Charles, I am afraid you are delusional if you think Burnley are a top team who are going to be challenging for honours.

And do you really think it is a coincidence that the consistent top teams in Europe, are the ones who spend the most money buying the best players?

Its a simple equation:

Resources + Long Term Vision + Commitment = Success

If one or more of the three elements are missing, then it is impossible to be at the top consistently as far as I am concerned. If you do not have the resources to support your vision, it's a waste of time. Feel free to quote me once Burnley win the league.

Sorry Dan, but Charles’s analysis is totally in keeping with Everton’s current situation. Your own is solely predicated on money.

And forgive me, but Arsenal are one of the top 4, have plenty of recent success, titles, cups, CL final, 10 consecutive years in the CL knock outs, and their record fee remains lower than Everton’s. No sugar daddy, no billionaire, just a well run club that was rescued by.....oh yes, one man with a vision.

Good article Charles. Not entirely convinced by Owen Coyle, too early I think but his team does play good stuff occasionally and I do like the look of Fletcher up front. That boy will go far.

I personally prefer the gib of either Jan Schindelmeiser of Hoffenheim (genius) or Roberto di Matteo. It was both depressing and enlightening to see Marton Keown’s dissection of one of Evertons buggest problems on MotD2 last night, i.e. hoofball, wasting possession at a ridiculously amateurish rate.

Teams that play football tend to enjoy their work. We’d also stand more chance of retaining Pienaar & Arteta if we let them enjoy their job, rather than watching helplessly as balls sail over their head from Yobo and Distin.

It’s getting too painful. Moyes has done his bit, and for the main part done it very well. But it’s time to move on before it gets much worse for everybody. He risks his whole reputation and we risk oblivion. Money would be nice, but we definitely need freshness, vision, excitement and confidence. All this waiting for a billionaire stuff is just tedious.

The game has moved on from the days of Shankly, Clough and even Keegan at Newcastle. The top sides all hoard top quality players now, gleaned from around the world. Man Utd reserves would be a top 4 side in their own right. That means the concentration of quality at the top clubs today is unprecedented and no plucky, wily underdog club is going to come along and usurp that.

Even if a club can craft a good quality homegrown side, the top dogs will not wait for 3-4 seasons before plundering the cream of their talent and thereby nipping any new found progress in the bud. And we’d all better get used to it if the top sides succeed in making permitted spending in proportion to club revenues, which in turn (as we all know) is directly proportional to fanbase, which again in turn is largely proportional to a club’s success in the past 30 years.

It’s all about maintaining the status quo, with Utd and LFC permanently in the CL along with Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barca, the two Milans, Juve at al.

Very good post Charles, I agree 100%. Brian Clough took ordinary players, and turned them into stars, and put Forest on the football map, because he had vision. He was a superb coach, up there with the very best.

Yeah, thanks for the Sky-type ’insight’ Dan but in my opinion, it is you that is delusional.

Ever thought about providing any proof or back-up for your theories/equations?

First of all your long term vision ’point’. What exactly does this mean? Could you be any less specific?

ALL managers have ’long term visions’, it’s just that some are shit long term visions, or unrealistic, or just plain wrong.

Moyes I’m sure has a long term vision and for the most part, commitment.

Does this mean if he had the resources of Chelsea we’d be pissing the league?

Clue: Does it fuck!

(One good thing about City winning the lotto, is five into four won’t go and we will now see PROOF that for someone, money couldn’t guarantee ’success’).

The point Charles makes is a good and valid one.

When Forest came up they didn’t have ’resources’ of loads of other clubs (even then) but they pissed the league.

In the 60s and 70s, WE were the ’millionaires’ but it didn’t stop Liverpool building a team that would go on to pick up titles and European cups.

And why? Because their managers were men who understood footballers and understood the idea of the team.

In short, both clubs were managed by men who were (in football terms) smart. Men who worked on the psychology of their players.

I think Moyes is honest and I’ve no doubt he works hard. I think he’s a ’good man’.

But I think he’s cautious, tactically-naive, not a great or unique man-manager and is kind of... erm... ’Presbyterian’ in his approach.

All the money in the world isn’t going to change that.

Oh and Charles didn’t say Burnley would win the league, he said they were performing well (and better than us...WHICH THEY ARE) and yet their entire team cost less than half a Fellaini.

Of COURSE money plays a part, but that part is often exaggerated, especially by managers looking to make excuses for their own shortcomings.

Arsenal almost won a European Cup a couple of years back and are constantly top 4, but have not exactly been flinging money around on players (not unless they sell one first and not compared to the other three big).

You say it’s a simple equation? You’re dead right about that.

I agree about Arsenal, they seem to be a well run club. But the fact is, they are well behind Chelsea and United now, because they have not been able to compete financially. The same applies to Liverpool. Injuries to key players shows the don’t have the same depth as Chelsea or United.

Does this mean the managers didn’t have the vision to fill their squads with quality? Or that they simply couldn't afford it? Wenger himself admits that he cannot compete financially, and it makes it harder to compete on the pitch. Are you saying he is wrong?

As for the Forest comments, I really don’t have it in me to try and explain to you how different the modern financial game is in comparison to back then. But I would bet my bollocks that no team will ever come up from the Championship and challenge for the title the way the current game is set up regarding money distribution.

It's all very well burying your heads in nostalgia and giving the old ’when I were’t lad’ speeches, but while the money distribution remains distinctly in the favour of elitism, then hard work and vision alone won't get you anywhere near the summit. Brian Clough was a true legend of his era, but the modern cash-driven game is won and lost in the board room, and not on the training pitch.

Obviously, what few people here take into account is the messianic nature and untold abilities of David Moyes. Hell, his management stint at Preston was world class and fully justified the terms of endearment provided by our dear dictator Kenwright.

Moyes’s talent knows no bounds and it has been rumoured that he can make silk out of pigs ears, and does so on free Sunday afternoons. Those who follow him do so with a reverence and passion that is unswerving. Even in the face of cast iron evidence, his believers will remain aloof to criticism and sound reason. That is truely a force to behold.

Sadly, it is also extraordinary delusional, limiting and frankly, bullshit. Moyes doesn’t posses messianic qualities. He’s never been more than an average manager. He has limited vision based on his overall desire to never lose (except he does, lose that is!!).

The fact that he doesn’t win much (anything except Manager of the Year rubbish) is overlooked. His conversation is littered with personal statements of quality and commitment which in practice mean not much learning going on and same old same old team formations.

For Everton to have a future, they need to look beyond the present. I do not see anyone doing that at present... unless Kenwright has plans for "Everton — the Musical".

Hi Charles, Good post and some sense being made, but what about the success Howard Kendall brought to us in the 80s; our future ruined by that shower of cunts across the park!

I actually believe David Moyes has the ability to grow into one of the managers you mentioned; his hands are tied by a corrupt and full of shit board / chairman. When he leaves at the end of the season (or sooner!) our loss will be someone’s gain I’m afraid.

I reckon you’re talkin; out of yer arse.

We need £200m and that won’t even win us the league.

City have improved and are goin’ for 5th now.

Unless we get investment, we’ll NEVER win the league again. No chance at all.

Not with shite like Fellaini playing for us. If that’s what you get for £15m these days, then we’re ROYALLY fucked.

Dan Brierley - On how to get a girl.

"If you’re not really good looking, FORGET IT!!, You’re not going to get anywhere....HONEST!, You should stay in the house. Really you have NO chance as long as there are people with nicer faces"

By the way Dan, I’m sure it’s considered a real ’zinger’ in the 6th form at St Bunty’s, but the fact is, referring to views contrary to your own as ’speeches’ makes you, not them look like a big mook.

It’s a complete myth that Arsenal’s success is not built on money. Yes, they have a wage structure in place, but this masks the fact that their young players are ALL paid more than our highest earners.

Arsenal regularly bring in players aged 16, 17 and 18 on around £40k a week. They also have a 60,000-seater stadium, which means they’ll be able to continue with this wage policy.

I don’t deny that Wenger is a man with vision — I think he’s a genius — but let’s not pretend we’re in any way comparable to Arsenal when it comes to money.

Ex-binman form Bury + L'pool reserve + teenager from Burnley + Tranmere youngster + 2 crocks with dodgy knees + ambitious, young balding manager = FIFA World Team of the Year 1985.

Hi Paul, could you give us the link to where you found that some of the Arsenal 16, 17 and 18 year old kids, are on around £40k, would be interesting reading.

It may be difficult to compete without enough money, but I’m sure it’s pretty difficult to win things if you can’t keep possession of the ball & pass to your own players. Anyway, it’s all academic — I’m taking the fatalist stance: Everton are due to win the title next season!