Of course that money played a part, it's obviously what's gotten them that squad in the first place. However the majority of this team was available last season to Guardiola already, and at least half was available to Pellegrini in his last season too - their playing style looked absolutely nothing like this. You won't teach guys like Delph or Stones how to play this way by doing rondos for a couple of weeks, you need them to relearn most of what they had learnt about playing football
Money and time are necessary most definitely but both can and will be squandered if you don't have the right guy in charge. I remember when Simeone took over Atletico were pretty much the opposite of what they are now, a flaky team that could play exciting football today and concede five to a relegation battler tomorrow which is why they were firmly a midtable outfit sitting in 11th when he came. He took that team with loads of journeymen and won the Europa League in his first six months. The season after he led them back into the CL and won the Copa Del Rey final vs Madrid at their own ground to end a 20 something year streak of not winning against them, the season after it was the CL final and a historic league title.
Point being I don't think we'll necessarily see a couple of seasons in the wilderness just because - our competition bar City are extremely flaky and even those might experience a hangover next season. If we get our next manager appointment right and have someone ambitious and with the right ideas - not necessarily Simeone - we can definitely go back to what we used to be
