They're kind of in the same position we were when Jol was manager. At that time we were doing a lot of player trading each season, gradually improving on the quality of player as we traded up. At the same time, we were losing our better players to higher placed or bigger clubs, much as they appear to be.
Their stall needs to be improvement by increments. Consolidate the higher end of the bottom half and build on that by making astute buys within the club's means, and trading out the players they are improving on.
They'd probably do well to follow Crystal Palace's model too, bringing in talented but low profile players.
Unfortunately for them, they gambled hugely and had a recruitment team that didn't have a clue, paying silly money for journeymen.
It might anger their fanbase, in much the same way the losses of Sheringham, Carrick, Berbatov et al angered us, but sometimes you have to take a step backwards to take 2 steps forward.
Their first step is to steady the ship and get their finances in order, and selling your prized assets is often the only way to do that. Their second step is to ensure they shop in the right marketplace for the right players, so they'll probably need to sack off their recruitment team, work out a long term strategy, and bring in a team that can fulfill that remit.
They won't be competing at the top end for a while, so their fanbase will need to come to terms with that and be patient whilst they build from the ground up.
If anyone knows how that goes it's us.
