Football made itself uncompetitive and the formation of the PL itself was a key component of that.
That, the changes to the distribution of wealth within the game, such as to match day distribution, and the introduction of the champions league and the additional riches that brought, particularly to a select few, meant the only way anyone else could compete was through a wealthy benefactor.
What then happens? They pull up the drawbridge so even if that happens, they can’t invest enough to compete right at the top. Any club that does do it “the right way” can only ever get fleeting success as, like a Leicester when they won it, either their best players are scooped up or other teams can significantly invest to overtake them again quickly. You just need to look down the road for that where lack of success just means even bigger amounts are spent trying to chase it and thankfully failing. There’s no real punishment for failure for those teams.
I’d absolutely love for a world where no team needs a benefactor, that we start every season with at least ten teams realistically in with a chance of winning it and more fanbases being to experience even just a moment where their club is right at the very top. Stopping us or taking rich investors out of the game won’t do that though, football did it to itself.
It’s also not the main reason we are as good as we are - plenty have spent more and failed. It’s that we have hired the right people in the right positions to create a cohesive team both on and off the field that’s better than the sum of their parts. That and we have a genius as our manager that is the biggest differentiator of all of it.
The irony of it all is it’s basically Frankenstein’s monster, they’re just too stupid and myopic to see it, which just makes our success even sweeter :)
gjfootballarchive.com
