I just make a poll of this

It surely starts with the management. No great management , no great everything else.

However Shitty management + Big financial support would bring you more success (short term) than Great management + no financial support

'' Intelligent transfer '' shouldn't be in the poll imo.

I don't really think financial support and smart transfers are mutually exclusive. Voted for smart transfers because ultimately this is what wins trophies: the players in the pitch. But if a club is able to find great value in the market and then use that to make a profit on some players while turning building a great team, is that not also financial success?

Anyways we have seen how some rich clubs failed because of bad transfers and how some smart clubs failed because of lack of money. It's obviously a combination but I think these two are the most important factors.

Location is pretty important.   

Well, Bayern sure started with shrewd management. When Uli Hoeneß got installed as manager in 1979, Bayern were some millions in debt. With the end of his first year as manager, Bayern suddenly were some millions in the plus, and this was the start of their real (commericial) success. Interestingly this came a while *after* their sportingly dominant years 1973-1975, although of course then kit sponsoring etc wasn't allowed (it was only in 1973 when Eintracht Braunschweig managed to circument this and caused a long lawsuit with the DFB, until it was allowed and even then it took quite a while until the other clubs did it, too.).

Of course Bayern were helped by getting the Olympic stadium in 1974, but obviously even having that wasn't exactly sufficient until they got someone who knew how to deal with finance stuff, acquire sponsoring etc.

Dortmund up to 2005 was pretty much the opposite - they had quite some sporting success between 1995 and 2002, but overspent massively until they almost went bankrupt. They only got back in track from 2005 on, when they first got a new management (unter Aki Watzke) who went on a drastic course of saving money and consolidating the finances. In the sporting area, they barely avoided relegation (!) in the season 2007/08, but when they got Jürgen Klopp as coach from the season 2008/09 on, they started their way to recover. As Dortmund had practically no money, they managed to get back to the top by absolute top-notch scouting and cheap transfers of players that then became stars at Dortmund.

So you can't really say there is only one golden path to obtain club success - there are several factors and they work differently per club.

The first thing that came to mind was winning.

However, I get the feeling that isn't what you meant. But look, at the end of the day, It's gotta be money, take a look at portmouth for example.

Management. Great youth system, shrewd transfers, robust marketing, everything is a by-product of an astute management.

management and leadership. Success is relative.