You say its not a guess and then you say it is a guess ("obviously what that means is open to debate")
Maybe RW didn't want to offer him another year either, maybe the player just wanted to join Barnsley... he thinks we could have got Cole if we had been more aggressive, or perhaps it wouldn't have mattered because maybe Cole wanted to play for a more successful club?
Its a guess.
You saw it as a dig because you want to see it as a dig. If he actually having a dig at the hierarchy already he may as well leave now, because that will turn into excuses and he will fail because he is giving himself an excuse to fail.
I think he is pissed off he didn't get them, I understand that completely, but he should now get back on it and knuckle down. If he doesn't then he isn't managerial material anyway.