NICK Thompson has a simple method to ensure commonsense is not a casualty of this summer's transfer window.
"At the front of my transfer file I've got the cover of an old programme with Jimmy Bullard on it," says Hull City's managing director. "It reminds me of the sins of my fathers."
Four and a half years after the Tigers saw fit to sign their £5m man on a record-breaking £45,000 weekly wage, the biggest transfer gamble in the club's history has taught City's boardroom the need for caution in their second coming.
"I sense the scars from last time still run very deep," said Thompson.
"Even with the people who have come into the club since those days, the scars run so deep they are still very real and still very raw.
"Whether you were there then or whether you've come in since, everyone is conscious that we don't go down the same route again."
City's live fast, die young Premier League adventure, one doomed to failure long before its sorry end in May 2010, has unwittingly created a lasting legacy at the KC Stadium.
Not the one anyone had in mind during the stewardship of former owner Russell Bartlett and chairman Paul Duffen, but a precious one nonetheless. Those damaging mistakes will not be repeated.
Almost four weeks after the Tigers secured their return to the top flight on an unforgettable final day of the Championship season and the rebuilding process is under way.
Only former loan player George Boyd, a free transfer from Peterborough United, has so far put pen to paper, but plans are carefully being formulated for Steve Bruce to recruit up to six new signings before the season's kick-off on August 17.
Bruce met with Thompson and owners Assem and Ehab Allam a fortnight ago to draw up his transfer wish-list and while those names remain carefully guarded, there is a recurring theme that promises to run through the summer months.
"It's all too easy to get carried away," said Thompson. "Every player you talk about there will be someone saying there's three or four other clubs after him.
"You have to make a decision. Is this the right player for this club at the right price? You've got to stick to your principles.
"Short-term fixes will get you into trouble in the Premier League. We're planning for the long-term.
"Unlike last time, we want to create a legacy from our time in the Premier League.
"Whether that's in terms of improving the academy or the training ground, we're all very conscious of putting a long-term plan in place."
City's balance sheets have never witnessed the funds guaranteed to arrive in the next 12 months.
A staggering figure of between £63m and £68m (dependent on television income) will land in the club's accounts during 2013-14 from the central Premier League pot, while parachute payments allocated over the four years that follow relegation mean promotion is worth at least £120m.
Thompson is evasive when asked what portion of the pie will be allocated for squad strengthening, but a telling insight is offered by the wage bracket City plan to work within.
The eventual figure should fall between £25m and £30m during the Tigers' first season back in the big time.
Up on 2012-13's £19m wage bill in the Championship, but significantly down on the £39m commitment that strangled City in the final months of their last top-flight journey.
Thompson said: "The promoted clubs that have done well and are sustainable, their wage bills tend to be somewhere between £25m and £30m.
"If we want to be a sensible and sustainable club, that's where you have to start from.
"If you're still in the Premier League at the end of the season then perhaps you can begin to lift that figure but the first step has to be a sensible one."
City's wage bill has been trimmed with the release of veterans Seyi Olofinjana, Paul McKenna and Andy Dawson, but clauses in the majority of contracts ensure last season's wage bill will rise of its own accord.
That will still leave scope for several new arrivals this summer but supporters should clearly not expect Bullard's like to be among them.
Unlike the last two seasons, where stability has been dependent on the financial support of the Allams, City will not spend what they do not have.
Such measures will avert the unsightly mess of 2010 but Thompson insists that will not leave the Tigers fighting an impossible battle.
"Look at clubs like Swansea, Norwich, West Brom and Stoke, and they are clubs who have gone about their business in a good way," he said. "Ideally you'd like to cherry pick the best approaches from each club.
"Is there one club you want to replicate? The answer is probably no.
"But are there three or four clubs who you can take good ideas from? Absolutely and those four clubs are as good as any.
"If you look at the clubs who have done well in the last couple of years given the money they've spent, we're talking about Norwich, Swansea and West Brom.
"They did that by working around the core of the team that went up and adding some quality in key positions. It's an approach we'll look to follow."
What lies behind the Bullard programme cover in Thompson's transfer file will be debated throughout the summer months, but those days of gambling the Premier League riches are a thing of the past.
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