Looking at those figures, it might be too easy to draw the following conclusion, that whoever has had control of this club has never had enough of what it takes to enable us to compete at a far higher level. Of course, what we have seen under the management of Wilder is that it's possible to find players who, according to their market value, have been able to integrate alongside other similarly valued players and raise their performances to a level where we can compete, but so far and no further. There's both positive and negative conclusions in that analysis, but don't think I subscribe to the idea that spending huge amounts of money will deliver success, because it won't. Ambition and assumption often become entwined, and usually incorrectly in my view.
For the very top teams there's only one place to be, that's as the leading club in their domestic competition. The difficulty with this approach is that there are several clubs competing for the same golden prize, thus what follows is that fans of the supposedly 'less' successful clubs seem to think they're not doing enough to bring that golden goose to their club, and thus this circle goes around and around, season after season. Of course there is the unusual interruption of a lesser club such as Leicester, who, in their astonishing season when they deservedly became Champions of the Premiership, showed everyone what could happen if certain stars aligned and the wind was blowing in the right direction. A season like this resurrected the belief that there was a chance for every club across the nation.....of course, the sceptical amongst us don't actually believe this will happen too often. Order will be returned to, money will flow, wages will rise, and so will admission prices too. The fans will pay a fair percentage of the income that swirls around the income streams that football generates, and the likes of United will have to find a way to lift us beyond our current status of Championship hopefuls.
We're a low to middling football club. The infrastructure that we hear so much about only becomes relevant if a relatively wealthy person were to take control of this club and then use what we have and lift it to levels we had never previously considered. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm a Blade to my dying days, it's just the way it is. It's part of my DNA, it's who I follow, and it's the closest I'll ever get to adopting a religious fervour for anything outside of religion (I speak as a born-again-atheist). Of course, I accept that football isn't the most important thing in life, but it's close. Football lifts and inspires. At it's best it's the most thrilling sporting activity I can imagine, at it's worst it's as dull as dishwater.
So, returning to money, how lovely it would be if we somehow managed to attract a moneybags, but it will only make sense if we have a manager who has a trained and informed eye for the type of player who can lift us above our current level of 'ok-ness'.........oh well, I can but dream.
