Damien Comolli came under a great deal of criticism during his time as sporting director of Tottenham Hotspur but one thing he was is decisive in the transfer market.
As a Sporting Director you are ultimately accountable for the successes and failures of your decisions which is what ultimately cost him his job following the spectacular failure of Juande Ramos.
Admittedly there have been other failures and some players who for various reasons the jury is still out on like Bentley, Gio Dos Santos, Gomes, Kaboul, Pavlyuchenko, KP Boateng (now at Milan) and youngsters like Rose and Bostock. However it should not be forgotten that it was Comolli’s scouting network and ability to sell the club in the face of often stiff competition that helped bring in some of Tottenham’s best players in recent seasons like Berbatov, Modric, Bale and Assou Ekotto.
Without a sporting director Daniel Levy is now finding himself back at the sharp end of running a football club and all the signs are that he is struggling. The Chairman is currently fighting on several fronts from returning to the High Court to request a judicial review of the OPLC decision, overseeing the development of clubs training facilities, exploring options for stadium improvement, negotiating fees for fringe players, battling to keep current players and apparently trying to bring in fresh faces to the club.
A great multi-tasker and negotiator he might be but superman he is not. To be effective on all fronts is an impossible task for any one man and Daniel Levy must now relinquish some of the responsibility regarding player recruitment and retention.
Comolli, now at Liverpool has continued his bold transfer spending spree since his arrival bringing in players like Carroll, Suarez, Henderson, Adam and is now in the hunt for goalkeeper Doni and Aston Villa winger Downing. Tottenham by contrast are struggling to keep the key players they have, offload the fringe players Redknapp no longer wants (many of which were his own buys like Palacios, Kranjcar, Keane, Defoe, Crouch) and have no clear transfer targets of their own.
Spurs must now be looking at Liverpool with an envious eye regarding their decisiveness in the transfer market which could ultimately dash Spurs own ambitions to stay in touch with the elite of the Premier League.
Written by Pete Harris for FootballFancast.com.
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Comolli may have had a hard time of it at Spurs, and was not given time to prove his worth. Which is now starting to show. However, Liverpool have MASSIVELY overspent in the market, the players they have bought show potential but they have paid a price for a proven player. Thats not what any club needs. I am sure the players will come good, but not sure they will ever re-coup the cost to the club, and I strongly doubt they will be good enough to win the CL or the league.
Fan’s often over react about their clubs involvement in the transfer windows but so often fail to consider all the factors involved. The window itself causes the tapping up process, as time is of the essence, so it’s easier to approach the player/agent with a proposal before bartering with the club. Secondly and equally prohibitive is the squad limitations, as players need to vacate before any can be purchased, which again is both time consuming when a window approaches. Then the clubs financial limitations must be accounted for. It’s too easy suffering from footballing knee-jerking and merely spouting ‘We only need two world class strikers to make the CL” Oh, so it’s just that simple is it? These demands from fans are another reason the game is currently spending 85% of its revenue on players wages and is in imminent danger of imploding!
Oh, plus I can see Spurs holding quite tight this season, selling most of their squad before even considering purchasing as the player value will vastly decrease next season with the financial Fair play rules, we should be in a very strong position then to buy well.
True, but until then the smaller clubs are at the mercy of the players and their agents. All clubs are at it in one way or another of course, but until the authorities actually clamp down hard on the offenders, especially those with a history, then it will continue to destroy the game we all love. Points and disqualification are the only real deterrents, fines are paid with impunity to the those that have the means and are the biggest offenders.
I feel the financial fair play is one of the best things to enter football in a long while. Although small clubs will not be able to do a QPR, do we really want them to? For every QPR there is about 5 Bury’s and Maidstones. Teams that have a rich benefactor push up the price for all those around them, and not competing is almost like death anyway, so some clubs gamble. With regards to my comment I think this is why Levy is putting such an onus on sell before you buy, because he wants to get as much money out of the deadwood as possible because next season he will just have to write them off anyway. I personally think as far as deterrants, Fines should be for small offenders, then points, then exclusion from transfer, then exclusion from Europe, then domestic cups, then league, and finally force to resign order (i.e chairman goes or club is forced to fold). One would hope a club would NEVER reach the final stage bar paying bribes or intimidation, in which I would hope they get arrested anyway. Deterrants need to be stronger against bigger richer clubs. Spurs got a £10k fine if i remember for the way they got Bostock. Its not even 1week of Bostocks wage.
Unfortunately for us we are not as willing to throw 30 million at a player as liverpool, chelsea and city have been. This does appear to be the only way of securing a player early on in the window. The market as we know is way too inflated at the moment which appears to be the reason we are looking at the South african , South american and eastern european leagues. We are looking to value and potential. unfortunately for us spurs fans who only want 1-2 players to push on this means that the big name big money signing will only happen if other clubs have done their shopping by the time we enter the market. Meaning frustration for us fans. One possible example of indecisiveness is the Suarez example who ended up costing 25 million, which we probably would not have paid anyway.
That’s it in a nutshell I’m afraid, we are limited by our ground, but even Arsenal are going through the same predicament, in fact it’s the same and an obvious time for both sets of fans to unite for once. Both clubs have tried to do things the right way, only to out-spent by inferior teams with mega-riche owners. It’s hard enough to accept when Man Utd come knocking, but Chelsea for heavens sake, that’s simply untenable!
I understood Bostock’s fee was set by a panel, and the club approached his agent (father), as he wasn’t under contract or able to negotiate with other parties?, but as I said, I’m under no illusion that all clubs and agents do it, simply because they can and legislation actually encourages it. As for Suareze, I understood we were in, but when Liverpool flush with CFC’s cash went over the 20million mark, that blew us out of the water (See, Chelsea again! lol)
When United or Liverpool come calling (not so much Liverpool anymore) I dont mind so much, they as clubs are built on strong foundations of success, fan base, youth academies… Its City and Chelsea that get me. Without the owners they would not be anywhere near where they are, Chelsea may even have been relegated because of their debts. City fans always go on about their years of agony and deserving this, but no club deserves it. It should be earn it or dont get it. I hope if all is managed properly we can go back to the time when clubs got to where they are through a little bit of success, and a little more the year after. A well managed club can still survive, thrive even (Arsenal and Spurs are great examples) Plus Blackpool, great example too.
There’s an acute difference between deserving it and earning it. Arsenal have invested millions on their future,and we are trying to follow suit as are West Ham in a slightly different manner, but what’s the point if all you have to do is hold out for a mega rich owner to bankroll your every whim. City had already been given a stadium for gratis, and that alone attracted bids for ownership from dubious sources. Fans need to be aware that getting a rich owner also has it’s own problems as Hearts and in some degree Chelsea and Liverpool have discovered, but I’d sooner have our blueprint for the future than Man City or Chelsea’s any day of the week, it just means we have to be more understanding of our restrictions.