Ed is not absolved of any blame for pre-Ole transfer dealings, but you can't say that he was entirely to blame. He largely got LVG the players he asked for, they just turned out to be crap. The first year of Mourinho's term here, he also got the players Mou wanted. Because we don't have a DoF, the manager has had a massive influence in who Ed targets. Recruitment itself, therefore, falls in large part at the manager's feet. The getting fleeced, dithering, leak-tastic nature of our past transfer dealings, though is entirely on Ed.