Damien Comolli

[lifetime fan]

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

 

I'd hope to fuck it's Kenny and not Broughton or Purslow.

[Salou]

Also the media in this country will always have a negative attitude to a Director of Football style management system (if that is to be what Comolli is here) because of the success that they see Wenger and Ferguson have had over the last 20 years with full control over footballing matters. However this ignores the relative success that the DoF style has had in many of the other top European Leagues. I think we as a club right now with new owners and there plans (from what we can gauge and guess) are set up perfectly to see if this style will work better than most other Premiership teams. Whether Comolli is the right man like I said before is up for debate.

[kop]

If it means keeping Roy away from the transfer kitty then it can't be all bad?

 

SWP?

I heard we're scouting him? I mean WTF? If you don't know by now what SWP offers as a player then you'll probably never fucking know.

 

I heard he has lost some of his pace after his last injury. Don't know if he in fact has though.

[Trucker Paddy]

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

 

I'm quite liking this set up tbh, after the disastorus transfer dealings after torres no 1 man should have the only say in transfers.

[WrongIslander]

Going more into depth, NESV want us to buy young talented players rather than waste big money on older players so looking at that list again I'd have been happy to have any of these players in our side:

 

Tom Huddlestone

Aaron Lennon

Jermaine Jenas

Benoit Assou-Ekotto

Dimitar Berbatov

Didier Zakora

Gareth Bale

Jonathan Woodgate

Luka Modric

Heurelho Gomes

Grzegorz Rasiak

Mido

Ricardo Rocha

Darren Bent

Giovani dos Santos

Roman Pavlyuchenko

Vedran Corluka

 

 

There were probably better players scouted than the older players in that list as well to be fair but the question is could Spurs attract them?

[Red Nick]

I'm quite liking this set up tbh, after the disastorus transfer dealings after torres no 1 man should have the only say in transfers.

 

Clearly on the playing side he is now the most powerful man at the club

 

Until Hodgson is replaced that is.

 

Now we might have an idea of the content of the meeting between Henry and Hodgson, now that would have been fun

[StevieH]

Damien Comolli - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

On 3rd November 2010, it was announced that he would be joining Liverpool FC to help oversee the recruitment of new players to the club. He will be assisted by Paul Cooper.

[WrongIslander]

I heard he has lost some of his pace after his last injury. Don't know if he in fact has though.

 

I heard he's shit, I've got it under good authority.

[StevieH]

Who was responsible for appointing Juande Ramos as Manager of Spurs - Levy or Comolli?

[Red Nick]

Damien Comolli - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

On 3rd November 2010, it was announced that he would be joining Liverpool FC to help oversee the recruitment of new players to the club. He will be assisted by Paul Cooper.

 

Who the fuck is Paul Cooper?

[sh#t waffle]

I just emailed a mate who is a Spurs fan. His reply re Comolli:

 

"Well, he did sign Gareth Bale...so there could be a bit of revisionism due...

 

However, the general consensus was that he was a useless cunt. Apparently Martin Jol wanted to throw him out of a window or something..."

[redsfan]

Looking at this appointment I could be wrong but could this be a sign the owners have a coach they have in mind that would happily work in this new environment of the Director of Football analysing the players to buy and the coach working with him and then being happy to coach the players from then on.

 

I cant see how Hodgson will like this move.

[redsfan]

Who was responsible for appointing Juande Ramos as Manager of Spurs - Levy or Comolli?

 

Alot of people always go for comolli but from what i have heard it was actually Levy, he fucked up alot but Comolli took the stick for it so who knows?!!

[WaltonRed]

Woeful decision.

 

I fear another couple of years of wasted money and wasted time.

 

Let the King buy the players if you must have someone but even better just let the manager buy them.

 

If you dont trust him then sack him.

 

DOF's dont work in english football, the thing which makes our game so revered and held in esteem around the world is that the manager is in control 100%.

 

Its something which makes us special too.

 

I personally dont like this. In fact I hate it.

[mattyq]

Have to say, i'm not keen on this appointment one bit.

Let's hope he is a roaring success

[WrongIslander]

Woeful decision.

 

I fear another couple of years of wasted money and wasted time.

 

Let the King buy the players if you must have someone but even better just let the manager buy them.

 

If you dont trust him then sack him.

 

DOF's dont work in english football, the thing which makes our game so revered and held in esteem around the world is that the manager is in control 100%.

 

Its something which makes us special too.

 

I personally dont like this. In fact I hate it.

 

Why do the champions of this country have a DOF if it doesn't work?

[kop]

I heard he's shit, I've got it under good authority.

 

Ok

[Chocoholic]

Who the fuck is Paul Cooper?

 

 

Dutch Football - Capello’s just a start – England must go Dutch to become world beaters

 

 

Capello’s just a start – England must go Dutch to become world beaters

John Dickens

Sports news and Sports Headlines | Sports Site | Latest Sports Views from Real Fans - Sportingo

Saturday, May 4 2008

It's all right having an Italian coach but the FA must look further abroad and start developing young players along the lines of France and the Netherlands.

 

The debate over whether the FA were right to look abroad and appoint another foreign coach is still fresh on the lips of many England fans – but the answer to England’s problems could lie in applying foreign influences at a different level.

Fabio Capello cannot guarantee England future success – but implementing the foreign approach into the English youth development set-up can.

 

Last year UNICEF produced a league table of child well-being in rich countries. Focusing on 21 industrialised countries, UNICEF looked at 40 indicators including poverty, family relationships and health. The UK was bottom. Sitting at the top of the league was the Netherlands.

“In terms of what Holland does better than us in developing their youngsters, it’s not just about football,” said Paul Cooper, of the English based DutchUK football school. “England’s problem lies deeper than just football – it’s our society and culture.”

 

Cooper set up the DutchUK football school alongside colleague Bert-Jan Heijmans. Every year the pair take around 30-40 English football coaches to witness the different culture and structure of youth development in the Netherlands.

Cooper added: “The child is always the centre of their football – not the coaching. Their whole attitude is based on a child and community-based culture.

 

“From travelling to Holland with the football school, I visited a club and saw a boy playing in the under-6 team. His dad played for the second team and his granddad was in the 10th team. They have true community clubs.”

In terms of coaching, England has also fallen behind the rest of Europe. The Premier League only signed up to UEFA's coaching rules in 2003, resulting in all the major European footballing nations having more coaches with the ‘A’ Licence and Pro Licence than in England.

 

Sir Trevor Brooking, the Football Association’s Director of Football Development, emphasises the need for much better quality coaches working in the younger age groups. He said: “At the moment anyone who’s any good quickly goes through the system and is coaching 16-plus because that’s the only place he’s going to get any money, whereas in other countries they pay quality people to stay in the five to 11s and to stay in the 11 to 16s.”

 

Brooking also views the proposed national football centre in Burton as a key change in how England produces its footballers.

The NFC was intended to be a training camp for all England teams as well as act as a focal point for the FA’s coaching and development work – similar to French football’s Clairefontaine centre.

 

Helene Schrub, head of communications of the FC Metz academy, said: “Would the English national team benefit from a structure like Clairefontaine? I am not too sure. The national school is important in France because one fifth of our population is concentrated in the Paris region – where there is only the single professional club, Paris Saint Germain.

“A Clairefontaine in England would perhaps be less effective because the English population is not particularly concentrated in a single region. The training centres of the professional clubs should answer for the needs of the population.”

Metz, along with many of the French football academies, has an impressive list of recent graduates, most notably Emmanuel Adebayor, Robert Pires and Louis Saha.

 

The European Champions League provides strong evidence of France’s dominating influence in producing quality players. There are more French players in the Champions League than any other European country – only Brazil produces more footballers.

As Aime Jacquet testifies, the continued success of France in churning out young stars is the result of a long, painstaking, carefully planned process to organise and teach football in an entirely new way.

Jacquet managed the France's World Cup winners of 1998 before moving into directing the national coaching and development programme. The on-off Burton National Football Centre is only a small step towards following the French example.

Tottenham’s sporting director, Damien Comolli, has told BBC Sport: “For me, the difference is the quantity of training in England and France. Over four years, between the ages of 12 and 16, a French boy would receive 2,304 hours of training. That is twice as much as in England – where you would be given 1,152 hours.

“Those four years are crucial – it is difficult to catch up when you are 17 or 18.”

 

Watford are the first English club to re-work their academy – geared towards the European way. The school, based on a Dutch system, provides youngsters with football training fitted around their education, which results in the boys participating in three times the amount of coaching of 12 to 16-year-olds that is standard in most of the English academies.

Paul Cooper believes that although the English culture and mentality to “win at all costs” is proving detrimental to developing our youngsters, but with a little foreign influence, it could give England the edge on other countries.

“When I go to Holland, they say, ‘teach us about your country’s passion and about your commitment’. They don’t naturally have it in their make-up whereas England does.

 

“Holland makes this up with their education and development. If we could just say to ourselves, we’ve got this passion for the game and will to win - we would always start one up on virtually any other nation.

“The trouble is that’s all we ever concentrate on.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not saying it's definitely this guy, but his background in youth coaching would point to it being him. I also note that Comoli is quoted in this piece as well, so there appears to be a connection.

[redsfan]

I am unsure of it really but optimistic. About time we did something different and tried something. Its possible the owners have looked at the past few years and realised we spend money but have bought some shit.

 

Its said that this type of idea in football doesnt work but be nice if we could prove that wrong and actually be a powerhouse in the league.

 

Weary but optimistic if that is possible, so fingers crossed.

[Xherdan]

Anything is better than hodgson.

[Sangria]

Well judging by the last three summers something needed to change and I am willing to give it a go.

[StevieH]

I wonder if Philip Nash has had any input with this appointment. I imagine that Nash was at Arsenal when Comolli was.

[usernameunknown]

So, Wenger thinks a hell of a lot of him, St Etienne are 4th in France and the Tottenham team thats qualified for the CL and just battered Inter contain a lot of his signings, like Bale, Modric, Lennon, Gomes, Assou Ekotto etc but really he's useless?

 

Maybe he's not actually all bad? I'll wait and see. And for all the "we dont want a director of football" stuff, is he definitely doing that? Maybe he'll just be a scout with a bit of say?

[Red Nick]

Looking at this appointment I could be wrong but could this be a sign the owners have a coach they have in mind that would happily work in this new environment of the Director of Football analysing the players to buy and the coach working with him and then being happy to coach the players from then on.

 

I cant see how Hodgson will like this move.

 

Thats how I see it and why I feel Deschamps must be the red hot favourite to succeed Hodgson.

 

He is young and happy to work with a DOF

[Manny]

I'm unconvinced about the DoF idea as a whole, but one thing is for sure: the manager (or head coach or whatever) has to be in full agreement as to the conditions he's working under. Keegan left Newcastle in protest to the DoF model - because he'd been brought in as manager (who'd have control over transfers), only to find 6 months later Dennis Wise would be buying his players for him.

 

Directors of Football work on the continent, but the culture is more accepting of it and everyone knows what it involves, and managers enter clubs knowing their role and the role of everyone around him. If we're going the same way, we all need to know (largely) who's doing what.

 

Royston may well not like it, and if Comolli is indeed our new Director of Football or whatever, he may walk. Alternatively, he may accept it and someone else is in charge of transfers! Win/win.