What is Comolli's role?
Threatened
The old image of the team manager being in charge of everything at the club is still alive and well in England and many managers feel threatened by the implementation of the director role.
Liverpool’s Roy Hodgson has worked all over Europe and may well be one of the few English managers that are comfortable with the role. Whether or not he is comfortable with Damien Comolli being given the role at his club or the fact that the appointment was apparently made without his input or knowledge, is a more difficult question to answer.
Acrimonious
Comolli joined Liverpool earlier this month from St Etienne where he was sporting director. He is most well known in England for his acrimonious and unsuccessful spell in the same role at Tottenham back in 2008.
At just thirty-eight years of age Comolli is twenty-five years younger than Hodgson who is one of the most experienced managers in the game.
Moves
Early signs are that Comolli is saying all the right things. With the team sitting in eleventh place in the league and looking anything but challengers for a top four place, Comolli was asked if big moves in the January transfer market could be expected.
“If it can be done in January, great. If it can’t because we feel it is the wrong market or players are overpriced, then we will wait. I’m not going to say we won’t do anything in January because that is not the idea at the moment. We will do what is right for the long term. What is right for the long term can be something we do in January. We have a pretty good idea of what we would like to do and we have identified targets.”
Together
Comolli went on to say that he and Hodgson work together well and that they knew each other prior to him taking the job at Liverpool. He also said that Hodgson would have the final say on transfers.
“Roy will have to be comfortable with all targets we bring to him.”
Talking of new co-owners John Henry and Tom Werner, Comolli suggested that money will be available in order to bring top players to Anfield.
Backing
“If there’s a possibility of us getting a world-class player, we will have the backing. John and Tom want to win, and you win with top players. The big thing is making sure the academy produces players for the first team. The club’s not in a bad state. We’ve had some great results. It’s not in ruins. Everything is there to be successful. We have to win and bring back trophies. For a club this size, it’s not about top six or top four, we must win everything that’s winnable.”
The right things are being said to ease the nerves of the Liverpool fans and at this early stage the signs for stability and a plan for the way forward at the club look good. That is all positive because although I am no great fan of Liverpool, they are one of England’s top clubs and we need to see them back challenging the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United.
Problem
The only problem I have is that I still don’t understand what the role of a director of football strategy is. I’m still old fashioned and English and believe that the strategy in relation to the football is surely the responsibility of the manager. I also don’t understand how anyone else can be involved in selecting players to bring into the club. If a manager is held accountable for results, surely he has to select the players who can produce those results.
I hope this is a bright new dawn for Liverpool and that the Comolli/Hodgson partnership can lead them back to the top places where Liverpool should be. The early signs are good but these type of relationships have a habit, in England at least, of falling apart before they have even really begun.
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