The system's rigged.
UEFA fined us about £10m for "transgressing" their wank rules, yet the tossers at the Prem/FA have only hit Cheatski with a £10.75m fine for blowing £47m on secret payments.
So, we're playing against a loaded deck.
But the money we've blown on Disasi, Elliott and Guessand makes you question how savvy we are in the transfer market.
Having said that, if Chelsea, C115ty, Scum or Liverpool buy a dud (or several duds) they can just go out and sign more £50m players. We've only ever signed one - Onana.
It just shows how important Chumps League is. Our money this year from the Europa compared to the Chumps has taken a c.£30m hit just in terms of prize money and gate receipts, and you can probably add another £10-15m uplift from sponsorship uplifts. Although I guess our wage bill would most likely have increased through performance clauses in player contracts kicking in.
All this PSR/FER bollocks begs the question - if you can't make Chumps League, are you better off not going into the Europa or Conference given that they're not that profitable but bring with then all of UEFA's restrictions, sanctions and fines?