OK, so competing in the cup means you do a Wigan and get relegated, paying the asking price for a good player that you need, or hanging on to players that you have means you do a Portsmouth and risk administration, making progress in the league, but finishing outside the top 4 means you do a Southampton and Champions League teams buy all your players.
So the only realistic option is to do a Newcastle, deliberately show no ambition at all and then BANG, when no one expects it you go straight into the top four with all those players who avoided interest from other teams by previously finishing 11th.
Was this our tactic in losing nearly all our last ten games? Make Southampton look better than us so they lose their squad?