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What exactly does a DoF have to do to get sacked?

themanwhofellasleep

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Dec 14, 2006
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The title of this thread might seem quite aggressive, and it's true that I don't like DC, but it's more of a theoretical question.

Nearly everyone at Spurs has a role that the public understand. We can more or less tell what a player and manager is supposed to do. If a player is dreadful he either rots in the reserves or is sold. If a manager fails in his job, he's sacked (or gets a job managing Sheffield Utd). But no-one really knows exactly what a Director of Football does, and as such, it's very hard to assess whether they are successful or not. I can't really imagine any situation (even relegation) where the Director of Football would take the blame and get sacked.

Look at the whole Martin Jol farrago. Throughout his last few months at the club, fans were divided over whether to blame him for failing to coach the players properly, or Comolli for buying a load of crap players (Zokora, Bent and Kaboul stand out as particularly overpriced tat). But whatever fans said, Comolli knew that he was safe. No matter how crap the players were, he knew that Jol would take the blame for their ineptitude. And now Ramos (a manager with a far more impressive resume than Jol) is discovering that Darren Bent is mostly useless, that Kaboul is good going forward but struggling to defend, and that Zokora is a round peg in a square hole. But should things fail to work out at Spurs, it won't be Comolli who takes the blame, it will be Ramos.

I remember that in the days following Jol's exit, the press were talking to Comolli and asking him to clarify his role within the club and he was being deliberately vague and evasive. I don't blame him, because at the moment he's got it made. When the club goes well, he gets the credit for bringing in top players and when the club goes badly, the manager and players get the blame. Until it's made clear exactly who sanctions the purchase and sale of specific players, Comolli gets to smile and sit back knowing that he's accountable to nobody.
 

Supersonic

Active Member
Feb 16, 2005
3,957
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Apparently if Ramos doesnt work out then Comolli goes.

I think the DOF and managers fates should for the most part be tied together
 

hybridsoldier

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2004
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i would also love to ascertain the exact use of darrent bent, much like cracing the da vinci code it is
 

themanwhofellasleep

z-list internet celebrity
Dec 14, 2006
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I would hope that if Ramos fails, DC also goes.

What really annoys me about DC is that he has massive power but takes no responsibility.
 

yanno

Well-Known Member
Aug 1, 2003
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Whatever Levy may say, I suspect the power has now shifted and Comolli is basically Ramos' Chief Scout and Contract Negotiator.

Whereas under Jol, Comolli was a Dictator of Football, and would propose players like Zokora and Kaboul on a "take it or leave it - but there are no alternatives" scenario. As many have said on these boards, if Jol had real power, we would for example have signed Distin and Kaboul in the summer, not just promising young Younes.

Now, with the Saviour Juande in charge on £gazzillions per week for 5 years, he can tell Comolli to swivel and demand the players he wants.

So, I expect Spurs to go Spanish (ie sign players from La Liga) rather than French this January.
 

themanwhofellasleep

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Dec 14, 2006
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Well, I really hope that the power has shifted.

When Pleat was Director of Football, he had a remit (and seperate transfer kitty) to purchase promising young talent (Davies and Etherington for example) and that worked quite well. But I can't for the life of my understand how someone who isn't picking the team or coaching the players can have such power to buy and sell players. You just end up with situations like Danny Murphy and Wayne Routledge, who we spent good money on, but whom Jol never rated and rarely played.
 

themanwhofellasleep

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Dec 14, 2006
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No. He'd say that all negotiations were between Levy's wife and a combination of DoF and manager, and that the final responsibiliy lies with Ramos.
 

Spursking

Well-Known Member
May 16, 2004
5,431
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Damien Comolli has done nothing wrong at all. He has done the best ever job in the Transfer Market. Nobody have done better long term buys than Comolli.
 

TaoistMonkey

Welcome! Everything is fine.
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Oct 25, 2005
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Damien Comolli has done nothing wrong at all. He has done the best ever job in the Transfer Market. Nobody have done better long term buys than Comolli.

I normaly take your posts in jest but what has he done for you to make such an outrageous statement like that??
 

HuggyBear

Cupid Stunt
May 14, 2006
3,291
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I normaly take your posts in jest but what has he done for you to make such an outrageous statement like that??

They both love French-Africans and they both are Gooners. Many suspect they are actually the same person. Have you ever seen them both in the same place at the same time?
 

TaoistMonkey

Welcome! Everything is fine.
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Oct 25, 2005
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They both love French-Africans and they both are Gooners. Many suspect they are actually the same person. Have you ever seen them both in the same place at the same time?

ahhhhhhh. noted

thanks for clearing that up :lol:
 

Chris12345

LADdam Hussein
Jan 15, 2005
11,908
31
Does anyone know what years he was an Arsenal scout?

i.e. was he responsible for Toure, Fabregas etc...?
 

The Apprentice

Charles Big Potatoes
Mar 10, 2005
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Be shit at his job I'd imagine.

Levy has made it obvious that Ramos was Commolli's choice. So I guess he'll live or die by Junade's success.
 

llamafarmer

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2004
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Apparently if Ramos doesnt work out then Comolli goes.

I think you're probably right there - Ramos is clearly Comolli's choice, so if it's a balls up, he really can't duck the responsibility this time around. I definitely think he should shoulder some blame for Jol's (debatable) shortcomings.

I think the DOF and managers fates should for the most part be tied together

I can see your point, but that would instantly render the DOF position pointless in that DL's reasoning for it was to keep consistency of playing staff.



I think when it comes down to it, the DOF system is a good idea IF the right man is in place at the top. I'm not convinced Comolli is that right man, so hopefully he will step back and give Ramos more power. Otherwise I don't see this era being much more successful than the last. But to be fair to DC - he's new to this job and he has only just got his choice of head coach in place, so this is his chance to prove himself. He will have no excuses if he is not successful because the board have given him massive support.
 

themanwhofellasleep

z-list internet celebrity
Dec 14, 2006
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SpursKing... you're having a laugh. I know you want to defend every French/African player, but the fact is that not all of them are wonderful players, and you can't say that the likes of Zokora, Kaboul and Assou-Ekotto have been good buys. Having said that, Comolli's worst purchase has been £17m on Darren Bent.

As for Comolli's role... it's never clear exactly what his remit is. Yes, he buys players, but are the players approved by the manager? Does the manager ask the DoF for a specific player or a specific position to be filled. As it is, DC keeps everything vague enough that when a player fails the fans are left in the dark as to whether the manager even wanted the player in the first place.

A quote from the press conference when Ramos was unveiled. Asked exactly what his role entailed, he responded: "That's probably something you have to ask Daniel."
 

Kurtzen

New Member
Jan 13, 2006
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Comolli quotes(rerun ):
8.09.05 "The challenge for me is to assist the club to play football at the highest level and to continuously seek to improve everything we do.
The club has an ambitious board and a first-class coaching team. I feel there is much that can be achieved and I am excited to be here." self satisfied optimist?

9.10.07 'There is no reason to worry. The quality is there' deluded?

26.4.07 "I'm in a great project here at Tottenham, building something for the future with fantastic support from the chairman, the board and a great relationship with Martin Jol. ...I think we are very, very close to the top level of the Premiership, so I don't know why I would want to go somewhere else, especially as I'm enjoying it so much." deluded and sadistic?

13.7.06 "It is like a musician, it doesn't matter whether he is English or French, the one who works more becomes better." Cabaret Voltaire?

30.6.07 "The signings we've completed so far offer us massive improvement in terms of the squad, players with great potential whose best days are in front of them." Binoculars?

31.10.07 "I'm 100% convinced that the technical director role works, 99% of the clubs around the world use that system, win trophies, win football matches. So it works."
Reassured?

31.10.07 "I'm not interested(Competent?) about this (Ramos') job. Juande is very competent at what he does, has a proven record of winning in style."

31.10.07 "As a scouting department, we have to come up with solutions which we take to him. If he's got a name, that's fantastic. Saves me a lot of trips. But if not, we have to come up with options." Run? Hide?....abdicate responsibilty? sack the manager?

31.10.07 "I'm not embarrassed. Sometimes you have to make decisions like this in football. It was a decision we had to take, we had to make, and it was made. We are looking for stability."....without conscience?

31.10.07 "If the chairman and the board are not happy with what I'm doing, they'll probably ask me to leave. But 50 or 60% is about the club in the future, and 40% is about the club now. If they're not happy with what I'm doing, they'll ask me to leave." Really?

31.10.07 "Results matter"...Hooray.


................................................
Chris,

Comolli in focus (BBC, Sept 05)

Worked under Arsene Wenger at Monaco and Grampus Eight
Brought Kolo Toure and Jeremie Aliadiere to Arsenal
Played a role in Arsenal signing Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Robin van Persie
After seven seasons as Arsenal's European scout(97-04) became technical director at St Etienne last season
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
The only signing I really couldn't understand was Bent for 16 million. All the other signings were pretty logical as stand alone transfers that fitted into, what appears to be, the remit handed down by levy. Every single manager will have a hit & miss success rate with signings (Wenger & Ferguson & Mourinho have all had their failures) and to expect 100% success with every signing is stupid especially given our circumstances (budget, wages, appeal, lack of CL).

We had continued to make progress under Comoli's reign the last two seasons - including probably our best season for years last year - with some signings that despite criticism from the usual lemmings actually equiped themselves well enough.

The problem, as Joey has suggested, is not Comoli but the sustainable growth method (Levy himself actually used the phrase "inherent value" in the chairmans statement in this years accounts) by which Levy has opted to progress the club.
Rightly or wrongly it is this policy that dictates Comoli's buying strategy. And as such it is hardly his fault when he is going out and buying the best possible candidates, within reason, within this structure. (The French U18 and U21 captains would surely be on anyone's wish list of propspects, as would the player chosen as RB in the premier league Xl and Berbatov, Bale, Malbranque, Davids, lee, Jenas, Rocha, lennon etc you could hardly grumble with).

It's stupid to criticise Comoli's signings when not understanding the framework in which they are made and also not taking into account the desirability when they were actually made. Taken individually he has rarely made what appeared at the time to be a stupid purchase (bar Bent in my opinion, but most of you lot wanted him and disagreed with me) it's just that a couple, for various reasons, haven't turned out to be world beaters (even Ekotto was good on the ball - just shit at defending).
 

joey55

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2005
9,675
3,091
Comolli quotes(rerun ):
8.09.05 "The challenge for me is to assist the club to play football at the highest level and to continuously seek to improve everything we do.
The club has an ambitious board and a first-class coaching team. I feel there is much that can be achieved and I am excited to be here." self satisfied optimist?

9.10.07 'There is no reason to worry. The quality is there' deluded?

26.4.07 "I'm in a great project here at Tottenham, building something for the future with fantastic support from the chairman, the board and a great relationship with Martin Jol. ...I think we are very, very close to the top level of the Premiership, so I don't know why I would want to go somewhere else, especially as I'm enjoying it so much." deluded and sadistic?

13.7.06 "It is like a musician, it doesn't matter whether he is English or French, the one who works more becomes better." Cabaret Voltaire?

30.6.07 "The signings we've completed so far offer us massive improvement in terms of the squad, players with great potential whose best days are in front of them." Binoculars?

31.10.07 "I'm 100% convinced that the technical director role works, 99% of the clubs around the world use that system, win trophies, win football matches. So it works."
Reassured?

31.10.07 "I'm not interested(Competent?) about this (Ramos') job. Juande is very competent at what he does, has a proven record of winning in style."

31.10.07 "As a scouting department, we have to come up with solutions which we take to him. If he's got a name, that's fantastic. Saves me a lot of trips. But if not, we have to come up with options." Run? Hide?....abdicate responsibilty? sack the manager?

31.10.07 "I'm not embarrassed. Sometimes you have to make decisions like this in football. It was a decision we had to take, we had to make, and it was made. We are looking for stability."....without conscience?

31.10.07 "If the chairman and the board are not happy with what I'm doing, they'll probably ask me to leave. But 50 or 60% is about the club in the future, and 40% is about the club now. If they're not happy with what I'm doing, they'll ask me to leave." Really?

31.10.07 "Results matter"...Hooray.


................................................
Chris,

Comolli in focus (BBC, Sept 05)

Worked under Arsene Wenger at Monaco and Grampus Eight
Brought Kolo Toure and Jeremie Aliadiere to Arsenal
Played a role in Arsenal signing Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Robin van Persie
After seven seasons as Arsenal's European scout(97-04) became technical director at St Etienne last season

Most of this is untrue and lazy journalism on the part of the BBC. RVP was signed when Comolli was at St Ettiene. Toure came from Africa and Comolli was a European scout. The article makes it sound like he was the European scout for Arsenal, when he was just one of many. Henry was discovered by Wenger when at Monaco and then signed for Arsenal when Comolli was doing a law degree. Pires had nothing to do with Comolli. He didn't go to St Ettiene as technical director in 2004, but as head of youth developement (ie Clive Allen) in 2003. Arsenal are hardly going to allow their main European Scout and the man who was the instigator in those deals leave for a small job at a Ligue 2 club (St Ettiene were at the time). He was just a humble scout at Arsenal. A list was recently published on an Arsenal forum of which scouts discovered which players, and Comolli was attributed 1 name. I can't even remember who it was.
 
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