2009/10 to 2017/18

Watford spent three of the nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18 in the Premier League and six in the Championship. Their best finish was 13th, in 2015/16. They didn’t win a major trophy. Over those nine summers they paid £123.4m in transfer fees and took in £27.4m, a net spend of £96.1m.

Watford spent the first five seasons of this period in the Championship's comfortable middle, with one big exception. In 2012/13 they finished third and reached the play-off final, where Crystal Palace beat them. Two years later, 89 points and second place brought promotion, and they stayed up for the rest of the period: 13th, 17th and 14th.

As Premier League status settled, the spending grew. Roberto Pereyra came from Juventus and Isaac Success from Granada in 2016. In 2017 Watford paid £18.5m for Andre Gray and £11m for a young Brazilian called Richarlison. Before all that, the sales were modest: Danny Graham to Swansea in 2011, Adrian Mariappa to Reading in 2012.

Watford's 115.football save is an exercise in timing. With £900m from 2009 there is no need to wait until 2015 for the top flight, and Graham's goals can be scored in yellow rather than for Swansea.