Our Reality Is Harsh, But Ultimately True

We're never likely to realistically challenge at the top of the league again unless some mega rich fool seriously invests in this club, the fact is all of the top five are able to either pay big wages or big transfer fees.

Some would argue that Spurs haven't exactly spent like City but they've been one of the biggest spenders over the last five years or so and that's bearing fruit right now, they've also got another important advantage and that's location It helped Chelsea immensly before the oil money when the likes of Gullit, Vialli, Zola, Desailly, Dechamps, Hasslebaink etc were popping up in west London and getting them into the Champions League.

Many claim we had 'success' under Martin O'Neill, but the truth is all we done is do what we've been doing for the last 15 years and that's chase a dream and come up short.

When even the likes of Sunderland and Everton's record transfer fees dwarf ours (14m for Gyan and 15m for Fellani respectively) how can we ever expect to compete with the big boys?

Some would say Arsenal haven't spent the moon and the stars either but again they have the London factor and are a big club in the Champions League, the last team to do anything of any note who didn't have the lure of Champions League football or London were Pompey when they won the FA Cup.

The funny thing is they were paying big wages to the likes of Suli Muntari, Niko Krankjaer, Sol Campbell, Sylvain Distin, Glen Johnson, Jermain Defoe and Lassana Dierra, it cost them dear in the end because their owner wasn't rich enough to sustain it but it supports my notion about wages and transfer fees.

Many may want rid of Houllier right now, and I guess that's a natural reaction considering our plight, but at the end of the day until we can compete on a level playing field with the teams who occupy the top five all efforts to close the gap are likely to end in vain, just like they did in the last three years.

So ultimately the only departure that could make the biggest impact at this club could be one from the boardroom.

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