How big is a top 4 place?

bluemoondays said:
This always confuses me, the new owners spent £300m on the club & pumped in another bunch of cash on players. What do they get out of it?
This is a question I've asked myself. I assumed they had a plan based on getting back into the top 4 and increasing revenue in the same way the Glazers have done with the rags. If that was the plan it fell at the first hurdle when they gave Dalglish £100m, most of which he pissed away on Carroll, Adam, Downing & Henderson.

The alternative theory is that they haven't understood what they're getting into, like Lerner at Villa. I think a few of the US owners saw the revenue coming into the PL but simply didn't realise that they couldn't control costs in the same way they can in US sports. Also the NFL has many safeguards that level the playing field which don't exist in the PL.

It's also possible that they had some sort of collective plan to change the way the PL operates to make it more like the NFL, NHL or NBA which are more profitable for an owner.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
bluemoondays said:
It's also possible that they had some sort of collective plan to change the way the PL operates to make it more like the NFL, NHL or NBA which are more profitable for an owner.

It wouldn't shock me one bit were that true. Most of the owners from over here are offended at the thought of their team having a risk of being demoted. All our leagues are closed leagues. Massive revenue sharing but they still drastically favor larger market teams. Frankly the idea of being demoted/promoted was totally foreign to me and I could not understand why when I first heard it. Having lived with it for about 7 years now I have to say it is the BEST thing about European football. It would dramatically raise the interest level in certain specific sports in the USA(NBA I'm looking at you) but will never happen because owners would never allow it.

Don't let foreign owners change the promotion/demotion system of European football!!!
 
It's probably of varying importance to different clubs at different times. Didn't do spurs much harm not getting a champs place this year as they were canny with the acquisition of Ade on loan. Those who are saying it wouldn't affect arsenal much not getting it this year are probably forgetting that RVP only has 1 and a half years left on his contract. He probably won't sign in the summer if they don't make champs league, so they will lose at least £20 mill CL money and probably the extra money on RVP's sale than if he wasn't in the last year of his contract. Then they'd have to replace RVP and the odds of them getting in a player of similar quality when not being able to offer champs league footy is slim and none.

With FFPR now in play to us and chelsea it's critical, I think there's little doubt about that. Despite us obviously wanting to be champions I do on occasion look at how far 5th place are behind us with a wry smile as as long as we're making the top four we'll continue to gather pace.

Of the old school big four there's only liverpool who have dropped out of the top four so far, but it hasn't fared very well for them has it? They now find themselves in a position where they're getting stuck in the mire and it remains to be seen how they're going to pull themselves back into the top four. With competition so fierce they will have to be very canny (like spurs were) or spend big bucks (like we did), or both even (considering theyv'e spent big bucks and are still nowhere). If the top four stays as it is, and I don't see why not, I think it would have to take big summers from Arsenal and Liverpool to bridge the gap, cos the rest of us will just continue to gain momentum and buy the better players whilst they feed on the scraps. Arsenal without RVP next year would be a colossal loss, liverpool with the current set up probably still wouldn't come close, but there are plenty of good players knocking about so there's still always the chance either club could sort themselves out and have a go at it. Interesting times.
 

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