Bolton Wanderers boss Gary Megson says the standard of the Premiership is improving every season.
And he warned that expectation levels at clubs like Bolton have had to be tempered slightly to accommodate their comparative lack of financial clout.
Megson told the Bolton News: "You have to get on with it. You have to try and do a little bit better than is expected at your particular football club. But you can't look elsewhere at someone who has spent £300million on their squad and then expect to be in the same place. You won't be.
"It is getting harder and harder because of the squads and the players the big clubs have got. Real Madrid were one of the best clubs in the world last year, yet they come to Liverpool and get an absolute tonking. That's what we are playing against most weeks."