Roy Hodgson has told West Brom that the club must emulate Everton after securing a third successive Premier League season.
Baggies looking for the definition of success
Roy Hodgson has told West Brom that the club must emulate Everton after securing a third successive Premier League season.
The Baggies' sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth says the club are looking at the next stage of their development to ensure they can continue to celebrate success.
He explained: "Everyone involved with the club fully deserves to celebrate. Given our past history, a third successive top-flight season must constitute success.
"The question that comes after we've finished celebrating is 'what does success look like next year or in five years?
"Is staying in the Premier League success or are there other things that the club, players, staff and fans want after that?
"Roy Hodgson has said we need to aspire to the status of an Everton, and we want to reach a point where relegation is something that's never an issue."
Limit
But Ashworth believes there is a limit on the ambitions of all mid-table teams.
He said: "The reality is a club like us would need to spend somewhere in the region of £30million to have a hope of finishing eighth on a regular basis and it might cost you more than that.
"You have to measure that against the potential financial returns as well as the sporting ones because otherwise you can go the way of a Portsmouth.
"In money terms, I'm afraid, the return you get for coming eighth is nothing like the outlay you need to make and that is why the Premier League has settled into being a league within a league."
"Does finishing eighth represent success to the fans, especially if you do it three years on the run?
"I'm genuinely interested whether, to a supporter, there is a real difference between finishing eighth and 11th"
