, as one run ends, there is another club whose run continues unabated. Barcelona notched an incredible 16th victory on the trot as Lionel Messi scored a superb hat-trick. This victory took them past a previous league record set in 1960-61 by the great Real Madrid team led by Alfredo Di Stefano.
While we're on the subject of an unbroken run, bear in mind that it's easier to lose a match than win it. Just ask the Cleveland Cavaliers who matched the NBA's record for the longest losing streak. They have now lost an incredible 23 matches on the trot.
