Originally Posted by
Blue in the Face
There in lies how we messed up our success.
Going off memory here - I believe we spent somewhere in between £11m - £12.5m on transfer fees in our promotion year, which wasn't too silly back then even though we were being painted as crazy spenders at the time. The wage bill jumped up obviously by the second year (Champ winning season) of the MM era. I think DJ's last year in charge saw him push the wage bill beyond £20m, but in previous seasons I have wage figures in between £16m - £18m in my head. Maybe 16 is too low.
But that £34m figure explains why we were never able to make hay while the sun shone. What a stranglehold. The way to go about promotion to the PL is to bank on the idea that you are likely to come back down. If you can stay up, bonus. But build a side that can smash the Championship once you go back down again. And make sure the wage bill is viable for relegation.