Next season for the first time in forever, nobody thinks we're in a relegation battle and everyone has this tiny bit of hope that we get Pardew-lucky and somehow end up 6th or higher. We'll go into games, particularly at home, believing we've got a chance. The landscape is already dramatically different. Anything more than that will take a LONG time. UEFA financial restrictions (designed to keep the big at the top) will be harder to catch up to, PL restrictions (which are actually fairer than UEFA's but same principal) restrict us to £105m in losses (allegedly, not sure how this rule doesn't appear to apply to Chelsea or Everton). Any/all of our future success hinges on smart recruitment (takes time), smart trading and bigger commercial deals. The latter will take a lot longer than people think.
The thing most in our favour is we can hire an elite team of scouts, scientists, analysts, executives, etc., and it doesn't impact the rules (presumably designed in favour of City/Liverpool, but now something we can take advantage of) but that's where it ends. We have no decent reserves set-up, no decent womens team, so getting commercial deals will be harder because this **** has to be built from scratch.
However, this is just reality - the claim we will be punching for the title within 5 years is achievable. I just don't think we can expect miracles this early.
NB. Writing this ahead of 10am so we can all point and laugh when Saudia's on the shirt.
