My original question was asked of Chaddy after reading his statement '...the director of football will pick a head coach who suits what the club philosophy and ethos whether its bringing through young players or playing a certain way or keeping a team'.
But anyway, seeing as you've jumped in....
In my opinion, the club has neither a playing ethos nor philosophy.
They do have a strategy, which is to penny pinch at every opportunity to cut costs. One which is purely financially driven as you say, but not with any view to improve the club long term.
They do not have a playing ethos/philosophy, however, which is what Chaddy was alluding to. If they did, then the playing style introduced under JDT would still exist.
The playing style is IMO dictated solely by Eustace based on the players he has. His remit will be to 'make do with what we give you, we don't care about style'. Players aren't recruited based on whether they fit a playing style; rather because they're cheap.
So all this talk of 'Directors of football, 'ethos', 'philosophy'... is moot in our case.
It does goes to show though, that with the right manager, teams can be successful despite not having this 'modern' DOF claptrap.