Damien Comolli

[Rich]

I think DomCom really needs to pull some blinders this summer transfer window as so far it's been pretty uninspiring, not sure there were many that wanted to see Downing come in. To his and Kennys credit we have shipped out a lot of the chaff from the club and the squad on the whole is now stronger but we still need actual game changers and we simply don't have enough of them at present.

The chaffs gone but where is the wheat!

[danperkins]

He sees people.....

















.....dead people...

[RichC]

Your right in that he did ship a lot of tosh out. Especially to France. So maybe he deserves more credit than I want to give him.

Trouble is, in football you live and die by results, and were not really seeing any results yet.

You do indeed and I guess however you look at it (I think we've played decent football) we've not scored enough goals and therefore won enough games.

I do expect FSG to be pretty ruthless tbh in the summer and we might see some players heading straight out the door for not being able to cut it.

[Chazza]

His initial signings at Spurs, barring Berbatov, were pretty uninspiring.

Rasiak and Mido

[RichC]

The chaffs gone but where is the wheat!

And there lies the problem. No confidence we'll score in games at the moment

[Alex]

HOW MUCH FOR HUTTON? They were sold a kipper there

[baitman]

its relatively easy to spend FSG money, but spending it wisely is the real big issue. maybe comoli is just building his CV and might not have a real long term future with us.
it will be interesting to see if he has the balls to get rid of some of his poor purchases.

are they his purchases, or kennys? does comoli say look at this list, then kenny picks his choices? its all very blurred. we could do with some clarity on this, so we know who's head should be on the block.

[Alex]

its relatively easy to spend FSG money, but spending it wisely is the real big issue. maybe comoli is just building his CV and might not have a real long term future with us.
it will be interesting to see if he has the balls to get rid of some of his poor purchases.

are they his purchases, or kennys? does comoli say look at this list, then kenny picks his choices? its all very blurred. we could do with some clarity on this, so we know who's head should be on the block.

I dont want to know the inner workings of the club. I just want to know what he actually does.

[Buzzo]

His initial signings at Spurs, barring Berbatov, were pretty uninspiring.

Rasiak and Mido

Oh ****. He signed Darren Bent.

[danperkins]

its relatively easy to spend FSG money, but spending it wisely is the real big issue. maybe comoli is just building his CV and might not have a real long term future with us.
it will be interesting to see if he has the balls to get rid of some of his poor purchases.

are they his purchases, or kennys? does comoli say look at this list, then kenny picks his choices? its all very blurred. we could do with some clarity on this, so we know who's head should be on the block.

And i'm hoping we are very ruthless in the summer and sub standard players are sold.

[Shaggy]

Oh ****. He signed Darren Bent.

Sack him, quick!

[Eric Swindler]

I reckon I could do DomCom's job better than he can. And i can promise I wouldn't sign bent or defoe.

[Imy]

Damien Comolli: First interview
15th Nov 2010 - Latest News

In his first interview after being appointed Director of Football Strategy, Damien Comolli reveals his vision for Liverpool Football Club.


First of all Damien, what does Director of Football Strategy mean?

Obviously it means that I will look after the football side of the club, most of it or part of it. There are areas where I will be more involved with and I think what's important is the word 'strategy'. For me strategy means the future so I need to make sure we know where we are going looking forward and know what we are doing in the future to take the club forward.

It's a new role for Liverpool Football Club - why did you think it was an important role for you to come and fill?

First of all I'd like to say I'm very honoured and very proud by the fact that I'm the first in the club's history, in a club with such a massive tradition and history. I think it was just a feeling between the owners and Roy as well that they wanted someone to be in there and come and help on a daily basis, support Roy in terms of making sure there is the best structure around all the club in all the areas which are football related. It's not only day to day stuff, but as I just said, the future, and that comes back to strategy. I think John Henry and Tom Werner really wanted someone to be in there to look at what we are going to do for the future.

What was the attraction of LFC?

I might probably say something you have heard a lot of times. When I was a kid there were three teams everyone was talking about in France. One was St Etienne, where I come from, one was Liverpool and the other one was Bayern Munich. At the time St Etienne was dominating French football and the other two were dominating European football and maybe world football. For me, as a Frenchman, Liverpool is just something unbelievable, the size of the club, the history, the tradition, and since I've been here I haven't been disappointed on that part because you can feel it through the city, and obviously at the two games I attended at Anfield. It's just fantastic to be here and to be part of this fantastic organisation with such history and tradition, and being involved with sitting down with Kenny Dalglish to ask him some questions about the club in the past, how did it work, how did he feel when he joined the club etc. It's just fantastic and the feedback I get from a lot of people in France is the same reaction as me. Football people my age or older, Liverpool is just there.

Liverpool and St Etienne have history on the pitch - you were at that club on two occasions so was it difficult to leave for a second time to come here?

It was very difficult to leave because I had a very, very good relationship with the manager there. We had two very, very difficult seasons, the one before last and last season, but this season we had a fantastic start and were top of the league for the first time in 26 years, or something like this. I had a great relationship with the coach and with the coaching staff from the academy, but I felt this was a great opportunity for me to come here, too good to turn down. I was not always in line with the ownership at St Etienne so it was probably the right thing for me to do, to move, and the people there understood it very well.

So here at Liverpool what will you do on a day to day basis?

As I said, it's being involved in everything which is related to football, whether it's here at Chapel Street or at the training ground at Melwood or at Kirkby. Having a daily involvement with Roy - we've been talking on a daily basis, sometimes having small meetings twice a day or three times a day - obviously working with the sports science team and the doctor, working with the video analysts, working with the academy, working with the scouts, that's the area I will cover.

So your role covers a wide basis then...

Yes it is, because that's what football clubs are now. It's massive. You wake up in the morning and you get an email from a scout who has been somewhere in South America or someone else and he's sending you a report saying 'I really like this player'. It's definitely 24/7.

What are your objectives in the short term and then in the long term here at Liverpool?

In the short term, in my position you always think of the next window or the next two windows and I think everybody has got this in mind. As I've just joined, we've got only a few weeks to prepare for the window but we are also looking at the summer transfer window. That's what I would call short term but then long term we are already looking at things like the pre-season tour for next season, we are already looking at the academy to see what we can improve, what the targets are there in England, young players who we could bring in, the same thing about Europe, to identify players around Europe that we'll be trying to bring in. It's a mix of short term and long term which I think is one of the beauties of this job.

How keen are you to work with and develop a relationship with Roy Hodgson?

We already had a good relationship from my time at Spurs when he was coach at Finland or Fulham. We've been talking at length since I joined, several times a day on different issues and different matters, not only related to the transfer window or to scouting, we talk about everything. I think this relationship is going to grow in a positive way, that's for sure. We see things the same way. So far everything we have discussed we totally agree and have the same vision. I expect that's going to go on.

Is he a man you have a lot of respect for?

Obviously. When you see the clubs he has managed and the national teams he has managed, what he's done at Fulham, what he's done at Blackburn and obviously being in charge here. In Switzerland maybe people don't realise how difficult it was when he was there, he changed the mentality of the people, tactically he brought new stuff in and I have got a lot of respect for him. Obviously, when you have managed Inter Milan as well and all the pressure there is there at one of the biggest clubs in the world, you have to have respect for what he's done.

Who will be in charge of buying and the recruitment of players?

I think sometimes it becomes controversial and it should not be. As John Henry said, it will be a consensus among us. That's the way John sees it, that's the way I see it and that's the way Roy sees it. The manager's decision and the manager's opinion on a player is absolutely crucial. As far as I am concerned, and the way I have always worked in this job, is do not bring a player in who the manager doesn't like because there's no point. Talking in very basic terms, if you bring a player in who the manager doesn't like you are just wasting money, that's the bottom line. That's the way I have always been working and I expect with Roy it will be exactly the same thing.

Is there an ideal profile of the sort of players you are looking to bring into the club?

I had a long conversation with Kenny Dalglish about that. I just wanted to know what it takes to be a Liverpool player. I said 'you have been a player here' and obviously he's been a fantastic manager, and I said 'what did you like when you were a player in the changing room to see in other players, what did you like when you were a manager, what's the tradition here, what does it need to be successful at Liverpool Football Club'? I was talking more from a personal character personality aspect of the players.

That's one thing, which is very important, but the other thing which is very important is what's good for the club in the future. Not doing a quick fix over six months. Can this player come here and improve us, help us to win things, to get into the Champions League in the next four or five years. That's the second aspect.

The third aspect which is also crucial is what does the manager want? What sort of player does he like? What type of organisation has he got on the pitch? Does he play 4-3-3, does he play 4-4-2, what type of full-back does he want etc? It's a mix of everything that I've just said, of those three points, but obviously the manager's opinion, coaching philosophy and playing philosophy is what we need to look at and it's up to me and all the staff working with me to say 'Roy, the way you like to play is that way, your philosophy is this one, we think this player fits perfectly into your philosophy'.

John Henry has already gone on record stating his desire to bring young players into the club - is that a philosophy you share?

That's one of the reasons John and I decided to work together, because I think we share exactly the same view. John knew what I was going to do when I was at Spurs, it was the same at St Etienne and Arsenal before that. I believe strongly in this philosophy because I believe it is right for a football club. You can go down one route which is spending hundreds of millions of pounds or you can go down another route which says we have a strong identity, a strong philosophy, we know what we want to do, we know the club has history and we know how important the academy has been in the past, so it's definitely a key point in the fact that I joined the club. I believe what John told me and now I can see exactly what Liverpool Football Club is about.

There's clearly a lot of competition for those young players - every top club in Europe will be after them, so how do you intend to bring them here to Liverpool?

First of all when you say every big club in Europe will be after young players, that's obvious, but we really want to concentrate on getting young English or British kids. I think that's very important if we want to keep an identity to get those kids into the football club. That's the first thing. Usually the big European clubs don't come into England to get players so there will be massive competition in England with all the other big clubs, and then if we need to go abroad or decide to bring in a young kid from a foreign country because we think he's a top talent then there will be competition with other clubs.

There are two things. You need to spot them, identify them, make sure they've got the right attitude, the right mentality, the right spirit that you want them around on a day to day basis. That's the thing. The second thing is convincing them to come. That requires a lot of time, it requires a skill set from the scouts, or from myself, or from Kenny because I'm sure Kenny can have a massive impact if he meets the kid or his parents. That's almost the most difficult part. Spotting a fantastic player is not that difficult, convincing them to come to us, that comes back to competition and that can be more difficult. We will have to be very, very good at it.

How much involvement will you have with the youth system here at Liverpool?

The academy comes under my remit and I'm really looking forward to helping the guys continue to develop. I think for the last twelve or fifteen months they have worked very well, Frank McParland and Pep Segura. I had time to look at the coaching programmes and what they are trying to do. They are very eager, motivated, they want to develop players, they want to get the best for the club, they want to be one of the leading academies in Europe. I'm really there to help them, to help bring them best practise from my experience in other clubs, knowing what is done in Holland, knowing what is done in other clubs in England, knowing what is done in Spain, what is done in France, and then make sure the pool of talent we are going to choose from is good enough, is actually very good, because we want to bring those players into the first team at Liverpool.

There is perhaps a perception here in England that a Director of Football role perhaps doesn't work. What would your response to that be?

Just a short one. Just look at what Frank Arnesen has done at Chelsea and the trophies they have won since he's been there. I think he's done a great job and I know, because I took over from him at Spurs when he went to Chelsea, that he did a very good job at Spurs and I tried to play my part there at the time. The fact that Tottenham are quite successful at the moment is just the work that's been done for the last six or seven years, but people were there structuring the club, bringing the right players etc. If you look at West Brom, they've also got a Director of Football who is working very well. They went down and then won promotion and are now in a terrific position in the league. I think it works no matter the country, to be honest with you. It's not so much the structure, it's the people that are in the structure, who are the structure, that are important and that they work together and I am one hundred per cent confident that the people who are in our structure, whether it's John Henry, Tom Werner, myself, Roy, Frank McParland at the academy, I'm sure we're going to work well together and bring success to the club.

There must be players you have worked with at previous clubs who have now gone on to enjoy big success which must give you confidence in your ability...you've obviously spotted and nurtured a lot of good players...

First of all it's always the teamwork. It's not me going out and watching all the players. It's the scouts doing lots of work on the ground watching many, many games and finding that information about the player: good background, bad background, good family, not good family, good at school, not good at school etc. This is massive work which nobody ever talks about. The scouts deserve a lot of credit for doing that. Then obviously the manager deserves credit as well for two reasons. Firstly, because he trusted me at the time when I said we really should sign this player and secondly because on the pitch on a daily basis his coaching skills make the player become what he is. I'm maybe at the top of the organisation and everything is feeding back to me, and I might be in a position to make the final decision before the manager says yes, but it's really teamwork. No matter what I've done or players we have brought in, it's always been not about me but about the team around and the relationship with the manager.

In terms of recruitment, we've read that NESV are very keen on stats and looking at players based on certain statistics, is that a method you support?

Massively. I strongly believe in it. What I hate is to be in a position where you have to make a decision on a player, but being blind. At the level we're at, with the amount of money we spend on players and wages etc, the more information you have the more data you can collect, the better it is. It's one thing to go and watch a player and say 'I like him', but if he's in the Championship or League One, can he make it in the Premier League? Can he make it in the Premier League at Liverpool which I don't think is the same as making it, with all due respect, to different clubs, lesser clubs? He's abroad so can he make it in the Premier League when he's a foreign player? That is one aspect, but the more information we can gather, the more information and data we collect which will help us make the right decision, the better it is. It doesn't mean we'll always get it right but it means we have to have the right processes in place to make sure we get it right. The Red Sox don't always get it right, but at least they've got processes that, if they go to them, they lower the risk massively. That's the principle of using the stat

How excited are you about the future at Liverpool?

It's not about me, but I'm very excited about what the club could become in the future. I think John and Tom have got a fantastic vision about it. Roy sees it exactly the same way. I see it the same way. That's what excites me, where we can bring this club in the future.

[Daniel 7]

Bentley....

I thought that was nearer £20m?

[Imy]

The Big Interview: Damien Comolli

Posted on 23. Mar, 2011 by Liam Tomkins in News

Damien Comolli has sat down for an interview with Liverpoolfc.tv to discuss his career at the club thus far, including his recent promotion to Director of Football. Also on the agenda are Kenny Dalglish, Luis Suarez, Andy Carroll and the busy summer ahead.

Comolli arrived at Liverpool late last year with the obscure title of Director of Football Strategy. Now, though, he’s dropped the strategy in what is thought to be a more comprehensive role for the Frenchman. To find out more, check out the full interview below.

Congratulations on your promotion to Director of Football at Liverpool FC – what remit does this new title bring with it?

It covers pretty much all of the football side. Obviously I’m not getting involved in anything to do with team selection or training, that’s the manager’s remit. It’s basically a day to day relationship with the manager and his coaching staff, it’s also medical and sports science, performance analysis, player liaison, team travel, scouting and negotiating transfer contracts. A big part of it is the Academy.

You have been at Liverpool for a number of months now – how much have you enjoyed the job so far?

I really enjoy the job but unfortunately we have been through a bumpy ride at times. We’ve had a change of manager, a few disappointing results like last week against Braga and being eliminated from the Europa League. I really enjoy it but there are downs in football, unfortunately. We’ve had some ups and downs and hopefully there will be a lot of ups in the future.

You’ve been involved in making a number of changes – most notably with regards to the first team manager – is your vision of a brighter future for the club starting to take shape now?

I think we know exactly where we want to get to. At first team level results matter. The way you play, obviously, and then results are very often the consequence of the way you play. We had to make a change which is never a nice thing to do, especially when you’re dealing with someone who you have a very good relationship with, is a very good person and a very decent man. That was a tough decision made by the club, but we have been looking forward since that and making other appointments with key individuals as we look to restructure the club, which is what we said we’d do from day one. We are definitely looking forward to a bright future.

How pleased have you been with the job Kenny Dalglish has done since his arrival in January?

He’s been great. Both on a personal and a professional level, Kenny and I have a very good relationship. He’s very good to work with because of his character, he is always very positive and always making jokes. He hasn’t made a joke about the French yet but I am sure that will come! Obviously the results have improved dramatically, which is good. It’s just a happy camp at the moment around here and that’s been very positive.

How much have you enjoyed dealing with and working with Kenny?

He’s very positive and it’s been a very collaborative partnership. It’s been good not only for me, but for everybody at the club.

We haven’t spoken to you since the transfer window closed. It was obviously a very busy period – was it enjoyable?

Actually, no! It’s not enjoyable at the time because there is so much stress and so much going on. Being involved in three massive deals within five or six days is not very enjoyable. You can only enjoy it afterwards when you reflect on it and you think ‘I think we have done well’. Only time will tell but even on deadline night and the next day I thought it was good. But only when it’s finished can you relax a bit and start enjoying the work you have done and the team has done as a whole. It was a team effort but, again, there is so much stress and massive decisions to be made in a short period of time that it’s not great enjoyment.

Luis Suarez is a player you will have identified and targeted along with your scouting team - why did you feel he would be right for this club?

For several reasons. Firstly, we never thought he would be available because the amount of money Ajax wanted for him after the World Cup was absolutely phenomenal and a lot higher than what we’ve paid.

The groundwork and intelligence coming out from the scouting team was very good. Everything you look at with Luis – his character, his attitude, his commitment – on top of all the football skills – made us feel he was the right person and the right individual. He had opportunities to join other clubs, including in the Premier League, during the window, but as soon as we started talking to him he was very committed and was saying ‘I only want to play for Liverpool, I only want to come to Liverpool’. The more the player gives you this feedback then the more you are inclined to do the maximum to get him. It’s an extra motivation. He was saying ‘please come and get me, I want to play for Liverpool’. The more he was saying that the more motivated we were to get him. Since he arrived he has shown his talent and everything else from the personality point of view.

You obviously knew of his quality – but are you surprised with how quickly he has adapted to English football?

If I say no you will think I am arrogant and if I say yes you will say I don’t know what I’m doing! I will say we were confident he would adapt quickly because if you look at his history as a player he left Uruguay when he was only 19 to go to Groningen in the north of Holland, which is not a glamorous city as Amsterdam can be. He hit the ground running straightaway and did extremely well. Ajax tried to sign him after one year but they had to wait another year and he kept doing well at Groningen. As soon as he arrived at Ajax, as a 20 or 21 year old, he could speak Dutch fluently and he was the team captain. To be a young player, a foreigner and the captain at such a big club with a great tradition and history makes you think he has something special from a character and personality point of view. So we thought if he’s done that then he should not have problems adapting to the Premier League and to England. He didn’t speak much English when he arrived but he can already make himself understood quite well, so it’s been great so far.

After his goal on his debut we saw TV pictures of you high-fiving one of your colleagues in the Director’s Box – it obviously meant a lot to you when that shot went in. Can you explain your emotions when the ball hit the net?

It was a mixture of a lot of things. First of all it was crucial that we got the second goal against Stoke City. I think Kenny was very brave to put him on. We were 1-0 up and under pressure, and instead of making a defensive change and trying to hold the score, Kenny made an offensive change. Luis had never kicked a ball with us, he had never trained because of all the paperwork we had to do. He had to go out of the country to get his work permit and that only came through a few hours before the game. So that was very brave from Kenny.

I was relieved we had scored the second goal. The high-five was because there was a lot of teamwork involved. We worked so hard to get this transfer done. It was a very, very long and difficult negotiation with Ajax and then, without going into details and boring people, all of the paperwork was very complicated. It was a way to say thank you to all of the people at the club who worked so hard to get the transfer. For him to score on his debut was a great gift for everybody who was involved.

Andy Carroll also arrived on deadline day – how delighted were you to tie that deal up and bring him to the club?

Very, very pleased for two reasons. First, because we were getting a top player. He’s young, English, with all the attributes you want from a modern centre-forward in the way we want to play. Secondly, because getting two players triggered the fact that we could sell one player who didn’t want to be here and get two who did want to be here. That was really a relief for those reasons.

He hasn’t played too many games so far – but are you encouraged by what you’ve seen and with how he’s linked up with Suarez?

Yes. I think they showed on Sunday that they will click together very quickly. They didn’t have too much time to train yet because with our schedule we’ve been in Europe and Luis hasn’t been eligible for Europe. He could only play in the league. So training has been difficult for Kenny to set up with his staff. It was difficult to get them together but I think on Sunday they showed at Sunderland in their first game – at a place where it’s never easy to get the three points. If you hear what the other players are saying, they are very positive because they see what is happening at training and see that Andy is very difficult to handle for defenders and that Luis is so clever. You could see in several situations on Sunday that they were really looking for each other on the pitch and starting to click.

Nobody at Liverpool talks about Fernando Torres anymore – is that testament to the impact the new signings have already made on supporters?

I think it does. I think people would talk more about Fernando if he was scoring goals, also. I wish him to do so, just not against us, in the future. As I said, when you have someone who doesn’t want to be here and you swap him for people who want to be here the atmosphere changes. It’s like there is a bright new sky with no cloud over our head from the day that happened. So it’s been only positive.

As soon as the transfer window closed, were you already thinking about any business the club will look to do in the summer?

Yes, definitely. When we prepare for the next season it’s difficult to say we work to the January transfer window. We work from summer to summer. When the window shuts in September we are preparing for the next summer window, not the one in January because, as people say, usually not much goes on in January. We proved that wrong. As soon as it shuts on 31 January we are thinking about the summer and what we are going to do. We talk about different targets, about players we thought about in January but couldn’t do and keep the scouting team working.

When you get two players like we have done it’s very positive for the fans, but also for everyone inside the club as well. It keeps the motivation up, especially for the scouts.

Are you envisaging a busy summer?

Yes, I think it will be. The owners said from day one they want to improve things and turn things around quickly and I have said the same thing since I arrived. So I expect a busy summer.

We’ve spoken about the big money signings in Carroll and Suarez, but bringing in talented young players must be equally as important, What are Liverpool doing to ensure the club is an attractive proposition for the best young players in the world?

I have to give a lot of credit to the guys in the Academy. I think the way we play at the Academy and the style and the coaching programme that has been put together by Pep Segura and headed up by Frank McParland is second to none. Everybody who watches our youth team play, or Under-16s. Under-15s or Under-14s say that we have created an identity. Players know what to do when they have the ball. There is a playing philosophy which is attacking, which is about keeping the ball, having possession, dominating the play, dictating play from the midfield and that’s definitely recognisable. The way we play, everybody says it’s really attractive, positive football. That’s a really good sign and the word is getting through over Europe already. I have had feedback from people who say they have seen our Under-16s and they are top, or they have seen the Under-18s on TV and they are top. Obviously the facilities are very good and the name Liverpool talks, wherever you are in the world. I have to admit that at youth level we are as attractive as we are at first team level and that’s very positive as we are looking to bring in top talent throughout Britain and Europe.

A lot of fans have been very impressed with some of the players coming through the Liverpool Academy. Have you been surprised with the quality of the current crop of young players on the club’s books and do you think any of them could force their way into the first team?

Yes, we do that as a staff. There are players we have identified and who we thing have a big chance of making it. But by experience I also know that some players are less mature physically or they have had an injury or sometimes they haven’t found their best position yet. Sometimes the unexpected happens and a player who we didn’t think would make it, makes it. The principle is not to dismiss anybody. It’s to push through those we think are the best, but not to dismiss anybody and I am sure there will be positive surprises coming out of our youth team. But I’ve got to say it’s not only our youth team that have been outstanding. The Under-16s beat Newcastle 5-1 on Saturday with an outstanding display. I’ve seen the game against United where we won 4-1 and we were outstanding there as well. So it’s not only the youth team, underneath it’s going very well.

Does that make you even more excited about this job?

Actually, it does. One part of my job is the Academy and it’s a very exciting project. I spent all afternoon yesterday at the Academy and came back in the evening, and you can feel there are positive vibes coming out of there. We are very pleased with the talent coming through. We have five players in the England Under-17 squad next week with two more on standby and three or four with the Under-19s. It’s all very positive and very exciting.

If we fail to qualify for the Champions League do you think there’s any merit in the view held by some fans that the team would actually benefit next season in the league if we miss out on the Europa League?

I’m not sure I agree with that because I think Liverpool should always compete for the best competitions. I think we will have the squad depth next year to compete both in Europe and domestically if we manage to qualify for Europe. We’ve got to be there, we’ve got to be in Europe and at the top because we are Liverpool Football Club. Also, I’ve got to say it’s sometimes easier to attract players when your club is involved in European competition. We’ll do everything to get back there. We want to be in Europe, that’s where we belong.

Whatever happens this season, and whether we qualify or don’t qualify for European football next year, are you confident we are moving in the right direction?

I am totally confident. I know there is still a lot of work to do, we’re not where we want to be yet and it’ll probably take a few months to do that, but I am totally confident. All the signs are very positive and I can see only green lights, no red lights. With the backing of the owners and the way they are committed, I’m sure we’ll have a bright future.