I dont know if Big Dave has had his hands tied, we went down, therefore that means cutbacks have to be made (as we seem to try and stick to some of FFP regulation)
We took a massive hit in income when we were relegated, yes the players are on flexdown contracts but those £70k - £80k still become £35k - £40k contracts in the championship which is still huge money for that level.
Until those players go we still have big overheads, yet our income is less than it was, the money we got for Foster and Evans we brought Johnstone with, we also spend £4m on Bartley and £700k (approx) on Townsend and supposedly buying this Luton bloke for £300k so thats £5m spend too.
Whilst we still have high value players on big money i can quite understand the club not going and splashing loads of money, if / when these players start to move, thats when i imagine Big Dave will start to spend decent fees, again just say we got £16m for Rondon, it doesnt mean we have to go and spend £16m on another striker, i would imagine it may be more the £10 - £12m maximum with the excess £4m being used towards the income reduction.
Worth noting we signed Chadli who we spent £13m on and Burke £15m on, thats nearly £30m quid and last season neither of them contributed a thing towards the team, whatever the reasons - Injured, manager didnt rate them, young with potential, etc for a club like Albion to have £30m worth of talent not doing anything (and thats just those two, there are others) is just not feasible.
Its rubbish but we got relegated, there are consequences, Big Dave will of known all about that before he took the job, from what i was told he wanted to keep as many of last seasons squad so whilst they are here he will be happy, and from the sales we have made and the fact we have brought others would suggest so far he is being backed.
If we start selling players and not replacing them then that will be a concern but at the moment having the likes of Dawson, Rondon, JRod we probably have better players in our squad than we would be signing to replace them anyway so not point just buying for the sake of it!