I'm not going to get into this petty childish argument (Surely there are Everton boards you can post on?) but I will point out one thing.
There is no way Everton is in any way shape or form in a better position then any other club to potentially break into the top 4. You have about 4p to spend, and a very small squad to boot. Granted you have a quality 1st team, but as injuries have shown this season, you will always be potentially 1 or 2 injuries away from your season being ruined. You have done very well this season considering the injuries to key players, but you can't expect that a small squad will be able to cope so well every time.
Building a team over many seasons, bringing in young talent and developing them, steady progress built on stability and and excellent team spirit. Show me one team who is better equiped to break the top 4? Buying x superstar for x hundreds of millions doesn't work and its been proven time and time again. Were also not one or two major injuries away from our season being ruined as we've had 3 major injuries this season (Yakubu, Arteta, Jagielka) and still finished 5th, got to the FA Cup final and only finished 9 points behind Arsenal.
Similarly, you are about 1 or 2 players being transferred away in a big $$$ deal from going backwards quickly. You can't tell me that if a big Spanish team came knocking with a good offer that Arteta wouldn't jump at a flash. Just like you can't tell me that if someone offered Cahill a nice fat paycheck every week he wouldn't go, especially if it was a club playing CL. You'll be ok with Arteta this summer because of his injury, but I wouldn't be suprised if some other clubs come sniffing around for Cahill (And I'm not thinking of City here, I would not be suprised to see a bid from one of the top 4 potentially, Liverpool probably excepted).
Arteta is on a 5 year deal, has pledged his loyalty to us time and time again despite Atletico Madrid sniffing round him for years now. He wouldn't leave, and if he did We'd get £15m for him and sign someone else anyway... moyes has a great eye for players. Cahill isnt good enough to play in one of the current top 4's team. Dont get me wrong he's a hell of a good player but he doesnt have enough to his game to play for Man U or Arsenal. He's only so effective cause of the way Moyes uses him. Even if he did leave Fellaini is a ready made replacement and the £10m plus would be put to good use by moyes anyway.
You can 'build' all you want a great first team,but you will never without outside investment have a hope of being able to break the top 4 stranglehold, as to do that, you need depth in your squad, and quality within that depth. And if you don't have depth, you can't have quality in your depth.
I dont actually think we can break the top 4 and definately not on a consitent basis without investment so I agree with you here, but we do have good depth... how could we have coped this year without? What we'd need to break the top 4 is a couple of real quality 1st team players who would then push the likes of Osman and Hibbert to squad players rather then starters.
You might be able to break into the 4 once in the next few years if you get lucky, but you have no hope of ever sustaining it, as without investment you are pushing s**t uphill big time. And considering that dump of a stadium you have, and the unlikelihood of a new stadium that will be profitable for your club anytime in the future, you are far from being a club that would be of great interest to most investors.
Yeah the stadiums shit. The atmosphere is great but it needs redeveloping. Were not a "profitable club" but were in a good financial compared to a lot of clubs. We actually are attractive to buyers its just our chairman wont sell... very annoying!
I will say though you have an excellent manager who has a good eye for talent. But without cash to back him up, there is only so far that he can take your club, and I think sooner rather then later he will be poached by another club who can offer him that money he would love to have at Everton to make transfers.
