Neville Dalton is a journalist with the BBC News website and a
So now Manchester City are splashing the cash with gay abandon, and the spectre of another team pulling away with the rest of the Premier League elite from the likes of Pompey looms over our season.
Most of us must have looked on with a mixture of fascination, bewilderment and no little envy as United's downtrodden neighbours suddenly struck it rich and turned
Envy, yes, that Pompey cannot compete in the transfer and wages market at that sort of level - a wound made more painful by the recent disclosure that the
But there was a part of me that was glad that Sasha has called a halt to the big spending - and that we're not going to get the chance to be accused of buying our way to success.
Of course, there can be little dispute that our successive top-10 finishes and the little matter of winning the FA Cup owe much to the millions spent by Harry on some decent players in the past couple of years.
But our spending was not in that upper echelon occupied by the likes of United,
It certainly wasn't enough to guarantee any sort of success or trophies. That was down to the calibre of player purchased, and how Harry and his coaching team got them playing.
But if we had continued to double our record transfer fees, as we seem to have done in recent seasons, it would have been difficult to have dismissed the jibes that any silverware we collected along the way was bought rather than earned.
And if our on-field progress had failed to match the expectation that regular multi-million-pound transfers tend to generate, suddenly the pressure would have been on everybody at the club - from owner to manager to players.
I admit that even in these halcyon times of late, there has been a nagging worry at the back of my mind every time we splashed out £5m or £6m on another big name that hinted at much promise but brought limited pedigree with him.
Gamble
The likes of David Nugent, John Utaka and Niko Kranjcar were brought in for what we should still regard as huge sums, all of them having shown enough to persuade the management and to encourage the fans.
But at that sort of money - not to mention the sort of wages they're likely to be receiving - they still represented the unknown, unproven in the top flight of the English game and therefore a bit of a gamble - a £15m (or so) gamble.
It was both exciting and somewhat unnerving for the likes of me, who has been used to Pompey dealing in the bargain basement for players, except for one singularly unsuccessful foray into what was then the big-money market in the 1970s, when the likes of Paul Went, Peter Marinello and Ron Davies joined the Blues (or whites with blue stripes as we were then) for enormous fees and/or no doubt generous wages.
And we all know how that ended up.
No, the truth is that every time Pompey wrote a cheque (or is it electronic money transfers these days?) for several million pounds, a part of me shivered with concern.
That the bubble was going to burst. That the money would dry up. Or worse still, the tax man or other creditors would come in and pull our beloved club apart.
There had always been something reassuring about getting in a decent quality or promising young player for next to nothing.
No guarantees, of course, but not so much to lose, either.
Look at the First Division-winning squad of 2002/3, or some of the early teams that helped us survive and find our feet in the Premier League.
And look how great it was when we brought in Benjani and the Spurs trio in the January transfer window of 2006 for a combined total of around what we paid to bring Peter Crouch back to Fratton this summer.
To me, that represented steady progress as we settled into the higher league and adjusted our budgets accordingly.
Although I was delighted to see the new calibre of players we were able to attract to our little old ground, all this cash-splashing did nag away at me.
Hopefully, this sudden belt-tightening will enable us to consolidate, build and continue to progress and doesn't signify the beginning of some catastrophic rug-pulling from under the club's feet.
Because if that were to happen, to be left in the shadow of the likes of
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Quick word on the departures of Sulley Muntari and Pedro Mendes.
In the context of what we are being told about the financial situation, the Muntari transfer looked sensible.
Midfield was not our weakest area, the money was good, and it represented an excellent opportunity for Sulley to showcase his skills at one of
His first (and only) season at Fratton was never sensational, but he showed enough promise, skill and commitment to convince most of us that we were in for an exciting second season, where he would have the opportunity to display his considerable range of skills on the European stage.
I figure the transfer probably made financial sense, but I fear the true value of Sulley to Pompey will be revealed more in his absence than it was in his presence.
As for Pedro, he remains possibly the best and most consistent player I've seen perform for Pompey.
His form during that first sensational season and again the following year was excellent.
I've seen few better passers of the ball, he was decent in the tackle, his anticipation was light years ahead of most - and that includes the fans' new favourite, Lassana Diarra - and he didn't half have a decent shot on him, as all those down-to-earth northerners who've suddenly taken to wearing tea-towels on their heads can testify.
Ironically, Pedro's Pompey career seems forever to be defined by incidents involving
Many Blues fans attribute his apparent decline from his loftiest levels to the assault by Ben Thatcher at Eastlands.
But I believe it can be traced more accurately to a couple of incidents in the return match at
Contrary to how many people remember it, the Thatcher incident did not appear to have frightened Pedro out of making fully committed challenges for 50-50 balls.
I can recall plenty of those in intervening matches, and indeed during the early part of the Fratton fixture against City, when he ran the midfield in possibly his best performance since being knocked out at Eastlands.
He was making a mockery of Joey Barton, supposedly an
I watched Barton's snarling face as Pedro slipped in and smoothly swept away a ball that should have been Barton's. He was not happy.
Minutes later, he went in late as Pedro again smuggled the ball away, and raked his studs down the back of the Portuguese maestro's heel.
That was the day that Pedro changed - the victim of a spiteful deed by someone not fit to be on the same pitch as him.
And Joey, if you're reading this (or rather, if someone's reading this for you), go on. Sue me.
After all, I'm sure those nice legal people trying to weigh up the balance of probabilities will spare the time to pore over the records of your "previous" acts of kindness, both on and off the pitch, in and away from the world of football.
So, sorry to see Sulley go; extremely disappointed to see Pedro exit.
Wouldn't it have been lovely to see him given one last chance to display those sophisticated, elegant skills for Pompey in the country of his birth, against a team he once graced with his presence?
All the best in Glasgow, Pedro.
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And finally… You'll never believe it, but I was going to write a column last week, urging Harry to bring back wing-backs.
I've long been a supporter of them, but only if you have the right players to fill what can be very demanding roles.
Even before we signed Traore and Belhadj, I thought it was worth a try.
Now that we have three marauding wing-backs to choose from - and an ideal combination of centre-backs who complement each other - I'm even more convinced.
I suspect Harry won't play it every week - and there will be times when the formation will need to be flexible, and when different personnel will be more suited to the key roles, depending on the opposition and form.
But I think it is the ideal vehicle to make the best of our assets - three quality centre-backs, where the speed and strength of two of them can cover for the ageing legs of the third.
Two speedy and attacking wing-backs, who know how to defend but whose natural instinct is to attack.
Two solid midfielders patrolling the area in front of the three-man defence and setting up attacks for the more creative people in front of them (and that's where I hope Niko comes in when he's fit).
And the opportunity to play two forwards - and that means both members of the Little and Large duo who I believe can still become Pompey's attacking dream team.