I think Sc***horpe are the best example of a well-run club or about our size, if not smaller, who have enjoyed great success over the last few years. They haven't got a moneybags chairman, and most of the investement in the team has been funded by player sales. Their success has largely been due to their excellent manager, Nigel Adkins, and their canny dealings in the transfer market. Over the past five years they've bought players, particularly strikers, very cheaply and then sold them on for millions: Andy Keogh, Billy Sharp, Martin Paterson and Gary Hooper.
As previous posters have said, there was probably a window of time when we could have used the money from Bunn, Gypes and Johnson and emulated Scunny by signing players like Simeon Jackson, for example, when he was banging them in down the road at the Dims. Gray wasted the chance by singing short-term loanees and relegation meant we had to cut our cloth accordingly. It was poor management by Gray, not a lack of investment by Cardoza which crippled us. Of course Cardoza appointed Gray, so you could argue that he was ultimately responsible. Unfortunately, the money isn't there anymore and unless we can sell someone like Jacobs for big money we'll have to make do with Bosman frees and loanees.
Absolutely agree that Scunny are the best example, however they are a single club that has managed to stay in and around the lower reaches of the Championship over the past few years. Colchester have also achieved beyond their means in recent years but as stated it takes a good manager (in S****horpe's case - 2 good managers, as it was Brian Laws that actually kicked off the success) to do so.
We should definitely be aspiring to be a club like that, however there are about 48 other clubs trying to do exactly the same thing. A lot of luck and a lot of good judgement is required to get there.
