Agree Mark, he has shown very few signs of future planning in his time here, other than the policy to lower the average age.
I sound like a broken record, but look at Ashworth, both here and now at Brighton. In addition to the normal signings, he would always make 1 or 2 signings a year with an eye on a few years later. There were misses (Allan, Worrall, Haber), but there were many successes (Dorrans, Dawson, Mulumbu). This for me is future planning, not just looking 1 season at a time.
Apart from raiding the football league, I can't really pick what Dowling's transfer strategy is meant to be, where as Ashworth had many clear strands ("players for the future" signings, the best free agents, a mix of domestic and foreign signings etc).
He isn't going to be cutting edge enough to establish us in the premier league, in fact I wouldn't be shocked to see us fall behind Brentford and Barnsley in the next few years.