Sheikh Ma Nuggets
Tony Parks
He is waiting for us to lose? So that he himself can then sign a striker? That he knows we need... Right.
He's illustrating the 'price of everything, value of nothing' mentality.
Let's follow your wonderful hypothesis: that Levy assumes he can save x% by waiting until the final knockings. One small problem: performances on the pitch. We start brick and - guess what - his focus on the small little percentages is blown out of the water by the need of the team. Suddenly we're on the back foot, right from the off.
It's not a very good strategist who is left having to react to events all the time; the best ones foresee problems and put have ready-made solutions already in-place. If you want to take it down to a +/- level, hypothesise this: how much did Levy focusing on the percentages cause us to finish that 1pt off 3rd? Had we the resources in place, the outcome may have been very different.
It's lovely to make a profit - everyone want to do that. But, all the time? And at the expense of jeopardising team performance? Nah, sorry, I don't buy into that at all. The league is hard enough as it is to be competitive in without needlessly handicapping yourself, right from the off.