Bristol City boss Gerhard Struber believes the Robins need more investment at all levels to end their 46-year top flight exile.
The Austrian is aware of how the “optics” of selling top stars to promotion rivals in January look to supporters after dropping off the promotion pace.
The Robins, 12th in the Championship, have slipped to seven points adrift of the top six with nine games left.
That slide has come about through a run of one win in six games, having sold nine-goal Anis Mehmeti to Ipswich and defender Zak Vyner to Wrexham in January, strengthening two promotion rivals.
Struber told BBC Sport: “The optics were not super sexy, that we lost players in this direction. The picture doesn’t look good.
“I understand our fans are frustrated because they think we made them [rivals] stronger, but we have to realise the players went in this direction and the club was open to finalising this business.
“It’s not always easy to deal with from my standpoint, but the big task is to develop players and we cannot always hold back transfers especially when we develop players so quickly.
“[Steve Lansdown, owner] is passionately committed to the club but has a business at Bristol City and this is something we have to also realise.
“At the same time I hope all together we can bring many good arguments to the table in the next few weeks that will help us and we can invest on a level that, in the end, will make the play-offs realistic.”
