The next five year plan should be regularly challenging for the CL spots, i.e. as Everton and Spurs have been doing for a little while now.
This can be achieved by using the academy to provide the necessary squad depth within our limited resources, supplemented by 2-3 quality signings from which we can expect 1-2 to work out each year.
I would absolutely agree with the sentiment expressed by St Brendy that we are closer than it might seem. All clubs can point to "what ifs" but the fact is we have thrown away a lot of points this season, due primarily to lack of decent backup but also IMO due to MP still learning his craft.
The greatest risk to this plan is instability caused by the big clubs buying our best players.