I get your original point – you are acknowledging that you’ve become content with failure!
You are suggesting that we should be pleased / at ease to finish below teams like Preston, Bristol City, Charlton, Swansea, Coventry, Burnley, Sheff Weds, Doncaster, Blackpool, Norwich, Palace, Plymouth, Forest and Barnsley.
All these teams listed (and a few more in the CCC) have similar constraints to us, but perform better (in the main) – I can’t accept the notion ‘we are struggling financially therefore we must accept rubbish’.