Across European football, a string of small-budget clubs are toppling the established elite. Hearts and AGF top the tables in Scotland and Denmark with spending levels outside the top three. Thun and Mjallby are Swiss and Swedish champions with bottom-half budgets. Union Saint-Gilloise are hunting back-to-back Belgian titles with the mid-table spend.

What’s driving this success? Luck and happenstance will always play a role. Football is low scoring and uniquely favours the underdog. Squads can find and develop chemistry levels way beyond expectation. These factors undoubtedly underpinned Leicester City’s surprise Premier League win ten years ago, though the club now finds itself in League One.

It is “Organisational Intelligence” that sustains overachievement. Union SG’s repeated successes indicate that they have an embedded competitive edge. Others must understand the drivers for their own success and double down.

Above all though these successes prove that money is far from everything in football.