I think what he meant was that UEFA cup or not, we are already an unattractive prospect.
I'm including last January's dealings, which were already in response to Ramos' demands. So the new players who appear in the first 11 include Woodgate, Hutton, Gomes, Gilberto, Corluka, Bentley, Modric, Dos Santos, Pavlyuchenko & Campbell. That qualifies as "wholesale" in my dictionary.
My understanding is that he was very keen on both Pavlyuchenko and Arshavin and would have been contented with Milito.
I also have it from two people that virtually every player bought last Summer was Ramos' choice. There are a few who didn't get bought, but they were also Ramos' personal preferences. According to what I've been told, Ramos has definitely not been landed with players he didn't want, except perhaps for the last-minute stop-gap that is Campbell.
Ramos instigated the clear-out. Ramos instigated the acquisitions and was personally involved in choosing the players. I am not actually disappointed with the new players. I think they'll all be good, individually, when they get used to England and/or each other. What I am disappointed about - and I said it was mad before it happened - was the sale of several players who gave the side continuity, especially Malbranque and Tainio, not to mention Keane, who would have stayed willingly and continued to give 100% if he'd been told he couldn't go.
And it isn't just about the individual names. It's about the decision to stop building the side incrementally and buy a whole new midfield and defence, which is basically what's been done since January. Then three strikers left and suddenly we have what is effectively a whole new starting 11, except for Jenas, Zokora, Lennon and occasionally King or Huddlestone.
As for Comolli, his job is to get the deals done. I don't think he bears any more (nor any less) responsibility for the recent individual errors of judgment than the other 3 men on the transfers committee.
Where Comolli has to be singled out is that it was clearly his initiative to try to get rid of Jol and install Ramos. If Ramos is deemed to have failed, Comolli has to go, because it was he who instigated the risky decision to end 4 years of incremental building and go for a quick step-change and a complete turnover in management and playing personnel.
All of them have taken collective responsibility, publicly. Why fans insist upon blaming some individuals and not others says more about the people doing the blaming than it does about the people being blamed.