I think a far more holistic approach would help if we attempt to decide if being promoted had benefits.
Putting aside the total figure associated with being a member of the Prem club, we'd have wages, fees, players agents, all of these would increase according to what our ambition was meant to be. Do player agreements improve as a result of promotion? Does the club adopt the view that we want to make a serious stab at remaining in the Prem? If so it will mean spending on a scale that we've never done previously. Does anyone think that would happen with our current board? There are, of course, parachute payments if we were to be relegated, but again, this addresses the question of our intentions. Do we possess the ambition to want to compete at the highest level, or do we simply want to remain a club that imagines what life would be like as a team with ambition?
Personally I doubt promotion is a realistic hope this season. It might be that we do the unimaginable and take that step towards the Prem, but as of this minute I cannot see it happening. We're certainly in a better shape than we were a year ago, but I wonder if there's a part of our make-up that goes into denial where the realities of modern football are concerned. The fact that we were in a far healthier position not too long ago, a time when a push from the board would've helped, yet it's clear that the sums necessary to bring in reinforcements weren't forthcoming. The upside was that we didn't sell any of our more promising players. It's a tricky situation though, one that only the board can answer.
