EPL News: Harry Redknapp dismisses Comolli’s assertions as Tottenham prepare to battle Liverpool
Harry Redknapp has come out and dismissed all the claims by Damien Comolli after Liverpool’s director of transfers suggested that he has had a significant role to play in Tottenham’s recent success in the UEFA Champions League as well
as the English Premier League.
Tottenham defeated Werder Bremen in mid-week to seal their progression to the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen. Redknapp lately expressed his thoughts on Commoli’s assertions. The ex-Southampton manager was buoyant
in his interview in which he clarified the situation regarding Damien’s latest comments.
Comolli was being named as Liverpool’s director of football strategy. Indeed the Frenchman was responsible for singing such as Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Gomez during his time with Tottenham Hotspur when he was working alongside Juande
Ramos at the White Hart Lane. Not only that but Comolli was also responsible for signing transfer lows such as Ricardo Rocha, Gilberto and Hossam Ghaly.
Redknapp was sarcastic in his comments as he said, "Yeah, I think he should take all the credit, for sure. They were all doing well when I arrived, you know? They were all good; they were all great." He brought an awful lot of players
in - a lot have gone, a lot are still here that were very good."
Comolli also lately secured the services of Tottenham’s scout in France, Stephen. Stephen was signed by Liverpool as their scout for Northern Europe. Redknapp remarked on this piece of business by the Merseyside reds as he said, "He's
(Commoli) nicked him off us. He (Stephen) was really good, an English boy who lived in France. We liked him a lot. He would have been our main scout abroad. What can you do? It's his life, the boy, and he's obviously got a better deal and decided he was going
to move on."
Redknapp also made it clear that he doesn’t like people interfering in his job as explained that he left Portsmouth after they brought in their director of football. The ex-West Ham manager said, "I didn't stick around. I was only there
about two days. That was it; I was off. I didn't fancy it too much. It was never going to work. Myself and Jim Smith - Jim was about 84 at the time, I think - we had enough experience to be able to find our own players. We didn't really need someone."
The post of director of football has become fashionable in some continental clubs such as Inter Milan and A.C Milan as well as Real Madrid. However, in England the idea seems a very modern one due to the amount of experienced managers
available in English football. Redknapp remarked on the situation at Liverpool as he admitted that Comolli and Red’s manager Hodgson can work together due to Roy’s previous experiences in continental football.
Harry went onto comment about directors of football at various clubs and their influence on transfer policies, "If people are just going to dump players on you and you're the manager and you don't know the players - they're not your signings
- there's only one person in the end that suffers and that's you as the manager.”
He added, “Because someone's going to give you a full-back or whatever and you think, 'He's cr**, I don't fancy him', you're loaded with him. Suddenly, you've spent £8million, £10million or whatever. People only look at you; they don't
think, 'Well, it wasn't his decision'." I want to make my own decisions: if they're wrong then it's down to me. I'll be the one that goes; I accept that."
Tottenham face Liverpool in their next league match at the White Hart Lane. Both the teams have been on a high run of form as the Spurs and the Reds both won their last league matches in the English Premiership.
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