Will we ever close the gap?

[PhoneymcRingRing]

This summer we have to sell one or two of our best players to bring more in to hopefully strengthen the squad. But the top 6 can spend half a billion in a single window like Chelsea and pay players 300+k per week on top of that.

I don’t really see how we can close the gap with the restrictions in place to protect them. How are we going to do it?

[Jammy89]

Start by getting more sponsor money in etc.

[Guybrush]

I still can’t figure out how Chelsea’s recent spending has been within FFP rules.

Surely it’s going to come back to bite them, but… they have splashed out and given long contracts for a project that might not work, potentially tying their hands for the next 6 years.

If the powers that be treat Man City like any other club, and if these charges are proved against them, and they get relegated down the football pyramid, every team they’ve competed against in the last 10 years sues them for all they’re worth, and they get stripped of all their titles… we might best manage to match up with them

The one team in the league with true commercial clout is Man Utd, but even then, if they don’t perform on the field soon the sponsors like the fans will become fickle and move on. After a generation of winning nothing, glory supporters look elsewhere and the sponsors will follow.

A few ifs in there like

[Magzer]

In answer to the OP, it'll depend on whether we're allowed to close the gap by those who run the footballing gaff.

It seems to me all manners of reasoning are being used in order to keep us from taking another big step and we're having to do it with baby steps.
Having said that, I do think we will build and build and however long that takes we will get there, as long as the footballing cartel don't find a way to rid us of powerful owners.

[Sclox]

The cartel have fixed it so no-one can close the gap. Their cup wins are hollow.

They want the PL to be like a F1 procession while the accountants and businessmen like control and predictability. You can have the odd underdog "battling" upset here and there in the most "exciting" league in the world but no more than that.

I actuallly prefer the championship from a football fan perspective.

[Sclox]

I remember back in the nineties it was widely known that this 2 tier or even 3 tier gap would occur that would be impossible to bridge.

[Sclox]

...sorry for being a moaning fker today.

[Zippity]

Well, one of the first things we need to do before they inevitably introduce financial restrictions (and they will), is throw enprmous amounts of money into our Academy, our coaching setup and our scouting.

If we can either develop or identify players at the level of Livramento-like Brighton with a bigger budget then we'll be able to build a competitive squad without the need for doing a Chelsea or...well, any of the 'big 6' by spending 100's of millions per window. It doesn't preclude buying a big, marquee signing-in fact, it would allow us to concentrate on one or two key targets each window and surround the 'star' players with players of a much better quality than those they currently share the pitch with.

obviously a lot easier said than done and a few big ifs or buts...but, if any club is best placed to do it, it's us.

Mark my words, though; like i say, they'll be sitting around a table somewhere right now drafting legislation to only allow clubs to spend a certain percentage of their income on infrastructure and non-playing staff. They've shut the front door and locked it and now they'll be bolting the back door and checking all the windows are closed.

And there are landmines on the path.

etc

[ex_pat_magpie]

Well, one of the first things we need to do before they inevitably introduce financial restrictions (and they will), is throw enprmous amounts of money into our Academy, our coaching setup and our scouting.

If we can either develop or identify players at the level of Livramento-like Brighton with a bigger budget then we'll be able to build a competitive squad without the need for doing a Chelsea or...well, any of the 'big 6' by spending 100's of millions per window. It doesn't preclude buying a big, marquee signing-in fact, it would allow us to concentrate on one or two key targets each window and surround the 'star' players with players of a much better quality than those they currently share the pitch with.

obviously a lot easier said than done and a few big ifs or buts...but, if any club is best placed to do it, it's us.

Mark my words, though; like i say, they'll be sitting around a table somewhere right now drafting legislation to only allow clubs to spend a certain percentage of their income on infrastructure and non-playing staff. They've shut the front door and locked it and now they'll be bolting the back door and checking all the windows are closed.

And there are landmines on the path.

etc

This is the way forward, as Zip states. But look at this season's success from the academy compared to past years, this has saved a fortune both from not having to spend in the transfer market ( and look what this season's entry's from the academy will be worth in a couple of successful seasons in the Prem) to leaving funds to really get the best out of transfers.

As in Isac, Bruno and Tonali, just one or two of this quality per transfer window and with the input from the academy in 3/4 transfer windows we will have replaced more than a half of the current lesser players in the squad with the real quality of both top purchases and development from the up and coming players in the academy, and note, the academy input over the coming years will get better and better.

[toptoon]

I think we need to start putting rumours out about a legal challenge. Soon to be followed up by concrete action if things don’t improve. It’s clearly anti-competition in business.