The essence of Van Gaal’s thesis is that no club holds a divine right to win anything any longer. The trouble is that this idea is, even with the mitigation of his fractured English, wrapped up in several contradictions. On the one hand, he seemed yesterday to be suggesting that it was a more daunting task than ever to win the Champions League. “Now there are many more clubs who have the money,” he said. “There are many more who have the structure to win.” But on the other hand, he indicated that English clubs had an inherent advantage because of the riches from the impending £5.14 billion television rights deal. “Next year, all the clubs in the Premier League will have a bigger budget than most other clubs in Europe – that makes a big difference.”