The only club who have spent more than us during this time are City. It’s tough to point fingers at Chelsea and talk about them being an oil club when we’ve spent more and have less to show for it. We have no one to blame but ourselves for allowing the league to run away from us season after season.
I feel like a lot of people are missing this point. We've invested heavily, really heavily, it's just been poorly done or certain players didn't work out.
Di Maria for example, hindsight says it wad a terrible signing but if we'd won 'that' game against Leicester after he'd scored a stunner and everyone seemed to love him, and things worked out a little differently then he may still be with the club.
We haven't had a clear vision, so we've employed very different types of managers which led to our squad being a jumbled mess by the time Mourinho left.
What City have done is implement a superb infrastructure and bought very well. Yes they've spent a ton and people forget their dud buys but they've been shrewd in the sense that they have primarily bought players who are just below top tier but have the potential to become it. Players like Sterling, Aguero, Kompany, Bernardo Silva, Sane, Stones, Walker were all players that bad their best years ahead and the potential to go up a level. They've spread their money across lots of 40 - 60 million pound signings and as a result they have a really strong squad.
We have constantly been trying to build a competitive first 11, with little thought about the overall squad quality and we've gone big several times which has left us really relying on those signings having a huge impact and maintaining this.
I feel the Maguire deal is one we regret in hindsight. We very much had our focus on bringing him in and I understand there are several good reasons for this. Looking back though, we may have been better going for a 50 million main man and a 30 million squad addition.
It's all coulda, woulda, shoulda but it highlights the need to put in a proper structure and plan as well as maintain some consistency from a managerial and recruitment perspective.
We can moan about the Glazers and sure, we maybe coukd have spent even more money had we not been owned by them but I feel its a bit of a red herring or at least simply a seperate argument. The fact we could have spent more doesn't detract from the fact we've spent a billion pounds in around ten years, that's ALOT of investment and puts us second in the league in terms of spend. Yes, City have spent a few hundred million more I believe but when you look at their success over the last ten years compared to ours, I'd say they've over achieved compared to us if you're simply looking at spend vs success.
It's one of the reasons I want Ole to stay. Even if he isn't the long term right man, our squad development is miles better and if we need another year/18 months of building before then handing to 'the man', I'm cool with that.
Changing manager yet again just sets us back a year ad far as I'm concerned. Unless we happen to get someone in who has a similar approach to Solskjaer and just happens to want to keep the same squad and continue on a similar path when it corns to recruiting.