No its not harsh at all,
The top four have more financial muscle than the rest, also they pay the highest wages and so can lure any player to their squads, as an example Sissoko was targetted by Moyes but once Liverpool made an approach he went there, even though he was guaranteed more football here.
Also lets say Man U and Arsenal wanted Fellani, would we still have got him ????
Another rumour is that Wenger wants Lescott and maybe Yobo too, we will do well to hold onto them as we cant provide challenging for Europe or the league whereas they can.
I think most season we are involved in our own mini league with Spurs / Villa / Fulham / Blackburn for the UEFA cup positions and nothing more really.
One more point would be that if we were to qualify for the champions league do we really have the squad to compete ???