It was only 11 months ago when the Fulham official twitter account fired signing after signing, sending their fanbase into a frenzy. The pundits applauded Fulham for their 'remarkable' set of £100m business and optimism roared from Craven Cottage. Shahid and Tony Khan, the former being the club owner and the latter being the Fulham Director of Football, admitted it was a part of their 'vision'. It was the beginning of a new era after five-years of rebuilding in the Championship.

Nonetheless, the Khan's 'vision' had a fatal flaw - they failed to learn from their local rivals Queens Park Rangers. QPR threw the cheque book at Premier League survival in 2013 and failed miserably. Limbo is a consistent theme within the Championship and there is no time to wait as the goldmine of the Premier League continues to fuel teams above.

The Whites are in a peculiar position heading into pre-season. Bouncing back to the Premier League will be at the front of the Khan's minds. Though, the trajectory of how they want to do it remains in question. A common case to handle relegation is to roll the dice, take advantage of the muscle of the Premier League parachute payments and strive towards promotion with a pool of talent that is considered too good to not get promoted. QPR, West Brom, Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Stoke City are examples who have used this method, but have received a mixture of success.

However, the mild start to the transfer window indicates Shahid and Tony Khan are not willing to go all-in on this year's promotion chase. The futures of midfielders Jean Michael Seri and Andre-Frank Anguissa, who joined Fulham last summer for a estimated £50m in total, remain in doubt. Villarreal have reportedly set their sights on obtaining Anguissa on loan, while other reports suggest Seri has declared he wants to leave Craven Cottage with the Ivorian having no interest in playing Championship football.

Similarly, Ryan Sessegnon has little interest in staying after he rejected a new contract. The transfer window is still young, but with the clock counting down, necessary replacements will be needed. The potential signing of Newcastle striker Dwight Gayle for £20m would be a bold statement of intent if Alexsandar Mitrovic leaves the West London side.

Fulham must use the window to rebuild on the fringes caused by their failure last season. Though, Fulham fans should admire their slow start to the transfer window. Owners regularly fall into the trap of gambling, like Fulham did last season. It wouldn't have been surprising to see Fulham immediately to take similar strides as their predecessors and throw money at the team.

On the other hand, the Khans seemed to have learnt their lesson. They may not be in the position to follow the path of their 2017-18 squad and, most recently, Norwich City, but it is a welcoming change to how relegated clubs treat the Championship. Appointing Parker suggests the Fulham board are willing to trust an inexperienced former player to take the reign to improve the squad and culture surrounding Craven Cottage; an area which took a dark turn last season. Despite patient being a rare occurrence amongst modern owners, Parker will need it if he is to rebuild this Fulham side physically and psychologically.

The Khans seemed to have altered their 'vision' in the transfer market and are refusing to make the same mistakes. They have learnt the harsh realities of transforming the transfer window into a hectic period of squad overhauls. The remainder of the window will tell whether they have truly taken a different course, or it was only a false dawn.