OK, so we had a transfer window which according to our fans will range from underwhelming to colossal f*** up. There were notable mistakes to be pointed out in our transfer dealings. Both Moyes and Woodward got little more than 2 months in the summer working together (together being key).
Is it enough time for a club to work out correct transfers, especially if they are not sugar daddy clubs, not minding spending even 10m extra for player and if flopped just letting him rot on bench and going after other?

Now, most of us are saying on the lines of: "It is not Moyes's fault, it is all Woody's.. he is some dumb moron who has been made CEO and was responsible to get the identified targets in which he didn't. Lets put all blame on him and make him sacrificial lamb for all our frustrations."

The point here is, (at least at our club): the manager identifies the target, he and his staff together with CEO and his staff work out valuation of player and then the management team is responsible to get player in. At every stage, there is work to be done. Moyes after taking charge, had to study team and identify weak areas. From the information we have, he made Cesc his prime target.

Let's study Cesc case: First, the reason we started bidding from 25m is simple. We assumed he is unhappy and Barca won't mind selling. This wasn't the case and Cesc wasn't too keen to join us. His relationship with Arsenal is similar to Ronaldo to us and that must have been one factor as well. Barca having lost Thiago, couldn't take risk of infuriating their fans further. I don't think we would have mind paying in region of 40m for him but it was clear he didn't want the move. In all these dealings we lost considerable amount of time. Also, if anyone of you have involved in big negotiations for your company, should know that you don't just start bidding at higher value straightaway, unless you have unlimited money flow like PSGs and Citys. Overall, not Woody's fault but case of our prime target not being available.

After this, it was the case of looking after alternatives and clearly there were issues with other clubs taking advantage of our desperation for midfielder and demanding higher sums(Fellaini, Herrera etc). For likes of Ozil, well the reports say Moyes didn't see the need of him and hence we can't blame Woody for that.

So, coming to the point, identifying right targets and completing the signing and if failed getting alternate options in quickly is not somethnig which can be worked out in 2 months just like that. Give these guys time and am sure next summer and if needed in January,we will be working early to get tragets in. I am sure they will keep working even in closed window to continue to identify targets and then figuring out if they deal could be struck. This doesn't mean there were no errors committed from Moyes's team and Woody's team but it was their first time working together and 2 months are simply not enough to get top player in. If it was easy as 'just sign anybody', we too could have gone after likes of Capoue, Paulinho etc and got them.

Last point, look at Liverpool's and City's dealings and contrast to their last transfer windows and this. For Rodgers and Ayre as well, there were same issues last time to ours.
They got 7-8 signings but they are in a different position than us in league. Getting in top 4 from 8th and strengthening squad is the objective. For us, it is about strengthening a squad which won league by 11 points and hence the options were limited given the time in hand for new staff at every level.

Keep calm and give them a year before passing verdict on their competency. (Moyes team and Woody's team included)