The part in brackets makes this "fact" not so "simple". So are there teams below us have outspent us and finished below us? If so, we are not underperforming.
Interesting with all the talk of Liverpool challenging for 4th and Arsenal for the title, that the pattern of the gaps to bridge for both have pretty much mirrored one another for the last 4 years.
Tobes the PL is bread and butter and yes we haven't won it since it's inception but you cant judge the clubs other successes during that timescale as invalid because of no PL championships. Going by your logic EFC have spent around a quarter of what we have on players since 92 but you haven't had a quarter of the successes we've had.
3 and a half years isn't an inconsiderable period of time. As for Chavs and Citeh - they've both spent big and they've both 'bought' the title. Indisputable fact, mate. Yes, over the entire history of the Premier League we're one of the net greatest spenders. Unfortunately, the club was buggered backwards at a rapid rate by The Beast, and all the catch up we've done since has barely repaired the damage. Despite this, the only trophy we've not won in this period is the PL. What we've acheived is streets ahead of the majority of the other teams in the PL. What have Spurs won? The Barcodes? The Toffees?
Oh dear The teams in question during the last 5 years, are Stoke & Villa, who have both also under performed compared to their budgets. However, their failure doesn't negate yours does it? So those facts were indeed simple..........
Aside from winning the PL, for the majority of the time you've had 'value' for your budgets, as you were getting CL football every year. The reason I highlighted the last 5 years, is that you've still been spending big over that period, but the resource has been often poorly invested, & you've not had the level of return i.e. CL football, that you probably had every right to expect from a financial aspect.
So 4 teams spent more than us, 2 finished above and 2 finished below. And the 2 that finished aboved didn't spend a little more, but a huge amount more. Not seeing the disaster myself.
haha, that's because you're either being obtuse or just plain dumb. The salient point is that only 2 of the 6 teams that finished ahead of you in the league again this year, have outspent you over the last 5 years......so 4 of them have spent less in the transfer market than you.
Err, 5 seasons back from 12/13 is 07/08, and for the majority of that time, despite CL football, the team was being starved of financial respources. As has been shown by several teams, breaking into the top 4 to access the CL money is difficult. Only in the last two season have we had significant funds invested again - once we were out of the CL. And MITO, I'm sure we discussed this back on old 606 - the £20 mil per season much loved by Statler & Waldorf in their press conferences was eaten up by contract extensions, wages etc. as several players signed new contracts at the same time the promised money 'vanished'.
