A friendly and we'll thought out counter argument. I can accept that. I disagree with you using the likes of Palace and Southampton as benchmarks though. No comparison to Spurs, Europe's 11th richest club. A much bigger club with a much bigger fan base with far higher expectations, and rightly so
Chelsea 2016/17: Spent £60m, sold roughly £30m so far (probably near break even if they sell Cuadrado)
Chelsea 2015/16: Spent £72m, sold £63m
Chelsea 2014/15: Spent £118m, sold £113m
Liverpool 2016/17: Spent £68m, sold £70m so far
Liverpool 2015/16: Spent £83m, sold £55m
Liverpool 2014/15: Spent £49m, sold £29m
etc.etc. Not ground breaking outlays, and haven't exactly bought quality.
The only clubs spending big are Man Utd and Man City - one of which has high turnover, but more debt that the entire value of our club, and the other is funded by oil and dodgy deals and is probably more in debt (technically owed to the owners) than the red half.
You're 10 years too late to expect that we should be operating and spending any differently.