Liverpool director of football “Damien Comolli” good or bad?
On Wednesday Liverpool appointed its new director of football strategy Damien Comolli, which is thought to be a wise appointment.
John W. Henry (New England Sports Ventures) who is a co-owner along with Tom Werner, vowed to bring some changes when their takeover was completed in order to run the club on solid foundations.
Many football pundits believe his appointment is a step in the right direction. Although, many fans won’t be familiar with his name, Comolli has a wealth of knowledge and experience. He has operated in similar positions with slightly different titles at
Tottenham Hotspurs and St Etienne.
The Frenchman has also worked with Arsene Wenger as Europe’s scout for Arsenal. At Anfield his job will not be restricted to only identification and hiring of new talent but will also include other areas of the club.
The “Director of football” title doesn’t sit well with most managers in the British game, as they see it as a threat to their authority. But Roy Hodgson (Liverpool Manager) has expressed his delight at Comolli’s arrival. His arrival means that Hodgson can
now focus on the task at hand, which is to win games and move up the table and leave the Frenchman handle the rest of the affairs that are concerned with the future.
It seems Liverpool won’t go into the transfer market throwing cash around as it used to be in the previous regime of Hick and Gillett, rather Comolli will look to bring in players with talent and potential rather than reputation.
The Good and the Bad
While many people credit Comolli with Gareth Bale's recruitment at Spurs, most of the Spurs fans hated him mainly because of his Arsenal connection and the way he treated former manager Martin Jol and replaced him with a flop Juande Ramos.
Comolli’s scouting ability is pretty good. There are hosts of players currently playing in the 1st team of Harry Rednapp, that were bought by the Frenchman like Gareth Bale, Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric, Younes Kabul, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Alan
Hutton, Vedran Carluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Comolli is given credit for persuading Gareth Bale to join White Hart Lane and for ensuring the Spurs get Dimitar Berbatov ahead of Manchester United. After two years United had to pay £20m more than the price he was bought at by the Spurs, thus generating
a huge profit for the club.
One should also note that Bale only started to shine while under Harry Redknapp's management. The previous managers did not really do much with Bale. So that’s why manager and coaching staff is still very crucial. Getting the right people for any organization
is a very important step and NESV is certainly up for it.
He favours the youth, which is a very good thing, but in order for it to work he needs to develop a good working relationship with Hodgson. If he listens and gives Hodgson confidence that every manager needs he'll do well. Henry will support him in January,
it remains to be seen but one thing is for sure we can expect an exciting transfer windows. We might not see the result immediately but in a few years the club will start to reap its benefits.
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