This is so true and the foundations that they created and built upon. Always buying the best players because they had the most money because they won everything and kept on repeating.
It was a long and painful battle but as has been said, we've caught them up and now are streaking away. The very rules they introduced (via UEFA and the PL) are the very rules which are preventing them from getting back into the game. I LOVE IT!!!
We are now in the driving seat and, I must say, doing a fabulous job along the lines of recruitment and retention.
We needed massive investment up front and we had it, that brought us level with them. We now can compete on the level playing field. It was imperative that we had that initial investment without it we would never have been able to establish ourselves and get a decent footing and create fair competition. Now we can and I wouldn't be averse to FFP being structured to enable other teams to establish themselves.... maybe with some kind of repayment (of the initial investment) plan - I'm sure we could manage that.