tbf the players weren't bad picks. it's what comolli negotiated for them. and agreed to pay. like carroll isn't a bad player, but slap a 35 million price tag on him and it's just absurd. he overpaid for all the hacks, and then got decent players for probably underprice (bellamy, enrique). so

picked the players, which is fair enough, but i'm pretty certain he had no place in the negotiating of the fees, which is where the problem really was.