That assumes that it is actually impossible to break into the top four without having players that ( a ) expect high wages, and ( b ) command huge transfer fees.
Now, I accept that ( a ) is a given. Once you start to be successful, and the 'big' clubs come calling, you can only hang onto the good players if you can pay them handsomely (and offer them the likelihood of winning silverware). We've seen that with Benteke.
But I'm not convinced that ( b ) is so obvious. With the right combination of academy and scouting, it MAY be possible to get a 'conveyor belt' of talent going. This is clearly the model that Lambert is adopting.
If the bottom falls out of the crazy 'spend, spend, spend' culture - which we keep being told it must - then clubs like ours have the right business model in place to take advantage.
Buy low, sell high, but pay appropriate wages. And build a club culture that makes players want to stay. Some will be purely mercenary and Bale out at the first opportunity, but not all will.
I think it's an approach worth trying, and I don't believe that it necessarily condemns us to being a 'bottom half' club.
This is a far more eloquent, sensible response than I could ever hope to make. So, er..... THIS