Ian Ayre

[Shaggy]

Gomes was always dire, wasn't he?

Agree Bale and Assou-Ekotto both improved a bundle, Bale's improvement coming after Redknapp switched him to left wing. He was a ****ing terrible left back. Made Dossena look like Maldini.

[rushscored4]

True, but IMO Modric and Bale hardly required great scouting. They were much coveted players both in the game and on forums/among fans. The more I look at his record the more I think he's a blagger.

Could you not say the same about Mascherano, Torres and Alonso?

[Shaggy]

Could you not say the same about Mascherano, Torres and Alonso?

La la la I'm not listening

[Neil Young]

Newcastle are obviously more successful at it than us though.

Most of their recent successes have been French or African players which you would expect Comolli to be an expert in so maybe it really was Kenny who insisted on buying British?

Oh yeah, clearly better than us. The story was that Dalglish wanted British players to build dressing room unity and banter. It makes sense but of course it could be b*ll*cks.

I imagine it's not as simple as just looking at stats and identifying one player. The approach takes expertise to implement, to fine tune the algorithm, etc. Maybe Comolli claimed to have that knowledge and understanding. Or maybe he just provided arguments to FSG on why the stats said they should buy the players Dalglish wanted. Or quite a bit of both.

Newcastle have had longer to implement the system I think. And anyway, maybe their success is just random variation. Although they've seemed to have a good run for a while now so it's luck is looking less and less likely.

And luck could explain our poor performance. But that's probably too simple an explanation.

[Gibbo]

Gomes was always dire, wasn't he?

Agree Bale and Assou-Ekotto both improved a bundle, Bale's improvement coming after Redknapp switched him to left wing. He was a ****ing terrible left back. Made Dossena look like Maldini.

Yeah but he improved massively from when he first came, Spurs (I think) added Tony Parks to their staff who cut a lot of the mistakes out of his game.

Think he gets a lot of credit for players he didn't make decent.

Didn't Spurs have a long record of not winning with Bale at left back?

[rushscored4]

Anyway, Comolli and Kenny have gone and this thread is about Ian Ayre...

[BootRoom]

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish has admitted he was disappointed to see Damien Comolli leave his role as director of football at Anfield.

Comolli's departure from Liverpool by mutual consent was confirmed on Thursday, with the Frenchman revealing he was returning home for family reasons.

Comolli, who joined Liverpool in November 2010, had been overseeing the club's transfer policy after being brought in by the club's American owners.

However, a number of high-profile signings have come in for heavy criticism this season with the club languishing in eighth spot in the Premier League.

Comolli was involved in the club's decision to spend a British record fee of £35million on Andy Carroll last January, with the striker failing to live up to the price tag.

Liverpool also spent big in the summer on the likes Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing, Sebastian Coates and Jose Enrique, but the majority of the arrivals have failed to live up to expectations.

There have been ongoing rumours of an uneasy relationship between Dalglish and Comolli, but the Scot insists he had no problems with the Frenchman and that all the signings were his choice.

"I had a fantastic working and personal relationship with Damien since he came here," said Dalglish.

"It is disappointing but I suppose there is not much in football which comes as a surprise."

My choice

Dalglish added: "He has been really helpful in every transfer target we've gone for.

"Everyone who has come into the club since Damien has been here was of my choice.

"Once I made the choice who I wanted Damien went away and did a fantastic job of bringing them in.

"It is sad to see anyone leave the football club and he goes with my best wishes and hopefully it is not long before we meet again.

"We wish him well with everything that he does."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/n...see-Comolli-go

I'll just reiterate the important bits for the mentally challenged:

"Everyone who has come into the club since Damien has been here was of my choice.

"Once I made the choice who I wanted Damien went away and did a fantastic job of bringing them in.

The players Comolli brought in during his time at previous clubs is really irrelevant in the context of his time with Kenny. The board backed the Manager, and it turned out disastrously, unless Comolli should have somehow hypnotised the other Clubs into selling their players for a lot less.

[Gibbo]

Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Kenny was defending his mates reputation.

[Kenneth]

Well I don't think the fact that Kenny said that necessarily makes it fact.

[BootRoom]

Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Kenny was defending his mates reputation.

Well I don't think the fact that Kenny said that necessarily makes it fact.

Ok.

[Eric Swindler]

The thing is a lot of the specific criticism here is of PR related stuff. When was the last time you saw a chairman/CEO from any other club in the media (excluding Whelan). You only ever really see such things when there is a management crisis or change.

It's not at all clear that the problems with Ayre haven't only come to light because of somewhat unique circumstances surrounding the club. He might be a lot better at his job once we have some stability.

A good CEO doesn't let crises happen.

[dom9]

A good CEO doesn't let crises happen.

Wrong.

Crisees (sp?) happen all the time in lots of companies across the world. You can't control everything. How you handle those situations is what defines you as a CEO.

It's a piece of piss to take credit when everything is going well and smoothly.

[Nicey]

Wrong.

Crisees (sp?) happen all the time in lots of companies across the world. You can't control everything. How you handle those situations is what defines you as a CEO.

It's a piece of piss to take credit when everything is going well and smoothly.

Is the correct answer, you have won a I am not an Asshat, hat. Please see Shirley at the door to collect your prize

[Lecter]

Wrong.

Crisees (sp?) happen all the time in lots of companies across the world. You can't control everything. How you handle those situations is what defines you as a CEO.

It's a piece of piss to take credit when everything is going well and smoothly.

Agreed

Which again makes me question why the **** they are keeping Ayre

He was asleep at the wheel during the Suarez debacle and we have just had this transfer window **** up

3 strikes and your out?

[Neil Young]

Agreed

Which again makes me question why the **** they are keeping Ayre

He was asleep at the wheel during the Suarez debacle and we have just had this transfer window **** up

3 strikes and your out?

That's a ridiculously premature statement. We have no idea whether or not they intend to keep Ian Ayre. The cluster**** happened all of five days ago. You want them to have sacked him already?

If there really is a crisis of leadership (which is speculative but not impossible), removing the MD without having a replacement lined up will only make things worse.