Five years ago we were a mess that almost went into administration in the Championship, propped up by loans from Premier League teams, and they were an actual, functional Premier League team. Our spend includes about £65 million on the loan players, or replacing the loan players, from our promotion season.
They've built from a much more solid place (they were a good Championship team for a while) and have been able to build sensibly. We had a few years of bored or mad-charlatan owners almost crippling us, and had to spend a little quicker all at once. Both teams appear to have invested solidly over the last period, but most comparisons work in Smith's favour if you consider the context.