Had they qualified for the group stages, they would have got over 15 million euros. They'd need to win the Europa League to get a similar windfall. What's more, any wins or draws in the CL group stage are very lucrative for a club of USG's stature and a 3rd place finish means a Europa League...
Throwing away a lead against their big rivals and, thus, the chance to go top. Hopefully, there's nothing prescient about this as far as we're concerned.
Through the divisions? They haven't been promoted once since Bloom took over. Of course it looks like they'll be going up this year, no doubt aided by Tony's investment, but their transfer spend is hardly indicative of financial doping.