Fulham
Fulham spent five of the nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18 in the Premier League and four in the Championship. Their best finish was 8th, in 2010/11. They didn’t win a major trophy. Over those nine summers they paid £61.4m in transfer fees and took in £70.3m, a net profit of £8.9m. In 115.football they get City’s £900m instead.
Fulham's decade opened with the best season in their history. Twelfth in the league in 2009/10 hardly tells the story: that was the year they reached the Europa League final, losing to Atlético Madrid after extra time. Eighth and ninth followed, then the slide, and in 2013/14 they finished 19th and went down.
The Championship was unkind at first, 17th and 20th, before sixth in 2016/17 and third in 2017/18, when they went up through the play-offs. Along the way they sold well and often: Chris Smalling to Manchester United in 2010, Mousa Dembélé and Clint Dempsey to Tottenham in 2012, and a teenage Patrick Roberts to Manchester City for £12m.
Fulham bought Dembélé for about £5m and sold him for three times that. On 115.football, with £900m, he never needs to go. Keep him and Smalling, and that Europa League run becomes the start of something rather than the peak.
Season by season
Biggest signings
Biggest sales
In the game
35 runs
Fees are those reported at the time, some estimated, for moves in the summer window. Trophies counted: the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup.