to a certain degree you are right about being bought, but it is certainly in degrees.  bought means some rich owner took his money and built a team in a short period of time.  man united's core during their great runs occurred with many homegrown players - giggs, beckham, scholes, etc.  barca's incredible run occurred with its own homegrown players in messi, iniesta, xavi, fabregas, etc.  other teams were obscure and got a mega rich owner who cherry picked players to become good overnight.  chelsea and man city are at the top of the list.  they are like supporting the miami heat.  and the majority of their fans outside of their respective cities just jumped on for the ride.  how anyone can like chelsea is bizarre to me.  their players are aholes and they play a miserable brand of soccer.  it's negative soccer (which has nothing to do with the score, it's their defensive, park the bus style of play), which is also how england played in the euros.  horrible soccer to watch.  the complete opposite of spain.  i understand people jumping on the spain bandwagon.  they play the most technical style of soccer the sport has ever seen.  it's amazing to watch and anyone who knows how difficult it is to keep possession admires and respects what they have done.  likewise barcelona.  chelsea, not so much.

This post was edited on 7/14 9:15 AM by mcmurtry