I suppose a few fans do wonder that with an average attendance of 10,500, higher than the League One champions Wigan, we can't even afford a decent back up striker to Ryan Taylor. We can't afford to fend off interest for Diagouraga from Fleetwood Town. That summer after summer, good players leave Argyle citing their derisory contract offers, Bradley and Threlkeld rumoured to be the latest of that conclusion, Peter Hartley, Reuben Reid, Kelvin Mellor, Curtis Nelson etc. having felt 'unwanted' by their wage offers beforehand.
Your point about paying money for Edwards is laughable. It was a negligible sum and a drop in the ocean compared to the money received for Curtis Nelson, Conor Hourihane (plus sell on clause), Ben Purrington, Jake Jervis, playing Liverpool away in front of 50,000 fans and then at home in front of 18,000. Your point about giving Carey a pay rise is daft too. Carey exploded into League Two and showed he was one if not two divisions below his standard, and you really expected him to carry on playing for Argyle on basic League Two wages, or to let our best player go when we could clearly afford more?
I don't dislike Brent to the extent of wanting him out (I believe others out there are), but DA's managerial talent masks the short comings of how the club is run. The budget Adams was given wasn't even good enough to get into the League Two playoffs, and he nearly won the division with 87 points. The budget Adams was given this season was apparently 16th in League One, which was apt for the relegation battle we found ourselves in. Yet Adams only missed the playoffs due to a squad threadbare of quality. From the way the club is run financially, we deserve to be no different to Cambridge United or Mansfield Town, stuck in League Two usually falling short of the playoffs. It is only the wily old fox in charge that separates us from that fate.
You say Brent kept his nerve on sacking Adams, but I'm quite certain that needing to pay him out of his four year contract was the smelling salts that kept Brent from making that decision. I say that as a poster firmly behind Derek Adams at every stage this season.
If Adams gets poached by a bigger club, some fans might see that our club isn't quite as solid and upwardly mobile as the league table suggests. It is only a lack of funding that stopped Brent's microstand and giant ice arena and cineplex being built, despite the majority of fans being completely disappointed and underwhelmed by it. And thank goodness for that, because the interests of Akkeron were clearly driving that agenda roughshod over the well being of the club and the views of the supporters.