Top-eight finish not worth it - Ashworth

Director Dan Ashworth claims West Brom would have to spend £30million on players each year to compete with the top club's.

Albion have secured three successive seasons of Premier League football for the first time under head coach Roy Hodgson who will tackle his former club, Liverpool, at Anfield on Sunday. But Sporting and technical director Ashworth has revealed the financial outlay any club, including the Baggies, would need to challenge the elite group - and has questioned whether the outlay would be worthwhile. "Given our past history over the last decade, a third successive top-flight season must constitute success, and everyone involved with the club fully deserves to celebrate," Ashworth said. "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? "Of course, you want to finish as high up the league as you can and we are an ambitious club who want to enjoy better and better seasons. But to guarantee you could have a chance of finishing eighth you would have to spend a colossal figure - 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. But does it matter to a fan if you finish eighth or 11th?"