Ofcourse we haven't spent enough.
Anyone who thinks you can win a league with 15m a year obviously hasn't heard of the word "inflation".
They'd probably try and buy a new car with "3 shillings and sixpence"...
Chelsea and Man C have proved this beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Also 2005-6 is a pretty arbitrary start point. I suppose you should look at 11 year cycles of something like that ie the who career of a top level player. You'd also need to look at wages in that figure, what was inherited at the start date etc etc. Then add in wage and transfer fee inflation. Even how strong rival countries were at the time, euro-sterling exchange rates etc.
In football you get virtuous and vicious circles. Its interesting to analyse the Mancs. They had big wages AND they were able to continue their "golden era" of home grown players eg Scholes, Nevilles, Giggs etc. Because there was a big squad, Ferguson was able to protect their home grown stars throughout their careers.
In contrast, we basically lost Owen, Fowler, Redknapp, Rob Jones, (Heggem?), McManaman to their own greed, laziness or being overplayed- causing injury and premature career demise. Imagine if we had protected and kept that core. The 170m could then have been spent on the extras. Perhaps we'd have then seen a few PL titles at Anfield.
Basically, lack of resources meant our "golden generation" was overplayed at too young an age, and a vicious circle continued.
We were in a bit of a mess when Rafa arrived, but he managed to weave some magic, and picked us up a level.
We weren't THAT far from genuinely challenging for the league at the end of the Rafa era. Just replacing Bodgson with Rafa again, replacing Keane with Suarez(yes I know he was only there a few months under Rafa... but it was a hole in the team), finding a replacement for Xabi, and either keeping a revigorated Nando/ finding an established replacement. Add in some depth, maybe a top winger etc and we could have challenged very well.
Anyone who thinks league titles can be won by games of switcheroo and sell to buy, is frankly living on Planet Fenway.
« Last Edit: Sep 05, 2013 12:35:51 pm by AmericanPlant »
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