Does Anyone on this Board Actually Believe

[Cleve van LeefCaptain of Country]

The Club has any ambition to reach the Premier League again?

I for one certainly don't.

[TDAGlobal Superstar]

If they can fluke it via the play-offs, then yes, but there will be no further significant financial input from Vincent Tan until then.......and who can blame him?

[*** G L O V E S ***National Legend]

Nar, not particularly. Hugely frustrating when you have a millionaire at the helm sitting on a ton of money

[Cleve van LeefCaptain of Country]

The hurting part is that we seem to be lagging further behind Swansea every season. They appear to be a million miles in front of us and the gap is getting wider

[TDAGlobal Superstar]

I'm not bothered about Swansea or any other local rivalry, never have been, never will be........

As for having a billionaire owner, Tan is primarily a businessman, who has learned from his mistakes in trusting people in the football game. The time is not right for further investment, but it may well come in the future.

[Arkay DubyaGlobal Superstar]

Yeah, not bothered by what Swansea are doing only what happens at the CCS. I do think there is ambition there but very much a different approach now and, actually, I'd rather that.

If the last 12 months, 2, 5 or 10 years has shown us throwing money at the team is no guarantee of success - maybe in the short term but long term, seems more detrimental than anything. Just look at the Hammam or Solskjaer era for evidence of that. Money without control or strategy is usually wasted. There was a period when I could name every City player - including reserves - verbatim, in the last 3 or 4 years I've lost track completely and that is due to the massive turnover of players we've had.

Conversely, teams such as Leicester, Burnley, (and yes) Swansea and even Wales have benefited from long term building over a period of seasons - even if there has been failures along the way.

Finally, it seems to me, with a focus on bringing in more home grown players through and paying sensible prices for players that fit, that there actually is some kind of building and buying strategy in place at City. Granted, it is a loose one right now but that's a significant improvement on the last few seasons and the clearest direction by the board and manager that we've had since the first season of Malky. I tend to agree with TDA on this one too, there might be more investment to come but only when the time is right and the foundations are set.

If that means we are ball-achingly dull this season but build towards something for next season and a proper tilt at promotion with a real prospect of staying up once we get there, then I'm all for that.

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