When St-Etienne co-chairman Bernard Caiazzo was asked for his thoughts about Damien Comolli leaving the club, the reaction was pretty negative to say the least:
“We are not crying into our handkerchiefs. You need some humility in football and Damien was convinced he was right 100 per cent of the time. There was never any question of dialogue. Damien enjoyed total power in his first year with us. His was the last word on all transfers and that is how he wanted it. The manager at the time, Alain Perrin, had not even seen some of the players he was given. Damien was his boss. His powers were much reduced in January after the failure of his transfer policy the previous summer – and he was not pleased.”
There of course differences between Comolli’s role at Saint-Etienne to the one he now has at Liverpool. As a Sporting Director at the French club, Caiazzo plainly says that Comolli had the final say over transfers and that the manager had no real power in terms of transfer policy while Comolli has made it pretty clear that the powers he has as a Director of Football Strategy at Liverpool are not quite as all encompassing. John W Henry and the Fenway Sports Group are pretty clear in their idea of “consensus decision making” in which, just like at the Boston Red Sox, a number of people are involved in the final decision of signing players.
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson seems quite content with this arrangement, after all he has spent the majority of his 35 year career on the continent where the Director of Football position is common, but it is clear that during his time at St-Etienne, Comolli ruffled a few feathers and clashed with co-chairman Caiazzo. There was a similar situation at Spurs where there were suggestions that Comolli was the principal driver behind the sacking of Martin Jol, and even during his time at White Hart Lane, there were many players bought who did not fit into the manager’s first team plans.
Continue Reading on Page 2 . . .
This week it is former Liverpool WAG Abigail Clancy!
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