With Chelsea and City at the top, does money buy success?

Is Roman's millions the only reason Chelsea are top?

As Chelsea and Manchester City battle it out for the Premier League title, it appears that money equates to a winning team in football.

The statistics would appear to prove such a theory with teams' budgets often mirroring the final league table.

Although the advent of the Premier League has emphasised the point, money has undoubtedly helped to fuel success for as long as the English football league has existed.

The clubs that have had more fans and more money can attract the better players, and that has always been the case. Money has long equated to success, or at least played a large part, and it is not just a recent phenomenon.

It is true that Manchester City would have struggled to win the Premier League twice in the last three seasons without the vast amounts of money that have been pumped into the club by Sheikh Mansour, who has an estimated individual net worth of at least 17billion.

And without Roman Abramovich's massive investment, Chelsea would surely not have been crowned English champions three times in the last decade as well as triumphing in the Champions League final three years ago.

It is 20 years since Blackburn won the Premier League title thanks to Jack Walker's millions and, although Kenny Dalglish still had to spend the money wisely, it is unthinkable that Rovers would have been able to challenge at the top of the table without such financial help.

In the 2014/15 season the teams with the biggest budgets are starting to dominate the Premier League with the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal now challenging for a top-four spot despite making mediocre starts to the campaign.

There are always exceptions to the rule though and it is good to see Southampton, many pundits' tip for relegation before the season started following a summer of upheaval, continuing to challenge the big guns.

Swansea City have also done better than their budget would have suggested in the last couple of seasons and they are once again punching above their weight this term, but for Everton and Aston Villa, they are under-achieving, in Villa's case massively.

Money does not always guarantee success as QPR's transfer activity in the last few years has shown and this season's Championship has revealed that sometimes a good manager can galvanise a team even more than money.

Bournemouth are certainly not penniless but they also do not have one of the biggest budgets in the league. However, Eddie Howe has the Cherries challenging for promotion to the top-flight alongside the comparative giants of Middlesbrough and Derby County.

Leeds United continue to do far worse than their fan-base would suggest although they still appear to be suffering from the repercussions of the Peter Ridsdale era more than a decade ago.

Further down the football pyramid, the likes of Fleetwood Town and Crawley Town were bankrolled out of the Conference and up to the dizzy heights of League One.

Both clubs have traditionally been followed by a few hundred fans but the injection of money has catapulted them several divisions above their usual level.

Crawley's fairytale appears to be coming to an end as they are in grave danger of being relegated to League Two this season but Fleetwood's rise is set to continue as they are challenging for a League One play-off spot.

When their owner Andrew Pilley grows tired of financing the club, or runs out of money, then Fleetwood are likely to return to non-league football, something which fans of Chelsea and Manchester City will at least avoid.