Quote Originally Posted by Sully View Post
Teams like Leverkusen and Athletico Madrid come along and have a good season or two and then fade away, over the past few years instead of Leverkusen being up there it's been Schalke, Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen, Stuttgart and instead of Athletico it's been Valencia, Villarreal, Malaga and look at these clubs now. These clubs usually have a good long run because of , as in the case of Athletico, a great manager. When they lose Simeone they will fall back just like Valencia. These clubs in Germany and Spain have never had the staying power like Bayern, Dortmund, Barcelona or Real Madrid because these clubs are so much bigger than the rest.

As for the EPL I think you are being totally unfair on the other clubs to say its simply down to the big clubs being inconsistent. For me clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Everton, Spurs have slowly got stronger over the last 5 years to make it a more competitive league.
I agree teams like Everton, Liverpool, Spurs and so fourth are getting better. But Villa arn't one of those teams, so for Arsenal getting beat 1-3 at home isnt a good result, and Man City's away form. Yes the BPL was always defined by a " Top four " Which is more like a " Top 6 or 7 now " But that doesn't excuse the poor results vs teams outside of that.

On the Spanish / German front one thing you didn't mention is that a lot of those that were up there then fell down, they all for the most part suffered massive financial issues. And have been forced to sell their best players to balance their books. If those issues didn't arise they would be able to keep their best players and actually keep a steady ship. Athletico are a prime example, they have managed to grow steadily without selling their best players, they have always been a good team, and have did well in the Europa League many times over the past 10 years. Putting it all down to their manager is a little harsh, they have sold Falcao but they couldn't keep him due to 3rd party ownership. If they had full ownership of him, I have no doubt he would of stayed.

So yes in German and Spanish leagues it has fluctuated, but more down to money issues than anything else. Which the BPL doesn't suffer from as greatly due to TV rights being spilt on a more even scale than in those two other leagues.