Quote Originally Posted by fakeyank View Post
I use the Chelsea and City spending billions of dollars argument against their fans but the question really is... if the status quo was maintained and no Russian or Arab billionaires came in, what are the chances that a mid-level club like City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Villa etc would ever win a PL title?

While we may cry and crib about them spending billions of dollars to win the league, the top 3 status quo was not going to be challenged any other way. Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool were always making more money and had more prestige in the PL era due to their regular participation in the CL. Leeds tried to get into the mix, and we all know how that went tits up for them. I do despise the fact that Chelsea and City have won the way they won their titles, but what other option did they have? Not only them, what are the chances a team like Bournemouth, Everton or Newcastle have in a season to ever win the title?

Unless we go the American sports way of having a set amount for all clubs to spend in a season, we will just have to deal with it. We have the resources to be successful, we just do not have a world class manager. Our manager is stubborn, outdated and lacks a winning mentality.. we really missed a big opportunity not going for Klopp.
Of course there was no other way for them to have achieved success. Long gone are the days where a Wimbldon can battle their way up through the leagues and win the FA Cup. You want success in the modern game you're going to need money and a lot of it. We generate ours by fleecing our fans, I hear rumours we have some of the highest ticket prices in the world, I can't remember who told me that . If you don't have the global fanbase then you need a very rich benefactor - millionaires need no longer apply.

It's sad how football has gone and there's no sign of the bubble bursting. But you're right, we can only compete in the footballing world we find ourselves in. Whether Wenger can remains to be seen. I don't think the "last 10 years" argument stacks up because it's only in the last couple of years we've had the finances to properly compete with the billionaires. Yes yes, Fergie managed it but he's the only one and as much as I rate Wenger, he's no Fergie.

For me this is Wenger's last chance. After the car crash at the start of last season I thought he should be sacked but retaining the FA Cup placated me somewhat. We have to push on and properly challenge for the title this year. We are so far, we've had our wobbles but so have other teams. If we tail off because of the lack of a top striker or the annual injury pile up then he should be sacked.