Its an interesting thought and one I've mentioned before on this Forum. Of course not all clubs do a Forest or indeed a Fulham, who spent in excess of £100 million but still got relegated along with Norwich whose net spend was £5 million that season.

Seems to me that clubs which add a bit of quality and retain the team spirit do best.

I guess to answer your question its what motivates all players when they step out on the pitch they are being paid to do what they love and want to to do, after the all the majority of players won't get a sniff of promotion.

I suspect also that a lot of players think that they might just make it big in the Prem, some will and for the others they can at least pick up their 25% wage uplift and promotion bonus.