Our income is quite different to that from our last Premier League stint, which has a big impact on wages.
-In 2009/10 when we were relegated we got a total of £32m for TV money, including £10m from overseas TV. (14.6m equal share, 10m overseas, 6.3m for live games, 1.6m for 19th position).
-Last season for finishing 16th we got a total of £67m TV money (52m equal share, 8.6m live games, 6.2m for 16th position). I don't know if that 52m equal share includes the current version of the overseas tv money we got before or if that's even more on top.
Add to that the fact that gate receipts are higher, FA Cup income, now Europa League income, higher paying sponsorship deals etc. and we have a lot more money in the club. We paid Bullard £45k a week back then, but that would almost be the equivalent of £90k a week now.
This will not be accurate (and isn't intended to be) but hypothetically say the TV money pays player wages for a 25-man first team squad and all other income covers other expenses, for a simple calculation.
-2010, £32m / 25 = £1.28m per player per annum, £24.6k per week average.
-2014, £67m / 25 = £2.68m per player per annum, £51.5k per week average.
As I say, that's not how wage budgets will be planned but it sort of gives a rough guide to the vast difference in salary sustainability compared to before. In reality the average will be lower due to transfer fees, bonuses etc. and there are a myriad of different expenses/incomes for the overall picture.
Last time we had Bullard as mentioned way, way beyond our means. A whole bunch of others (including McShane) were on high wage even if we had stayed up, the equivalent of what Long has been on now. Our wage budget now is much more within our means, Long on £45k a week has been far less than it would've been for our last stint here. Add to that the fact that last time we went down hardly any players had value to sell, many had to run their contracts out before we got them off the wage bill - or we paid half their wages while they played for other teams. A big mess. This time a good number of players would retain value, and be sellable if needed to reduce wages should we go down. Heck, a bunch of them would probably push to be sold back to the premiership if we went down (and are too good for that not to happen).
If we were to bring in a few players on over £100k per week then yeah, we'd be living dangerously again, but the income at the moment is so much better than before that a group on £45k - £55k does not seem unreasonable at all, considering there will also be many lower than that. The Allams will be keeping our salary expenditure below a dangerous level.
Edit: Forgot my main point. We won't need to bring someone in on the cheap specifically to reduce wages. If we can get a good player at low cost then it;s a win-win but I doubt it will be a goal, signing someone inferior just to reduce numbers. If we do sign a new striker it will need to be someone who offers a better option than Ince, Aluko or Sagbo and to me than means we'd need to pay someone at least what Long was earning, if not more. It wouldn't shock me to see Bruce sign someone on £60k - £70k a week as a marquee signing to push on to the next level, and that sort of wage would not worry me as a one-off. However, it also wouldn't shock me to see Bruce stick with what we have for now, see how the players perform early in the season and decide whether or not we actually need to spend money on a replacement.