Problem with Rafa was that he made ****e signings. Oh he had a few gems but most were utter crap. For every Torres there were 3 Gomez's. Back then we had no DoF so Rafa did the scouting, price setting and buying all by himself.
And he was mostly **** at it. He might do slightly better than before now but slightly better than 8th is not enough to get in the hunt for a title.
Kenny has one role when it comes to transfers. He identifies who he would like at the squad, and leaves it at that. The DoF takes over and sets prices and looks at medicals and signs the cheques. He can't be at fault for the Torres+15 million deal for Andy, because he didn't call up Ashley and give an offer. He just said "I'd like Andy Carroll please" to Comolli. And Comolli was then allowed to negotiate what he thought was fair. Clearly these roles are reinforced by what happened, FSG realized who ****ed up and fired them.
Kenny was told to buy British by Comolli. He identified those he wanted- Adam, Henderson, Carroll and Downing. Not a bad list, but terrible at the price paid for them.
I don't blame him for signings, I only blame him for tactical mistakes. For example playing long ball when losing or not passing forward enough. Those mistakes happen >100 times less often than they did under Hodgson or Rafa's last season.
He's a bit stubborn but he has added attacking flair to the team (now just finishing needed), added youth to the side, and for me, with time, he's the right man for the job.