Prem top six

[sillytuna]

I was looking at the prem table to see how screwed wba are and noticed the top six (recent form guide) have only lost one game between them. 7-12 have no team who has won more than one game, and Burnley have won none.

It is a league within a league right now, with everyone else beating each other.

I don’t see why we can’t compete but the top six are so far ahead. Is this the money talking or just a lot of average managers doing anything not to get relegated?

 

[Skrilla]

It's the gulf in finances I mentioned in another thread. Like you say, it's essentially a league within a league. Disheartening to see really, I believe with time though we can break the divide. It's not a level playing field at all in terms of talent, the top six are £100m to £400m in revenue ahead of the average PL side from 7th-20th. That's because of the value of commercial revenue in modern day football. Arsenal made (in 15/16) £82m, Chelsea £122m, Liverpool £116m, Man City £178m, Man United £268m - that is commercial revenue alone...

Contrast that with the average of the other 14 clubs at £14m, how do you compete? We would need a flurry of very lucrative sponsorships next season to even threaten the top six without breaching FFP regulations. Having Mendes on our side does of course help, but you only have to see the strength of those top six sides and the sums they're spending to realise how difficult it is to match them. The point is, we will still need to spend big even if we have the pulling power of Mendes.

I'm not convinced Fosun will settle on us being a bog standard Premier League side, they'll want us pushing towards the top with time. It may not happen instantly, but I believe we will slowly but surely build a side that can compete with the top six.

 

[Canadian Wolf]

I've said for many years that there are 3 divisions in the Premiership. With an error rate of at most 2 clubs, you know who will finish in the top 6, the middle 8 and the bottom 6. With a couple of reinforcements to the squad we should be able to attain a middle 8 spot.

 

[sillytuna]

It feels like a top six and the rest now though.

Leicester managed it by having a great team spirit, luck with injuries, and a bunch of off form big teams.

It can be done but to make it sustainable we will need to sell a player or two for big money each year and keep recruiting wisely. Looks like that’s the plan. Or become massive in Asia.

 

[HK Wolf]

Fosun at least has an opportunity to immediately increase commercial revenues by undertaking partnership/sponsorship deals with other companies within their holdings or via their connections worldwide.

I know these have to be at 'fair value' but the scope of deals they could put in place would be pretty broad and potentially be a significant contribution to the club's finances. I reckon this has been planned for as part of turning us into an established force in the top flight.

 

[JadeWolf]

It feels like a top six and the rest now though.

Leicester managed it by having a great team spirit, luck with injuries, and a bunch of off form big teams.

It can be done but to make it sustainable we will need to sell a player or two for big money each year and keep recruiting wisely. Looks like that’s the plan. Or become massive in Asia.

We'd probably need owners who know Asia and know the Asian market to do that...

 

[Mugwump]

What we have that a lot of the chasing pack of the top six dont have is Jorge Mendes. Having arguably the most powerful agent in the world and the contacts that will bring is huge.

 

[Sedgley Gold N Black]

I’d say the top 6 has a mini league within it, those who can win the league (Man City, Chelsea and Man Utd) with the other three fighting for a CL place. Sure on occasions Liverpool and Spurs have gotten close to the title but you’d never put money on anyone other than the first three to win the league at the start of the season, since 2004 only once has it not been won by one of those three and that was the fluke that was Leicester.

Man City have shown though it isn’t a closed shop but it will take great resources.

To be honest though the whole league aside from City have been poor, it’s not really taken much for the rest of the top 6 to stay above the others.

 

[Kingswinford Wolf]

I wonder how much we're getting paid for letting our corners be sponsored . We'll be seeing some massive sponsorship deals going forwards. I just hope one of them doesn't involve renaming Molineux.