Damien Comolli

[Red Nick]

The major difference this time is he will get a huge impact on who the manager is ie a manager that has the same views about football that he has and one he can work with.

 

Thats when the system works best.

[myrlas]

He was wank at Spurs and hated by all and sundry. This would be a bad move imo

Was he really?

 

damien comolli - Planet Spurs Forums

 

Seems like spurs fans are having second thoughts now. Especially when Jol's true self comes up.

 

The reason he was a gonner was most likely that it was unacceptable for Arry to woork under a model like that.

[myrlas]

He also spotted Kolo Toure, Eboue and Clichy for Arsenal.

 

He's scouts players in the Wenger mould.

[Red Nick]

Was he really?

 

damien comolli - Planet Spurs Forums

 

Seems like spurs fans are having second thoughts now. Especially when Jol's true self comes up.

 

The reason he was a gonner was most likely that it was unacceptable for Arry to woork under a model like that.

 

Interesting views and I think if you read between the lines is who takes the responsibillity for the bad signings, its probably clear not everyone he signed was his choice.

 

However if you have definitive roles where two people are working together and the General manager takes responsibillity for the players and the manager takes care of winning trophies it can work.

 

The secret here it the both have to be able to work together and more importantly the manager has to make a very strong argument to sign a player as its the Director of Football who will carry the can if the player doesnt work out.

 

I think Rafa Benitez would have been a greater manager under this formula

[lifetime fan]

Nick why isn't Alex McCleish ever in the list of managers you keep reccomending?

 

He was your flavour of the month last season, what changed your mind about him?

 

What makes you think any of the guys your going on about this month would ever do anything?

[Trucker Paddy]

 

Interesting views and I think if you read between the lines is who takes the responsibillity for the bad signings, its probably clear not everyone he signed was his choice.

 

However if you have definitive roles where two people are working together and the General manager takes responsibillity for the players and the manager takes care of winning trophies it can work.

 

The secret here it the both have to be able to work together and more importantly the manager has to make a very strong argument to sign a player as its the Director of Football who will carry the can if the player doesnt work out.

 

I think Rafa Benitez would have been a greater manager under this formula

 

Benitez may have buy there's no way he'd agree to it, I think that's obvious

[Red Nick]

Nick why isn't Alex McCleish ever in the list of managers you keep reccomending?

 

He was your flavour of the month last season, what changed your mind about him?

 

What makes you think any of the guys your going on about this month would ever do anything?

 

McLeish is a very good manager and pisses all over Roy Hodgson.

 

We wouldnt be in this mess if he was given the job

 

Pretty clear the whole situation has changed with owners who look like they are going down the Director of Football route.

 

So once you get a DOF its only right he picks the manager

[Red Nick]

Benitez may have buy there's no way he'd agree to it, I think that's obvious

 

I am sure he would agree to it now though.

 

He had too much power at this club but in a situation when the club was rudderless he took as much control of the club as he could.

[lifetime fan]

McLeish is a very good manager and pisses all over Roy Hodgson.

 

We wouldnt be in this mess if he was given the job

 

Pretty clear the whole situation has changed with owners who look like they are going down the Director of Football route.

 

So once you get a DOF its only right he picks the manager

 

McCleish is a half decent/unproven manager no more.

 

Exactly the same as the guys you are naming now.

 

We would be in a better position now with probably any other manager in the league.

 

Who says we are going down DofF route? Why would these guys accept that? Would they just take the Liverpool job under any circumstances ala Hodgson?

[RobbieOR]

Breaking - Damien Commoli to join Liverpool 4 minutes ago

 

From Dan Roans twitter.

[Red Nick]

danroan Dan Roan

Damien Comolli to join Liverpool to help oversee recruitment drive

21 seconds ago Favorite Retweet Reply

 

Get In

 

Take that Hodgson at least you wont be wasting money in Jan

[Salou]

danroan Dan Roan

Breaking - Damien Commoli to join Liverpool

 

On Twitter.

 

EDIT: damn Red Knick ahead of me.

[RedKnight]

I assume they think he'll be our Theo Epstein.

[myrlas]

BBC should get faster sources ;)

[Red Nick]

Pretty clear Hodgson is out of the loop now

 

He goes to scout players in Holland whilst Henry appoints Damien.

 

Hodgson will get given the players and told to coach and hopefully Didier in the summer

[lifetime fan]

Apologies if I don't start wanking just yet.

[Trucker Paddy]

BBC should get faster sources ;)

 

Fair play lad

[DT]

How does this chump keep getting jobs?

 

After being recommended to Spurs by Wenger his signings took Spurs into the relegation zone and now we're told he's some kind of saviour.

 

You wouldn't think Arsenal needed to stop us from rejoining the top 4 completely. We're doing a good job of it all on our own.

[Red Nick]

I assume they think he'll be our Theo Epstein.

 

And if they do he will have a huge impact into who the next LFC manager will be.

 

One he feels he can work with

 

Hodgson must know the writing is on the wall as he hardly fits the bill as a young dymanic coach for the long term.

[Salou]

Not sure how to feel about this. Though I do agree that we need someone in that position whether Comolli is the right man only time will tell.

[usernameunknown]

How does this chump keep getting jobs?

 

After being recommended to Spurs by Wenger his signings took Spurs into the relegation zone and now we're told he's some kind of saviour.

 

You wouldn't think Arsenal needed to stop us from rejoining the top 4 completely. We're doing a good job of it all on our own.

 

Do the players who got them in a CL place that he signed not count then? St Etienne also going well again.

[WrongIslander]

Comolli's transfer track record

Hits

Dimitar Berbatov

Signed for £10.9 million in May 2006, scoring 46 goals in 102 appearances before being sold to Manchester United for £30.75 million.

Jonathan Woodgate

The England centre-back arrived in January 2008 for £7 million and scored the winning goal in the Carling Cup final against Chelsea a month later.

Darren Bent

Stuck behind Berbatov, Keane and Defoe last season, the £16.5 million signing from Charlton struggled but has shown his value since becoming first choice this season, with 12 goals and an England recall.

 

Misses

Kevin-Prince Boateng

The supposed future star of German football has made just 14 appearances for the club since signing for £5.4 million from Hertha Berlin.

Gilberto

A Brazil international left-back but hardly Roberto Carlos. Was substituted at half-time on his debut and has never got properly fit.

Heurelho Gomes

The Brazilian goalkeeper arrived for about £8 million in the summer with an impressive pedigree but a series of embarrassing errors have shattered his confidence. Occasional flashes of his shot-stopping cannot disguise his terror on crosses.

 

Damien Comolli looks back in contentment at his Tottenham years - Telegraph

 

Boateng is a quality player and now plays ahead of Seedorf at Milan. Not a miss because of Comolli, all he can do is see talent and pay for it.

 

Also he got all those players when Spurs weren't in the CL, so I'd say he did pretty well considering.

 

I did have a feeling if we would get a "Theo Epstein" character and to be honest I'm open to it because most teams in Europe have them now. Not sure if Comolli is the right man but they've obviously researched him and they got the right man in Theo so ...

[StevieH]

I wonder who is advising NESV? Who is giving them guidance about who to appoint?

[mattyq]

Interesting article:

 

Lawrence Donegan: Thanks to the exorcised Damien Comolli, Harry Redknapp can't fail at Tottenham | Sport | The Guardian

 

At the risk of venturing into uncharted emotional territory the time has come to offer a few words of sympathy to Damien Comolli, who may have been worthy of the sack as Tottenham Hotspur's director of football but surely did little to deserve epitaphs more suited to a man accused of a serious crime than one who failed to come up with a replacement for Dimitar Berbatov. "The most catastrophic appointment in the club's history since Christian Gross," suggested one overwrought commentator, which shows about as much perspective as saying Gordon Brown is the worst prime minister since Tony Blair.

 

Spurs' former director of football should be able to survive his status as football's foremost pariah, although it won't help his mood to discover that just as he was being burned at the stake one of his friends, Billy Beane, the general manager at the Oakland Athletics baseball team, was being deified, with Variety magazine reporting that he is to be portrayed by Brad Pitt in the film version of Michael Lewis's seminal book, Moneyball. "We both have twins," said the self-effacing Beane when asked how it came to pass that he was to be played by the world's most handsome film star.

 

One could fill the rest of this space mocking Comolli - who could play him in the film version of the White Hart Lane pantomime? John Malkovich? Steve Buscemi? - or one could ponder how it is that some sporting cultures embrace backroom figures such as the Athletics' general manager while others can't wait to run them out of town.

 

The most obvious answer, at least in this case, is that one has been better at his job than the other. This is true, but it ignores the fact that American sport is littered with general managers who have been less successful than Beane (or to put it another way - about as successful as Comolli) yet who have continued in their job for years.

 

The reasons for such loyalty are the same reasons that encouraged Daniel Levy to persevere with Comolli as things went from bad to worse at White Hart Lane: continuity, a belief that the demands of running a modern football club are too much for a single person, and a reluctance to dismantle an entire management structure and replace it with another, with the financial cost that implies.

 

Needless to say, Spurs' decision to give Comolli's responsibilities to their new manager, Harry Redknapp, has been hailed as proof that American-style structures have no place in English football. In fact, the opposite is true. The clubs that are most successful in English football are those that have embraced continuity, that have sensibly divided up managerial responsibilities between individuals, that have refused to squander vast sums of money on replacing one manager, and his entourage, with another.

 

The difference between the American and English experience is not one of substance but of emphasis. Out of deference to what can only be described as a cult of personality, we chose to peddle the myth that the future of any club rests on the talents of one person. It doesn't and hasn't done for a while. Those who think otherwise should ask themselves this: will Arsenal and Manchester United thrive in the post-Arsène Wenger, post-Alex Ferguson era? You bet they will, for precisely the reasons outlined above.

 

Redknapp is not in the same class as Ferguson or Wenger - who is? - but he fits this old-fashioned view, where the fate of a club depends on the messiah in the manager's office.

 

Already the familiar narrative is being fashioned, not least by Redknapp's son Jamie, who argued the other day that his father had shown "dare and nerve" by leaving Portsmouth. Filial loyalty is a wonderful thing but this rubbish should not be allowed to pass without comment. The fact is that Redknapp would have been a fool not to take the Spurs job, just as he would have been a mug not to look at the squad he was inheriting and realise that White Hart Lane does not represent a risky career move but a one-way bet. He can't fail, and for that he should offer at least a little thanks to a certain individual. Here is a clue: he will never be played in a movie by Brad Pitt.

[Red Nick]

I wonder who is advising NESV? Who is giving them guidance about who to appoint?

 

Great question because Damien wouldnt necessarilly be your obvious choice.