I don't disgree with a lot of this but I'm not suggesting that we compete with the top 6 necessarily although I don't think they as far in advance as us as you think. But, if we want to compete for positions 7 or 8 with solid domestic and European cup runs, which is what we absolutely should be doing, then selling our best assets whenever anyone comes calling is not the way to go about it. Our model did work brilliantly to get us here but what now? We just accept that it's as far as we can go? What's the point in watching or supporting football then? I pay for my ticket because I enjoy going but I also want to see some ambition and if we are just preapred to keep filling the coffers without moving forward then I don't see the ambition in that.
I don't think Villa have moved ahead of us in terms of their squad and Everton certainly haven't. In fact, I think they are going to be lucky to stay up this year. You say that we didn't bcome Billy Big Bollocks and that's spot on but it is exactly what Everton and Villa are trying to do. We can be more sensible in our approach but it doesn't mean we can't hang on to what we have. There is no need whatsoever to sell Fofana and no value to us doing so. If he has a good season this year again, he absolutely will reach that £100m mark and we'd have had a solid season.
I totally agree that we should be spending money on infrastucture as this will help us to compete year on year in those top 8 places but we don't need to sell to do that. There is some totally unfounded nonsense being spouted about how skint we are and how we don't have a pot to piss in but that's more than likely complete and total horse shit. We have a bloated squad that needs thinning out and until we can bring down our wage to income ratio it's going to be very difficult to recruit. Fine; our squad is more than good enough to compete for 7-8th this year if we keep Fofana. We can still spend money on infrastructure should we choose to.
Like I say, I don't diagree with you on much of what you say and I can totally see your logic but I just think we need to try and grow a little more. There is more to come from us if we are wise and careful about how we manage our squad and I want to see that.