The reason Pele is remembered so fondly, for me, is that he truly believed that his team could beat anyone, and he had the players believing it as well. That meant that win, lose or draw, the football was always exciting to watch.
Unfortunately that became harder for any manager to maintain as we progressed through the leagues and the cost of failure brought with it a fear of losing. Focus then shifts to being defensive and the priority being to avoid relegation. It also becomes more expensive to just stand still as a team/club and whilst we've been blessed (for the most part) with people willing to throw money into the club, the returns diminish.
I have no issue with us being a Championship level club, or even a league 1 or 2 club, but it scunners me that we no longer have that sense of community and the entertainment has totally gone from the football.