stan you have before stated you would like to see football clubs follow the american sports with salary caps, and free agency like the NBA. What i dont think you realize is that money does not equal winning. The new york knicks were by far the worst team in the league last year, they also had the highest team salary. And just because the english teams are rich does not mean they have the best players in the world. By your logic only teams from england, spain, and italy should win the CL, because they are the richest.
You still have to go out and play the game, at the end of the day, anything can happen in any game, especially with a knock out competiton. If the CL was a league table system, then you can bet your belgium ass, the enlgish teams would finish in the top half, along with the madrids, milans, and munichs of the world(because of depth).... i think your putting too much credit too the english teams and not enough to the lower league teams... money does not always equal success. Do you think john oshea or darren fletcher would even make the 18 man roster for benfica? or for Lyon? Bordeux?
PSV? liverpool? i doubt it, they suck. There are far better players on teams that aren't the richest in the world, makoun from Lille comes to mind over those two. There is alot to be said for team chemistry, management, love for your club, and coaching. Money cant buy chemistry, money cant buy love for a club, and money certainly has been proven, cannot buy you a champions league title, see chelsea