RAL Takeover 5 Years In

[Dave Cooper please]

Isn't that more or less a return to the pre-lerner era?

In a way yes, but Chelsea and Citeh have torn up the pre-Lerner rulebook. Back in Uncle Doug's day it wouldn't have taken a huge investment for us to have cracked the "Big four" or whatever they were calling it then, Ellis was either unwilling or unable to do this depending on your viewpoint.
To crack the Champions League places now would take a massive amount of money or a great deal of luck (see Spurs benefiting from a combination of Liverpool going tits-up and Citeh buying players but not a team).

[BILL DE VALL]

Aye, without 'space race' spending the best we can hope for is a good cup run and a sniff of UEFA football

sad but true

[MoetVillan]

Im not sure I agree.  A good youth set up which we seem to have will also get us there.  It will take time, but Arse make Chumps league every year, and most of those players have been developed rather than paid through the nose.  Thats the way I would prefer it...

[Dave Cooper please]

Im not sure I agree.  A good youth set up which we seem to have will also get us there.  It will take time, but Arse make Chumps league every year, and most of those players have been developed rather than paid through the nose.  Thats the way I would prefer it...

Time is something which today's 'jam today' fans just will not give any manager or any owner.

[Risso]

Im not sure I agree.  A good youth set up which we seem to have will also get us there.  It will take time, but Arse make Chumps league every year, and most of those players have been developed rather than paid through the nose.  Thats the way I would prefer it...

Time is something which today's 'jam today' fans just will not give any manager or any owner.

And isn't something that will lead to success anyway.  We've had some decent young players come through the ranks, but how many have moved on to a be bigger success elsewhere?  We certainly don't develop enough of sufficient quality to trouble the top clubs.

[not3bad]

Im not sure I agree.  A good youth set up which we seem to have will also get us there.  It will take time, but Arse make Chumps league every year, and most of those players have been developed rather than paid through the nose.  Thats the way I would prefer it...

Time is something which today's 'jam today' fans just will not give any manager or any owner.

And isn't something that will lead to success anyway.  We've had some decent young players come through the ranks, but how many have moved on to a be bigger success elsewhere?  We certainly don't develop enough of sufficient quality to trouble the top clubs.

With Arsenal it is more down to them nicking the right 16/17 year olds from European clubs than producing their own that come up through the ranks.

[Eigentor]

The difference between us and Arsenal, though, is that their job is merely stay in the top 4 (having been there for ages), whereas we have to break in from behind, which is considerably more difficult. Still, it seems that Arsenal, with their approach, may be the club most likely to fall out of the CL spots.