Comolli; the facts

[JimmyG2]

Should Comolli be sacked? He seems to be the main object of Spurs fans wrath, in tandem with the general dissatisfaction with the DOF system. Second of course is Levy and third usually is Jermain Jenas.

I publish below (with kind permission of Jim Duggan of 'Topspurs from the 'Topspur' Archive) the list of all our signings since Comolli replaced Arnesen in September 2005. Since then 31 players have been signed and 29 sold or released.

Ramos became manager in October 2007. Since then 13 players have been signed and 8 released or sold.

I have included the fees involved where available so that you can have fun deciding whether we got value for money. Again we don't know precisely the Levy input at this stage.

2008/09 Frazier Campbell Manchester United Sep-08 loan

2008/09 Vedran Corluka Manchester City Sep-08 £8,500,000

2008/09 Roman Pavlyuchenko Spartak Moscow Aug-08 £14,000,000

2008/09 Cesar Sanchez Real Zaragoza Aug-08 Undisclosed

2008/09 David Bentley Blackburn Rovers Jul-08 £15,000,000

2008/09 John Bostock Crystal Palace Jul-08 £700,000

2008/09 Heurelho Gomes PSV Eindhoven Jun-08 £9,000,000

2008/09 Giovani dos Santos Barcelona Jun-08 £4,700,000

2008/09 Luka Modric Dinamo Zagreb Apr-08 £15,800,000

2007/08 Gilberto Hertha Berlin Jan-08 £1,900,000

2007/08 Alan Hutton Rangers Jan-08 £8,000,000

2007/08 Jonathan Woodgate Middlesbrough Jan-08 £7,500,000

2007/08 Chris Gunter Cardiff City Dec-07 £2,000,000

2007/08 Kevin-Prince Boateng Hertha Berlin Jul-07 £5,200,000

2007/08 Danny Rose Leeds United Jul-07 Undisclosed

2007/08 Younes Kaboul Auxerre Jul-07 £8,200,000

2007/08 Darren Bent Charlton Athletic Jun-07 £16,500,000

2007/08 Adel Taarabt Lens Jun-07 Undisclosed

2007/08 Yuri Berchiche Athletic Bilbao Jun-07 Undisclosed

2007/08 Gareth Bale Southampton May-07 £5,000,000

2006/07 Ben Alnwick Sunderland Jan-07 Undisclosed

2006/07 Ricardo Rocha Benfica Jan-07 £3,500,000

2006/07 Mido AS Roma Aug-06 £4,500,000

2006/07 Pascal Chimbonda Wigan Athletic Aug-06 £4,000,000

2006/07 Steed Malbranque Fulham Aug-06 £3,500,000

2006/07 Dorian Dervitte Lille Jun-06 Undisclosed

2006/07 Didier Zokora St Etienne Jun-06 £6,000,000

2006/07 Benoit Assou-Ekotto RC Lens Jun-06 £3,500,000

2005/06 Hossam Ghaly Feyernoord Jan-06 Undisclosed

2005/06 Danny Murphy Charlton Jan-06 £2,000,000

We don't know precisely the distribution of authority within the management team: who initiates the process; who has the power of veto and under what circumstances; who conducts the negotiating process and where Comolli's role starts and ends in relation to Levy.

A wider question is of course the players we have not signed and the positions we have not filled. How far this is down to Comolli is again unclear. Were some players lined up and vetoed by the manager on playing criteria or Levy on financial ones?

I don't think that Comolli can be held responsible for the sale of players as the initial decisions on this would presumably be the manager's or Levy's responsibility.

You can obviously pore over this and draw your own conclusions. I hold no brief for Comolli but I am always suspicious when so many people are quick to attribute blame, especially at a time of collective stress and disappointment.

Of the 31 signings only 5 it seems to me are doubtful.(Gilberto,Boateng,Kaboul,Rocha,Murphy) and of these Kaboul's transfer was probably premature. You can add Taarabt and Zokora if you like, but Zokora has been our best player on several occasions and has useful flexibility. Taarabt is only 19, and Boateng 21 and should be given time before final judgements are made.

Ghaly and Chimbonda are on many fans' hate list but neither in my view were poor footballers. Their temperaments perhaps should have been an issue in the scouting process.

But if you include all these that makes 9 out of 31. I have ignored all the ITK stuff about Jol spotting Berbatov before Comolli arrived, he'd been with the club 7 months before Berbatov was signed and we just don't know.

If you are going to blame Comolli for all the bad signings and praise the manager and Levy for all the good ones you are clearly not going to be swayed by sensible argument.

My view of this is that it is by no means a poor record, particularly since Ramos arrived. I would only question, on playing merit, Murphy, Gilberto and Rocha, in the sense that we could have signed better quality players. Some might want to add Bent but mainly on the grounds of the fee paid.

Other players are young or have not had time to settle and I include Bentley,Giovani Corluka and Modric in this category. Others have been bought for the future; Rose, Dervitte, Alnwick,,Bostock
Berchiche.

But, fellow fans, there are the facts make of them what you will.

 

[Azrael]

Why is it that there's a certain type of fan out there who've taken to posting threads like this decalring "the facts" as if their post is the be all and end all of discussion?

I've noticed that often people who post "the facts" often leave out other facts that harm their argument....

 

[Japseye]

While many have demanded heads should roll, that as your argument argues, should not necessarily be the case as we the fans do not know the inner workings of any deal nor do we know who has input, and to what extent.

However we currently lie bottom of the table and while i am a half full kinda chap, i feel that something needs to be done changes need to be made, and someone or maybe a group need to be accountable....

Over the past 4 transfer windows we have failed to sort in my opinion the left midfield and defensive midfield positions, and in the last window we sold £50M worth of striking talent and have not filled the 40-50goals a season void.

I don't think JR should be shown the door... would we get a better manager in at this point? I don't think so.

I don't think DL will leave just now, he runs the club as a business and I have not had too many complaints with this. We are well run and he will only sell once either a) he is made an offer he cant refuse b) he has built us a new stadium and feels he can add no more value c) television contracts get re-negotiated and he wants to cash in on inflated club valuations as a result.

The 'scape goat' is DC. The problem us fans have is the club have not made it clear this mans remit, what is his invlovement in deals??? if it was black and white we could either blame him or not, but it is all shades of grey! I say offer him up as a sacraficial lamb, and put him in charge of scouting or some other job title (just like Chavski did to Arnasen).

Then pass responsibility of all transfers onto the sholders of the manager - to pick his wish list, and the board - to go get them.

We will then know the players we are liked with are the palyers JR wants, and we will know when they drag on for ever and dont come on deadline day it was down to DL.

At least then we know, and they cant hide in the shadows like they are at the mo.

Just my two pence worth....

 

[ultimateloner]

While many have demanded heads should roll, that as your argument argues, should not necessarily be the case as we the fans do not know the inner workings of any deal nor do we know who has input, and to what extent.

However we currently lie bottom of the table and while i am a half full kinda chap, i feel that something needs to be done changes need to be made, and someone or maybe a group need to be accountable....

Over the past 4 transfer windows we have failed to sort in my opinion the left midfield and defensive midfield positions, and in the last window we sold £50M worth of striking talent and have not filled the 40-50goals a season void.

I don't think JR should be shown the door... would we get a better manager in at this point? I don't think so.

I don't think DL will leave just now, he runs the club as a business and I have not had too many complaints with this. We are well run and he will only sell once either a) he is made an offer he cant refuse b) he has built us a new stadium and feels he can add no more value c) television contracts get re-negotiated and he wants to cash in on inflated club valuations as a result.

The 'scape goat' is DC. The problem us fans have is the club have not made it clear this mans remit, what is his invlovement in deals??? if it was black and white we could either blame him or not, but it is all shades of grey! I say offer him up as a sacraficial lamb, and put him in charge of scouting or some other job title (just like Chavski did to Arnasen).

Then pass responsibility of all transfers onto the sholders of the manager - to pick his wish list, and the board - to go get them.

We will then know the players we are liked with are the palyers JR wants, and we will know when they drag on for ever and dont come on deadline day it was down to DL.

At least then we know, and they cant hide in the shadows like they are at the mo.

Just my two pence worth....

The DoF concept might just be that - creating a scape-goat to safeguard Ramos/Levy in tough times. Levy's a smart guy - he knows how to build a smoke screen.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Why is it that there's a certain type of fan out there who've taken to posting threads like this decalring "the facts" as if their post is the be all and end all of discussion?

I read his last paragraph as if "the facts" ended at the end of the list of players. The rest is obviously his opinion, as there's a phrase like "I don't think" or "my view" in virtually every paragraph, and I don't reckon he intended it to be taken otherwise.

 

[pablo73]

The DoF concept might just be that - creating a scape-goat to safeguard Ramos/Levy in tough times. Levy's a smart guy - he knows how to build a smoke screen.

my thoughts exactly. In my opinion, Levy like the waters as muddy as possible to make it almost impossible for him to be held accountable by the fans. This whole 'joint responsibility' actually = 'no responsibility' except for whoever Levy decides to make the scapegoat. last time it was Jol, this time who knows, but you can be sure it won't be DL? This 'gang of four' stuff is a joke as well - death by committee is what i would call it.

and before anyone replies that I have no right to blame Levy or anyone else for that matter because I do not understand the workings of the club - well, that's the whole point right fucking there.

 

[JimmyG2]

Sorry if its unclear.The facts are the list of signings. The intro and the comments after are my take on the facts . I tried to make this clear as davidmatzdorf says. I was trying to give the facts about Comolli's signings a bit of context.

 

[DanNolan]

Lets not dress it up for gods sake....the fact is our squad is good enough to challenge and be in the top 6 by talent alone so the problem surely lies with the playing and coaching staff. It has been pathetic this season, however its obvious to me that we're not playing as badly as this time last season....just missing the goals. We dominate most games which supplies hope that when we win one we'll go on a run...... i still fancy us top 9 this season....early days

 

[DanNolan]

However if we dont win in the next 3 games we're in huge trouble admittedly

 

[berbie38]

I read his last paragraph as if "the facts" ended at the end of the list of players. The rest is obviously his opinion, as there's a phrase like "I don't think" or "my view" in virtually every paragraph, and I don't reckon he intended it to be taken otherwise.

Take a careful look at that list the only players there who look genuine value are woodgate,Bale and Gunter maybe. The amount of money spent is astronomical!!!

 

[eViL]

We need stability, not more chopping and changing.

If you look over the years it's the period after change that costs us dear EVERY year.

Let's just stick at it.

 

[westlondonyid]

Sometimes I think that people on here watch different games to me cause peoples opinions on players seem to be way off he mark to me.

Only 5 signings doubtful? :rofl:

Lets look at whether any of the players signed represent either top four potential or value for money before we claim that players like Zokora have been a success.

Out of that list I would say that only 5 came into that category

Malbranque - never a top four player but good value for money and performed well at left mid.

Hutton - To me looks very very good, expensive and seems injury prone but def a top four player

Woodgate - Expensive but great player and would be great alongside King if he wasnt injured all the time.

Bale - Expensive, Injury prone but like Woodgate looks quality, little out of form at the moment

Mido - Never top four player and most of his good work was done when he was on loan still represented good value seeing that we sold him on for more.

Not gonna comment on this years signings as too early to judge their quality.

 

[nidge]

We need stability, not more chopping and changing.

If you look over the years it's the period after change that costs us dear EVERY year.

Let's just stick at it.

We only need stability if we believe we have the right people making the important decisions at the club. (By we I mean "the club")

 

[Stoof]

I think the most poignant thing to come out of this is the higher echelons of our club once claimed our structure was implemented to give us greater stability, in both staff and performance. Consistency.

Yet with our DoF structure, working in whichever capacity you believe it to, we've had a higher turnover of managers and players with it rather than without. It does beg the question of how exactly our Board defines stability. I certainly wouldn't want to go on a Tottenham Hotspur branded Rollercoaster. I'm not sure I'd live through the experience; I'm struggling as it is with the tame, and supposedly stable one.

 

[jimmy_the_yid]

Bale - Expensive, Injury prone but like Woodgate looks quality, little out of form at the moment

Injury prone? i dont think he is, he had one bad injury but that doesnt make him injury prone.

Owen is injury prone, King is injury prone....

 

[BringBack_leGin]

good article, refreshing to read something that does not look to attribute blame.

one question though. why is berbatov not on that list? surely he stands out as by far the best signing since comolli began at spurs (not just that we have made, but that any club in the league has made). world class footballer, one of the top three strikers on the planet, for less than each of bentley, modric, pavlyuchenko and bent, who just so happen to be the 4 attackers at the club on whom the most responsibility for getting goals shuold be falling.

 

[bigspurs]

Basic calculation:

+ The 'Director of Football' setup not working at Spurs
+ The pig-headed, hard-nosed (bite it off to spite your face) business prowess of the chairman
+ A decent manager, but with no Prem experience and a small grasp of English
+ The ongoing King problem and the Dawson dip in form bull-crap
+ The infamous 'Mr Tottenham' betrayal
+ Not signing all of the right players and selling some of the wrong ones
+ Fans getting on the player's backs
+ Pressure of not performing etc
= Most humiliating period of my 3 decades supporting Spurs!!!

 

[JimmyG2]

good article, refreshing to read something that does not look to attribute blame.

one question though. why is berbatov not on that list? surely he stands out as by far the best signing since comolli began at spurs (not just that we have made, but that any club in the league has made). world class footballer, one of the top three strikers on the planet, for less than each of bentley, modric, pavlyuchenko and bent, who just so happen to be the 4 attackers at the club on whom the most responsibility for getting goals shuold be falling.

Well spotted. he should be .He was signed in May 2006 for just under £10million. Lost in transmission fromTopspurs Archive to Spurs Community via my computer.
Amazed at how few players some fans rate. Berbatov,Woodgate Bale,Hutton,Gunter,Gomes,are surely all first class players. Modric,Corluka,Bentley,Pavlyuchenko are all internationals who though not performing to their expected levels yet are still first class buys which is what the article is about. How well has Comolli done his job based on the players signed.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Take a careful look at that list the only players there who look genuine value are woodgate,Bale and Gunter maybe. The amount of money spent is astronomical!!!

I don't agree with you, but how does your post relate to mine? Did you actually read what I wrote, or just skim it and go off on an unrelated riff?

More evidence that I should be spending my time elsewhere.

Anyone who follows Spurs with half-a-brain's-worth of attention will know that the club has made a substantial profit from its player dealings over the past 4 years (since Arnesen arrived), so what's your point?

I think there are several other players on the Comolli list who look like good value (one Dimitar Berbatov springs to mind), but that isn't really the point. The point is that your post is ignorant and thoughtless.

EDIT: Hang on, where is Berbatov on that list? He was a Comolli signing. And I won't have any of this "they knew about him already" nonsense. They knew about plenty others as well. Comolli did the deal, under considerable pressure from other clubs.

 

[spurdownunder]

Why is it that there's a certain type of fan out there who've taken to posting threads like this decalring "the facts" as if their post is the be all and end all of discussion?

I've noticed that often people who post "the facts" often leave out other facts that harm their argument....

:clap::clap: Well said son. Any chance of you sitting in Park Lane for the next few games, so there's one less negative nancy to listen to?

Rep, rep rep.

All the nega(fucking)tivity isn't helping anyone.

COYS