Well this is probably not true. The higher you end up the bigger the money. I think what he really wants is a interesting team that gets a lot of TV-games thus a LOT of advertisement for Sports Direct.
But if you need to spend 20 million on a striker to finish 15th instead of 18th, the extra placement money isn't going to cover it. And Sky and BT will be more interested in showing our games if we look like we might go down than if we're safe and no longer have anything to play for.
The games where we have the most worldwide viewership for our billboards aren't because of us being exciting, it's because we're jobbing to Man U or Liverpool, and you get those games on TV no matter who you are.