That was the thing about the great English football sell-off of the early 21st century. It was a lottery. For decades, money had been a factor in the game, but ultimately we were talking about the difference between one local businessman and another. Far more significant was signing good players and hiring a good manager, or not. But by the mid-2000s, it had become a lottery. Those clubs who were already established among the elite had an enormous and probably unassailable advantage, but nobody really knew who they were selling to, or what the future held. And it didn’t seem like many of the buyers knew what they were doing either.   submitted by   /u/TheAthletic [link]   [comments]