The terrible truth (which is no longer the truth)

[DiscoSteve]

Although I think that, in general, Swales is the correct answer here, its only half the answer.

As we went down, and then down some more, and then dow......-well, you know what i mean- football embraced the Thatcherite ideology of money is everything. It was the 80's afterall. Because of this there was a divide opening up in football whereby the clubs with bigger incomes could expoit their advantage. Then the Premier League came along; instigated by all those who could see even greater profits. The divide became a gap. Then the Champions league and the gap became a chasm.

We got back to where we were only to find that a handful of clubs had disappeared over the horizon. So it looked like we were still way off when in fact we had simply been struggling against even greater odds to get back to where we had been, only to find that where we had been was now nowhere.

Still, could have been worse; just ask Leeds fans.

Lets not forget Sky's role in all of this - they're the root cause of the spiralling money issues

 

[Big Swifty]

I watched two fine sides dismantled by Allison - the first, the great late 60s side, with some of our stalwarts replaced by the likes of Carrodus, Mellor, Healey, Jeffries, Towers, Henson et al, and the team of the later 70s, with Tueart, Royle, Barnes, Channon, Hartford, Owen (Gary), Kidd, Watson etc jettisoned in favour of Allison imports like Futcher, Stepanovic, Stuart Lee, Shinton, Daley and (I shudder even to think of him) Paul Sugrue. Swales must bear the ultimate responsibility for sanctioning this folly.
There was a succession of quick fixes - Bond, Benson (!), McNeill, Kendall, etc, but no overall strategy. And, as has been correctly stated here, a chasm opened up with Champs League, Sky, and all the arrangements which favoured an elite group of money-making clubs which found themselves cosily financed by that very exclusivity.
At last we seem to have an overall plan for our development - whether we could have done it without the Sheikh is another matter. What we do about Platini also requires long-term strategy.

 

[more lazy than useless]

Lets not forget Sky's role in all of this - they're the root cause of the spiralling money issues

To me, Sky and the Premier League are sides of the same coin. Made for each other, pretty much literally.

I watched two fine sides dismantled by Allison - the first, the great late 60s side, with some of our stalwarts replaced by the likes of Carrodus, Mellor, Healey, Jeffries, Towers, Henson et al, and the team of the later 70s, with Tueart, Royle, Barnes, Channon, Hartford, Owen (Gary), Kidd, Watson etc jettisoned in favour of Allison imports like Futcher, Stepanovic, Stuart Lee, Shinton, Daley and (I shudder even to think of him) Paul Sugrue. Swales must bear the ultimate responsibility for sanctioning this folly.
There was a succession of quick fixes - Bond, Benson (!), McNeill, Kendall, etc, but no overall strategy. And, as has been correctly stated here, a chasm opened up with Champs League, Sky, and all the arrangements which favoured an elite group of money-making clubs which found themselves cosily financed by that very exclusivity.
At last we seem to have an overall plan for our development - whether we could have done it without the Sheikh is another matter. What we do about Platini also requires long-term strategy.

All too true. I shudder to think what would have happened if Shinawatra hadn't had to sell. Could have made the Swales era look like the 'good old days'.

Fortunately, that will always be a 'what if', so enough of getting depressed, look forward not back. I'm sure the new owners aren't perfect (they're only human) but they look to be about as good as it gets.