I dont think you're an idiot pal, but on this I think you're overthinking it all.
For me, I look at Ashleys business model at Frasers a model he has adopted over the past few years and find it very interesting he now operates at Newcastle in a similar fashion.
Through purchasing Game, Firetrap, Everlast he has doubled the revenue for Frasers compared to Sports Direct.
Ye don't need to be ITK, Steve Bruce tells us whats happening. Ashley is just spending more money because his company makes more money, flexing his muscles.
As I've said until I'm blue in the face, Ashley has a company richer than Evertons owener and King Power, on par with Spurs owners
There's no excuse that we can't compete financially, signing a few players Villa and the likes had their eyes on should be a standard and doesnt indicate Saudi interest.