"If we can get to that level week-in and week-out, I don't care what other teams buy - it'll be difficult for them to live with us.
"That would be fantastic and that's what we expect to happen. We expect over the next few years we're going to start winning championships.
"Hopefully we'll go and do it.
"We're blessed ourselves with the finances the club have and what they've spent on players over the past few years.
"So we can't complain about what other clubs are spending. We've got to do our own job.
For our younger players these are their early experiences of defeats.
"We've had them, the lads who have been at the club for a long time, and it doesn't get any easier.
"But sometimes, certainly in the build-up to (United's treble season in) '99, we had to go through a lot of defeats and a lot of heartache to get to that point.
"And maybe this is what we're having to do again, to build our way through it step by step - we can't just jump.
"You need a huge step to go from two seasons ago when we finished fourth. To be champions we have to build it up again and hopefully we can get closer each year."