First off, I'm conscious that you got both barrels in my original post yet aren't a typical proponent of the stuff I'm rallying against, so apologies if you took my venom too personally.
My take in brief:
This squad developed to this level ahead of projected schedule and is not in sync with the financial boost we require from the new stadium to genuinely and assuredly improve it... Add to that the fact the market went crazy post-Neymar and the ever increasing TV money meaning we can't even pluck 'the best of the rest' from the EPL mid-tablers anymore without paying OTT money. I generally think we simply can't afford the level of fee + wages to improve our starting XI; nor similarly improve our bench to the level that the discontents (rightfully or wrongly) demand (i.e. First team calibre players on 1st team wages to gather splinters from week to week).
I don't think the personel here has been maximized or peaked as some have suggested (No reason why the bulk of our players + manager alike can't develop further), but for now our financial clout seemingly has; and has been ever since the spending slowed down post AVB.
It's a quandry and whilst our quest for a big trophy is further muddied by echo's of Spursy (or whatever one prefers to describe it as), the instinctual cries of "buy buy buy" from the same old peeps are simplistic and naive at best.
Big wage hikes for most of our key players this summer was a huge comfort for me (esp. as I think it was a case of needs must rather than it being immediately affordable for us), but personally I don't see the new stadium being a game-changer in terms of acquisitions and huge fees.... It'll help with wages, but that's about it. We'll have to continue to be 'creative' in our spending and transfer strategy.
In terms of fan-to-club harmony, a scenario I see on the horizon that I fear means we won't suddenly find our fan-base on the same page again once we've settle into the new gaff...
Peeps understandably want Kane, Dele, Eriksen etc. here til they retire.... No stars sold = no significant money from sales... BUT.... We don't get to just magically throw say £500m (future money) at buying another generation of elite players when they call it a day so how exactly is it proposed we maintain a squad of this calibre past this particular generation of players?
Of course I want them to stay too, but at the same time no point creaming ourselves about how much our squad is worth or consider it's value a reflection on our spending power unless we're prepared to sell them.
i.e Clubs won't pay £100m+ (in today's money) for Eriksen when he's 32 and beginning to decline physically... He would need to have been sold by the time he reaches his peak... If he retires with us then where does the circa £100m come from to replace him with a player of a surefire equivalent calibre?
