Next May will ultimately decide - but are QPR and Fulham fans happy with their club's recruitment drive?
Were there signings to set the pulses racing, but others where you questioned the club’s sanity?
Fulham topped the spending, borne largely on the back of the near £3m they paid Blackburn for Tom Cairney, and the £2m each for Richard Stearman and Tim Ream.
But they also clawed back anything up to £12m for the sales of Patrick Roberts and Bryan Ruiz, not to mention the release of 14 players to ease the wage bill.
But when it came to a lighter pay-roll, credit QPR.
They have removed at least £5m from the weekly cheques handed to a squad that included Bobby Zamora, Joey Barton, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Richard Dunne and Rio Ferdinand. The latter did the club a favour by accepting only £60k-a-week for his one year-deal.
Of the arrivals, free signing Jamie Mackie earned most plaudits for returning to the club of his former glories, but the jury’s out, or is it, when it comes to the £5m spent of Massimo Luongo, Tjaronn Chery and Sebastian Polter?
Here is a complete list of senior players bought or loaned in for both clubs, with fees where appropriate.
QPR
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Ben Gladwin, £500k, Massimo Luongo £2m, Jamie Mackie, Sebastian Polter, £1m, Tjaronn Chery, £2,25m James Perch, Oscar Gobern, Grant Hall, Alex Smithies £1m, Dániel Tőzsér; loans: Gabriele Angella, Paul Konchesky
Total: £6,750,000 (not counting loan fees)
Fulham
Andy Lonergan, Ben Pringle, Tom Cairney £3m, Jazz Richards, £500k, Jamie O’Hara, Sakari Mattila £250k, Tim Ream 2m, Ryan Fredericks, 300k, Richard Stearman £2m; loans: Luke Garbutt, Joe Lewis, James Husband
Total: £8,050,000