All true, diplomat. Despite the massive hype about getting to the PL being worth £X Squillion, to survive, all that - and more - will be spent on wages and agents' fees 'in order to compete'. But compete at what? The top four have it all sewn up, a few teams will briefly give the illusion that 'they may break into the top four' (Spurs, Everton). But they won't. Ever.
The middling teams will produce sterile dross just to remain in the 'Promised Land' (Stoke, Sunderland). And the rest are in a permanent relegation battle. Plus, teams who have recently 'broken into the top flight' by playing attractive football get reeled in and will soon end up back where they belong (Norwich, Southampton, Swansea).
Another thing that suggests it's all a big fake are good teams who sell their players to the top teams. Recently we've seen Athletic Bilbao, Braga, Dortmund (and soon Basel) who have built terrific teams, got their long suffering fans all excited and promptly break the team up by selling their best players. Oh, I know we get the usual 'We couldn't stand in their way' bollocks. But it's hardly a sustainable business model, is it? Just look at United post-2009.
Finally (honest!) what a lot of people forget is the number of great players Wigan have sold recently - Moses, Palios, Rodallega etc. The difference is, they've obviously got a superb scouting network, especially in South America. Espinoza (my MOM yesterday) shows that you can get away with selling, as long as you keep that conveyor belt going.
