Here's the thing though: throughout modern football the size of the wage bill has been the single biggest factor in determining success.
Having a big wage bill, and being able to sustain it, means that you can afford to retain players, which means you can afford to challenge again. It means you can sign new players and compensate with wages for a lack of success. It's the thing that separates a big club from an overperforming small club. Big clubs are able to maintain their size when things aren't going well. The others have to sell off capital. A team like Spurs will never win anything, and they'll keep going like a yoyo between Europa League and the odd Champions League season. They just don't have the weight to throw around. The stadium was supposed to get them to level up, but instead it has become a millstone around their collective neck.
I've seen plenty of people suggesting that we should slim the wage bill, and it's complete crazy talk. We might want to spend the money on different players, or distribute it differently, but slimming down when we're not winning? That's insane. It's not the wage bill that stops us from getting back into Champions League. It's because of the wage bill that we still have a chance despite spending two years outside the cup. If we start to sell off expensive players now (and by all accounts that's exactly the plan) we're going to live to regret it.
