- May 8, 2005
- 41,857
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- Admin
- #41
Our squad is not punching above its weight, but the club as a whole is.
Considering the amount of money the teams around us spend, we have done excellently to even come close to challenging them, and to do so on a regular basis.
But the squad that we've assembled, although maybe not quite as strong as those above and around us, is certainly not far off and should be competing.
Think you've nailed it here TSH. In one sense we are massively over acheiving, but in another, we're right where we should be. As a club, compared to what we're up against we shouldn't get near. United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal, and probably Liverpool and maybe even Newcastle take in more money each week than us. The first five in that list will also more than likely pull in bigger sponsorship and global marketing money. City and Chelsea have what seems like unlimited resources, whilst we run one of the tightest ships financially in world football. That's not to say the league is decided solely on money, but it goes a long way to assembling a team.
On the other hand we have a much smaller wage budget, bring in less money, and likely spend less on incoming players than any of them. This is why some give Levy such credit, we really shouldn't be competing for a place in the top four, yet, at the same time we should. We've managed to assemble one of the best teams in the league, have a good manager, and some of the best players.
Looking at things from both perspectives we need to remember that we've done extremely well to get where we are. Chelsea and City are there because of foreign money, which without they'd probably not be in the premier league, and yet we've done things the hard way, and with relative success.