He deserves stick but there's no way Ashley would let him do anything that Ashley doesn't want. Getting rid of Charnley just means you get the next Charnley/Llambias on the conveyor belt.
Not really. Ashley wont issue order like "sell Santon for nuts". He would just give Charnley a target to achieve --- most likely is profit every season --- but how to execute it is Charnley's hands, who has absolutely fucked the whole thing up --- fucked up the fans, fucked up the players, and even fucked up Ashley's income next season.