From what I understand, Liverpool/Arsenal/United were offering better wages than the rest of the league prior to Chelsea/City. There will always be one club with more money, so there will always be players leaving clubs to go to "the wages club" - it just so happens we are no longer "the wages club". There was never a cap in the early days on wages, there would always be a club willing to pay everyone more if they got them together, there will always be that so long as there is no cap. Pretty obvious, really.
Having said that, if the Glazers ever do bother to sell the club, and if the debts are removed, we'll be right up there again.
The only thing City haven't quite (appeared to) get hold of at the moment is that if they want to be in the CL, they have to work towards reducing their debt - ie, their wages will not be allowed to be above their income. At the moment they are well above their income and I'm unsure as to how they will change that without scrapping a lot of their big-name players. Especially if Rooney goes there on a £300,000 pw salary like is being said. I just don't know how they expect to do this.
