We can cement ourselves as a top 8/10 team if we are well run. I’d say we, Spurs, Villa, Newcastle could form a potential second tier (possibly Leeds with an expanded stadium/well run) if we all optimise our possibilities.
The well run other clubs with smaller footprints will still have the ability to disrupt our potential tier in any given season in the same way as our tier can hope to occasionally disrupt the CL clique. PL competition will remain fierce in the middle reaches.
If Chelsea continue to be badly run they could drop back. If City’s owners ever sell up maybe they will struggle. If all that happens then the best case might include another cup or two along the way. We live in (some) hope. 
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that the CL money gives you a massive advantage over the rest of the (non-CL qualifying) division.
Look at how much Newcastle and Tottenham will earn this season, after dreadful PL campaigns but decent-ish CL placing.
It has proven very hard for clubs outside of the Big 5 to retain their CL places, but the addition of more and more places allocated to the CL (unless the whole thing evolves into a separate European Super League) gives you hope.
I accept that even if we (or Villa - or indeed any non-Big 5 teams) qualified for the CL for say 4 consecutive years, that still places us financially way behind the Big Boys. But giving yourself that extra income - and the advantage you gain over the other ~14 teams in the division, gives you a very good chance to win a Cup and build an infrastructure to potentially win bigger.
There's a pretty good chance Chelsea self-destruct over the next year and there were good chunks of this season when it looked doubtful Liverpool would re-qualify for the CL. Equally, it'll be interesting to see how City cope when Guardiola chucks it.
The mega clubs have those financial advantages, but there's always opportunities for other clubs (though you have to be in position to take advantage if and when they occur).
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The fiscal limitations of European and domestic SCR mean it is nearly impossible. CL money alone does not enable clubs to sustain CL level squads in England. You also need the mega sponsors.
A club realistically needs to achieve then maintain CL status for at least five years in England to look like they have credibly achieved perennial status and have any realistic hope to attract long term commitments from the mega sponsors. More likely clubs really need 8 or 9 out of 10 seasons given City have 16 CL qualifications, Chelsea 20, Arsenal 24, Liverpool 29, United 32. That is what mega sponsors are paying for and why the gap to the big clubs is so hard to bridge commercially even if you get CL money for 2-3 seasons.
That is just the harsh reality. A club like ours if consistently well run has a shot at maybe achieving European qualification more than 50% of the time with an occasional CL season. That would represent massive progress from where we have been but I suspect it is less than many of our fans hope/believe. Previous Message
The ceiling that the 3Bs (but also teams like Palace, Sunderland, Fulham) have, is that once a player has been coached well and is worth £80M, then his agent is going to ask the club to pay him like an £80M player would expect to be.
Those clubs can't afford to do that and therefore sell and re-invest.
I would argue that we do have the ability (assuming TFG back us) to pay those £80M players the going wage rate.
Granted, we couldn't 'compete' with City/Arsenal levels, but we can easily imagine our ceiling is higher than those 'smaller' clubs.
I also think 'the model' assumes that once you reach the CL, then you stay there - which granted is the tricky bit.
I suspect Bournemouth (if they get there) may well have a brilliant CL season - trips to the Bernabeu, San Siro, playing Barca at the Vitality etc, but they will be highly unlikely to finish next season, in the CL places again. That then precipitates a sell-off (if they haven't already sold their better players) and you fall back to earth - or worse.
In fairness, Newcastle, Tottenham (a few years back) and Villa nearly 'made it' - finished in a CL place in season one and repeated it in season 2. The first 2 fell away after a while - couldn't quite sustain it - and Villa may struggle next season as some PSR chickens come home to roost.
But I think it is plausible to imagine Everton (a club with a similar infrastructure to those 3 mentioned) working our way to a CL place and then managing to stay there. It takes some luck - and a very good manager and recruitment team - but it's by far from an impossible dream.
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We are expecting/hoping a manager can do for us, something that no other manager has ever done...for longer than 3 or 4 years, that is outperform spend. You cant look to one team, ever in the EPL era that has outperformed spend consistently and really kicked on.....yet that is the standard we are going to hold every manager we ever have to...do something that has never been done and keep doing it.
Another problem is the buy young model....I think financially we may have to do that...but that isnt to build a young team to win trophies, its to buy young players and sell them for a profit.
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on May 12, 2026, 3:53 pm, in reply to "