Why is it always one or the other, chelsea and arsenal and spurs and West Ham and Aston Villa aren’t owned by sports washers by they outspend us by £100s of millions at the moment and arsenal made nearly €300mil less than us and didn’t have champions league football.
This type of view is often posted on here, but it always needs context.
What others spend is largely irrelevant unless they are in the same position as us and are competing for trophies.
West Ham, Villa and Spurs win nothing, so them spending more than us isn't a barometer of anything.
Chelsea are massively in debt, have just been taken over, had their previous owner deported (writing off £2billion of debt in the process), plus sack their managers every 18 months, and aren't exactly flying high at the moment, with a manager under massive pressure (which we can make worse for them today).
Arsenal struggled to compete for the title for a very long time, and are only doing so now after clearing down stadium debt, getting rid of older players, and slowly rebuilding their entire squad over the last few years under a new manager.
So when comparing other clubs spending, it's a pointless exercise without context.
Similarly with City - they're cheating, and using artificially inflated state sponsorship deals (and player sales) to have the 'highest revenue' in the league - despite everyone in European football knowing its a complete sham (except UEFA and the FA/PL, clearly).
Utd are massively in debt, and have been in the dark ages for over a decade, with a crumbling stadium, fan protests, a revolving door of managers and systems, and no proper sporting structures. They're only looking better after throwing well over a £billion at players and contracts since 2013, getting rid of Ronaldo, and finally finding a pragmatic manager who won't tolerate egos or player power (although the jury's still out on whether their good form will continue). They're also a prime example of how if you throw enough money, managers and wages at a project for long enough, then eventually something might work.
Newcastle are sportswashers and having their best season by a mile, after being relegation candidates and a laughing stock not too long ago.
Spurs blow hot and cold and always will, and won't win anything whilst paying off their £1billion shiny cheese factory (just as Arsenal struggled after the Emirates stadium was completed).
So the question is - which of the above clubs have regularly challenged for (and won) trophies over the last 5 years - without either cheating, or going massively into debt, or after having spent a very long time drifting after years of squad rebuilding and multiple 'transition' seasons? There's also more factors to consider, such as our stadium redevelopment, Kirkby, increased wages, tying down our best players to new contracts, one of the worst injury records in the league, the Ox/Keita paradox, some key backroom staff leaving, new players bedding in, a change in playing style, plus the collective physical/mental fatigue after 5 seasons battling with the oil cheats (which has visibly affected both Jurgen and the squad).
So can we please stop these reductionist arguments like 'we've spent less than Villa', as they're utterly pointless comparisons - without considering the myriad factors, issues and challenges that explain why any given team is doing well or doing badly, or whether they're spending loads or being prudent.
This is clearly now a transition season, and if Arsenal win the title whilst Jurgen's building his next team, I'd be absolutely delighted. It would be a victory for good management, squad building and patience over sportswashing, sacking managers, and blatant cheating. This summer is a massive opportunity to finally let players go, free up money for new transfers and wages, and begin Jurgen's Liverpool 2.0 era which we all want to see.
Next season we'll have the new ARE stand open, we'll have cleared down more of the Main stand/Pandemic debt, we'll have increased matchday income, new players, key players back from injury, and hopefully a re-energised team, manager and
fanbase.
The future is very bright, and we need to tolerate seasons like this once in a while, and remember/appreciate the amazing journey we've had, and avoid using spending as a constant measure of our position. It's far more complex than that - as all the above examples demonstrate.
