It was definately 2 years ago when we made the massive mistakes, why wasn't JC given the funds to keep together the team that had got us all the way to the last 32 of the UEFA Cup? Binning Clark & Hart between getting to the Bayern game and actually playing it. That was when money should have been made available to make that team better so we could have pushed on and consolidated 3rd place and pushed onto 2nd.
But nah, this is AFC we're talking about. Sell any player we might get some cash for, and replace them with anyone we could get on the cheap, then sack the management team for the team not being as good as it was before. Sounds like a winning formula to me.
If McGhee(or anyone) had been given the job at the same time JC was given his 3 year deal we would still be in the same hole we're in right now. We may have not signed Tommy Wright, but i've no doubt nstead we would have signed some other Dave, Dave or Dave who was equally mince.