West Bromwich Albion chief executive Mark Jenkins has said the club have "no more money for wages" and is shocked by some of the decision that have been made at The Hawthorns.
Albion are 10 points adrift of the Premier League safety line with seven games left and are expected to be relegated.
Accounts filed up to June last year show pretax profits leaped to £39.7 million from £1m, but Jenkins warned about the future.
Jenkins, CEO under former owner Jeremy Peace, returned to the club to replace the sacked Martin Goodman, who was fired along with chairman John Williams in February.
He painted a bleak picture and appeared to criticise the decisions of Goodman and Williams and ex-mananger Tony Pulis.
He told the club's official website: "When I was on the outside looking in, for example, I read the reports about the club operating at the limit of its short term cost control (STCC).
"Knowing the business as I did, I thought that was a negotiating position but I've come back and can assure you that we are right at our limit on STCC. There is no more money for wages.
"We have wages, transfer fees and loan fees running at record levels and yet we find ourselves in this position.
"I'll be honest, I've come back and I'm shocked at what I have found in some of the decisions that have been made."
It was widely reported in January that Albion had little cash to spend to aid their relegation fight and would need to sell Jonny Evans to bring in serious reinforcements.
They are now set to lose Evans for £3m in the summer thanks to a relegation clause in his contract.
Gareth Barry's contract expires at the end of the season along with that of James Morrison, who is earning around £80,000-a-week.
Grzegorz Krychowiak will return to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer after his loan ends, with Albion having paid his £110,000-a-week wages in full for the season.
Claudio Yacob, Boaz Myhill and Gareth McAuley are also out of contract but Chris Brunt is expected to trigger a one-year extension in his next game.
Boss Alan Pardew is clinging to his job, having replaced Pulis in November but won just once in 17 Premier League games.
Jenkins, who confirmed owner Guochuan Lai remains committed, added: "It's been painful looking in and seeing the club I and many, many other people had built up to be an established Premier League club ... it has all unravelled in the 12 months or more since I've been away."