The Swansea City manager heads for West London to take on QPR and the £6m team that they have assembled.
Billed as one of the country’s richest clubs, QPR have owners with a combined wealth of over £22 billion between Flavio Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal and have recently shelled out in excess of £1m on Heidar Helguson and Wayne Routledge alone.
And yet the Swans challenge QPR for a play off place despite having shelled out less than that figure on the whole team likely to feature on Tuesday night.
And that is something that gives Roberto a great sense of pride and he said “I don’t think you need money to be successful.
“A manager may not have much money to spend but you can make up for that with knowledge and hard work. Don’t get me wrong money helps but it doesn’t guarantee success. I’m not envious of Paulo Sousa. I don’t look at other managers with envy. I never think the grass is greener elsewhere.
“We’ve shown at Swansea you don’t have to spend millions to have a good team. We’ve brought in players for little or no money like Ferrie Bodde, Angel Rangel and Jason Scotland and they are fulfilling their potential.
“I’m sure other managers are envious of me when they look at our squad and see the players we have. We’re challenging for the play offs like QPR yet they have spent millions on players and we haven’t.
“We are making a statement against clubs who are financially stronger than us and that’s something everyone at Swansea City should be proud of. I’m delighted with the players we have at the club.
“We don’t sign players for £1m but we have players who want to win games, who want to be successful and develop their careers.
“We’re a club with no debts and that’s very important. I also know we don’t have any bad characters in the dressing room.
“It’s vital the manager controls the football side. I want a Chairman who allows me to work. I would not have it any other way. If I can’t make all the football decisions then I wouldn’t last two minutes in the job.”
