Damien Comolli: Still a Panto villain?

[Khilari]

When it was first announced that Damien Comolli would be taking over from the departed Frank Arnesen as Spurs' new Director of Football (DoF), my initial reaction was "who?"

Frank Arnesen had come with a huge reputation, a huge contacts book and the ability to pick a star. It was a huge blow when he defected to Chelsea for Spurs so soon after the club was finding its feet again following the Santini debacle. All I read about Comolli was that he was a scout for Arsene Wenger who had had a part to play in the transfer or Robert Pires to Arsenal. Big deal. "A part to play in the transfer of..."? Surely this couldn't be the man Spurs felt was to adequately replace the mighty Arnesen.

Nevertheless as DC took the reins of transfer policy at Spurs his first major success was the signing of Didier Zokoro during the World Cup. I remember the excitement of that signing, the photograph of the little kid with DZ, holding up the Spurs scarf! But not too long after this super blockbuster signing the wheels started to fall away ever so slowly. Firstly the sale of Michael Carrick, felt at the time to be a really good bit of business for Spurs, who had signed him for just £2.75m two seasons earlier followed by the relatively poor start to the next season. Though 5th place was achieved (just) it was generally felt to have been a season of some disappointment.

It was then that Comolli really asserted himself onto Spurs in his summer spending spree. Signing Darren Bent for a record fee, alongside the undoubted talent of Gareth Bale and also a relative unknown but highly recommended pair of Kevin Prince-Boateng and Younes Kaboul, a reported total fee in excess of £35m.

And that's when it went all wrong. Poor displays from the players led to the sacking of Jol and Spurs limped to an 11th place finish after having stared relegation in the face. The winning of the Carling Cup saved the season with some fantastic performances on the way.

So where does this leave Comolli now? Pretty dangerously perched in terms of job security, one would think?

But no - his job, and his reputation remain debated owing to some consistent successes. Firstly installing a manager whom most Spurs fans agree, has great potential. Secondly still being able to attract (with the help of the manager) some big named players, like Giovanni dos Santos - touted a wonderkid and the next Ronaldinho only a season ago - Luka Modric whom most agree is an exciting midfield talent indeed and a goalkeeper in Gomes who has been said to be PSV's best keeper in recent years. Finally Comolli sees the importance of acquiring young talent and has successfully added to our ranks of relative underachieving youth with the acquisitions of most notably John Bostock, Dean Parrett and Danny Rose.

Though his former Arsen*l links and ineptitude in last summer's transfer dealings have given him the pantomime villain tag for many Spurs fans, one cannot deny his successes to date. Whether on balance these are enough to keep him and Spurs afloat, challenging for top honours though, remains to be seen.

Sorry for the long post but been thinking about DC and how exciting the likes of Bostock/GDS/Modric are!

 

[Paq]

Commoli gets too much stick imo. As with anything in life, some decisons work out, others don't. Overall, I think he's doing a good job for us.

 

[The Apprentice]

He had a hand in the signing of Darren Bent, and for that he will be forever be a clown in m eyes.

Bring David Pleat back.

 

[sloth]

A well written piece, but it unfortunately founders on the fact that none of us know exactly what DC is or isn't responsible for and that means his fans will paint our successes as his successes and his critics our failures as his failures.

And so the argument goes on...

 

[Krafty]

When you lok at the additions to our academy, and the improvement in coaching and medical strutures and personnel he has done a good job. However, if he has had any direct involvement in first team purchases then I would like to know how much involvement that is.

It would have been nice to be a fly on the wall sometimes

 

[Bonjour]

Damien Comolli ate my hamster.

 

[dcarney75]

He had a hand in the signing of Darren Bent, and for that he will be forever be a clown in m eyes.

Bring David Pleat back.

And Johnathan Woodgate, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Giovani Dos Santos, to name a few.

 

[VegasII]

A lot of people consider him a Widow Twanky...couldn't resist, sorry.

I think he's done OK.

 

[mackay59]

A well written piece, but it unfortunately founders on the fact that none of us know exactly what DC is or isn't responsible for and that means his fans will paint our successes as his successes and his critics our failures as his failures.

And so the argument goes on...

Here here..totally....end of argument ..end of thread.

 

[msamme]

And Johnathan Woodgate, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Giovani Dos Santos, to name a few.

...and Berbatov

 

[Khilari]

A well written piece, but it unfortunately founders on the fact that none of us know exactly what DC is or isn't responsible for and that means his fans will paint our successes as his successes and his critics our failures as his failures.

And so the argument goes on...

very true! nevertheless our opinions are still made on the information we have at our disposal and the subsequent jeers (or cheers!) on a saturday directed towards comolli are a reflection on that

your point is sound - and i think we should reflect that in our support i.e. that we really don't know how much of a hand DC had in the signings of bent, kpb, zokora, kaboul (though likely a large hand) and in the same vein how involved he was in signing our successes and exciting new players, bale, berbs, modric, gds and the youth players mentioned above

so i'd reign back the boo's for now and support all up top at spurs because however we look at it, our team is miles better today than it has been for the last 2 decades (since 87 i reckon)

 

[dcarney75]

very true! nevertheless our opinions are still made on the information we have at our disposal and the subsequent jeers (or cheers!) on a saturday directed towards comolli are a reflection on that

your point is sound - and i think we should reflect that in our support i.e. that we really don't know how much of a hand DC had in the signings of bent, kpb, zokora, kaboul (though likely a large hand) and in the same vein how involved he was in signing our successes and exciting new players, bale, berbs, modric, gds and the youth players mentioned above

so i'd reign back the boo's for now and support all up top at spurs because however we look at it, our team is miles better today than it has been for the last 2 decades (since 87 i reckon)

As far as I know, and from what the general consensus on here seems to be, Comolli is responsible for negotiations with and signing of all players - Boateng, Berchiche, Berbatov, Hutton, Modric, Bent, Alnwick, Dos Santos... everyone.

Him, Ramos, Levy and John Alexander (club secretary) sit down and discuss potential targets and Comolli goes and tries to sign them. For Comolli to do this, all four must agree that they want the player.

Ramos only seems to enter the negotiation process once things have reached a relatively late stage, to talk to players about the roles they may play and his ambitions for the team.

 

[AlanUB]

Well, i guess there is a huge difference between what happened during Jol's era against JR's era. If you look at the signing during Jol's era, the percentage star signings are much lower compare to JR's era. I would easily say we have managed to lure a lot more outstanding players during JR's time compare to years before. This is down to the manager's decision making skills and how strong he stand by it. I think JR as we all know is a displinarian, knows wat he wants and how he wants them to play unlike Jol.

 

[SpurSince57]

Well, i guess there is a huge difference between what happened during Jol's era against JR's era. If you look at the signing during Jol's era, the percentage star signings are much lower compare to JR's era. I would easily say we have managed to lure a lot more outstanding players during JR's time compare to years before. This is down to the manager's decision making skills and how strong he stand by it. I think JR as we all know is a displinarian, knows wat he wants and how he wants them to play unlike Jol.

:rofl:

Jol knew perfectly well how he wanted to play. What he didn't possess was the cachet to attract the kind of players that would enable him to play the way he wanted. Ramos has that cachet in spades, and also seems to have persuaded Levy that worrying about a player's sell-on value isn't on if he wants us to be a top four club.

The relationship with the Sporting Director remains the same. The idea that Comolli foisted say, Kaboul, on Jol is cock. Jol had the final say, as does Ramos. Both Ramos and Jol may have had a chat with players to sell them their vision of the future if a bit of extra persuasion was required, Levy may jet over to Zagreb to flash the cheque book, but all the hard work is done by Comolli.

I suspect he does have enemies because of the stories we hear from ITKs like BEN and the rubbish that gets printed in the papers saying his job's on the line. Just the other day we had Bertie Bullshit (AKA Harry Hotspur) claiming he'd vetoed Torres.:roll: Too many people still seem to be disposed to believe this rubbish.

Even if some of our signings haven't come up to expectations, I'd say we've had a far higher ratio of hits to misses than our rivals since Comolli's been here. We've also signed a whole shedload of hugely promising kids. Why are people still carrying on as if he's Doctor Evil?