It's mostly because our revenues tanked. Our wage bill last year actually decreased slightly. But yeah, if we're going to finish 17th every year, our wage bill is uncomfortably high.
We need to finish higher up the table, yeah. That's pretty much the only way we can significantly increase revenues without sales.
Can we dump just the detritus and get better? Possibly, as they're obviously not doing anything for us, though I wouldn't really count on it being much. I'm not sure that we can swap Carillo/Hoedt/Boufal for even one meaningful transfer.
Most clubs would; the biggest threat to our financial position is either remaining where we are, or getting relegated. We won't, though; I think it's well-established that Gao does not wish to finance the club. I'd expect us to try to dump as many of the non-entities as possible (which is perfectly fine), but I wouldn't expect any great summer investment in the squad unless we're selling important players.