Transfers are only part of the story though,
Some of the huge wages paid to very average(at best) players were unsustainable.
Ruthless Ray's famed negotiating skills seemed to desert him when it came to dealing with players agents.
I would say two things there. Firstly, in an interview, I've heard Fisher be quite evasive - quelle surprise - on the issue of the transfer surplus. Taking 'a view' on the undisclosed, I've seen a breakdown which looked pretty sensible on the Telegraph forum that showed a £4 - 5m surplus. When tackled, Fisher was stating we 'broke even'. Now, given he's not famed for the art of understatement, I've always presumed he meant we broke even on the totality of our transfer activity; i.e. transfers in and out, plus associated fees and loans taken into account.
On the issue of wages; well, yes - probably right. But, SISU had other board members who could, and did sanction him. As seen on the Thomas transfer to Liverpool. Although we all agree the rent was too high - and let's move that aside for a moment - it was less than £3 a ticket just when extrapolated over only league games, given the 18K gates that prevailed when SISU arrived at the club. That left them with the balance of the ticket values, plus cup games, shirt sponsorship, club shop, TV money, etc to build a business around. Look at income, match expenditure and set a wage ceiling.
He was only one of many faces who failed to deliver this basic mantra from a 'debt free' beginning