8 years. They stayed relatively competitive in that time though (i.e. never finishing outside top 4).
The point seemingly being made by @DeanoAustin is that in terms of relative spend on wages teams like Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, City etc did not impose limits on their spending on wages AND have the silverware to show it was perhaps worth doing
Please correct me if i've misunderstood/misrepresented your point @DeanoAustin
Yet we were paying more wages than aresenal till the last season or 2.