The CL has made a massive difference, because the teams that have qualified regularly for 20 years have enjoyed a massive boost to their revenue which has enable them to build new or bigger stadiums and increase that revenue even further and become global brands. Without oil/financial doping, I could only see a United and Arsenal duopoly with Liverpool banging on the door - hardly a fluid situation. Funnily enough, it appears to be the fans of those 3 clubs that show the most enthusiasm for FFP - IMHO, without FD, they are the only teams who would have ever won the Premiership.Red Eye wrote:With or without the CL you will always have a fairly stable elite just because some clubs are massive and have big commercial revenues. But I think its indisputable there would be a more fluid situation at the top without oil doping.
Unfortunately, the days when other clubs can steadily climb the ladder to join the elite are long gone and the only way to compete with what's left of the stable elite is by financial doping - the fast route taken by City and Chelsea (and to a lesser extent Blackburn 20 years ago). During the Premiership era Leeds, Villa, Newcastle, Everton have all attempted to join the elite only to over-stretch themselves financially; Spurs are the latest club to knock on that door regularly, but with the building of a new stadium, may well join that list of failures unless another, extremely wealthy, backer injects more money into the club. It certainly can't be done if the definition of financial fairness is to allow clubs with 4 times Spurs' revenue to spend 4 times as much on transfer fees and wages.