Can you imagine what his desk looks like this week? I bet it would remind you of an estate agents. There'd be deals that have been agreed in outline but are awaiting other deals to go through so that they can complete - the 'chain' effect. There will be contacts from clubs about our players. Contacts from agents trying to promote deals. Contacts that he has made with other clubs about availability of players. Amongst all of that he will be trying to conclude deals and checking to see that there are no snags. He will be keeping FSG and Kenny informed. He will also be involved in telling players that they are no longer wanted. I really don't envy him the next few weeks!
When you think about this, doesn't it make absolute sense to have a DoF? It suprises more english clubs haven't had the same approach... Did anyone see John W. Henry's tweet regarding pre-season? it basically bigged up footballers for preparing for the season so soon after the last one and reminding american fans that baseball has 4 months between seasons (I couldn't take that... 4 months of communicating with my wife). Comolli is probably under more pressure then anyone else at the club at the moment as the players and the manager are budy training and people are expecting transfer activity (and we don't mean for second string 31 year old keepers)
just a laptop with a copy of football manager running, he makes his bids based on the opinion of FMScout. He then disputes his transfer budget with Tom Werner based on the data within the game
I think part of the reason why its never worked over here is this: In other countries the director of football has a huge say in who becomes manager, he finds some one with a similar vision and who he can work with. Over here they tend to apoint a manager, then later a director of football, both people being chosen by the bored, not knowing whether they will share a vision or get along. As a result the two people disgree with each other and clash, causing all kinds of issues. The director and manager have to be a team. The director does the financial, negotiating, scouting, office stuff etc so that the manager can focus on matches and training. But to scout the right players he has to know and understand what type of players are needing and how the manager would use them.
I completely agree that its just more than player negotiations. He sacked two scouts since January,one of them being Liverpools Scandanavian scout and then poached two scouts from Spurs.
Don't forget that he'll have a laptop running with not606 open... He'll be choosing players to target on our recommendation.
But what else will he poach from Spurs.......... Aaron Lennon........ Gareth Bale......... Gomez...........
Come to think of it, if managers have to do all that AND manage the squad, it would really be a headache. We have Steve Clarke and Kevin Keen to coach the squad, King Kenny to keep an eye on squad aswell as working out new systems along with helping Commoli with transfers. I prefer it this way because when we sign a player it isn't just one person's opinion on who we should sign, I'd like to think it would be Commoli's, Clarke's, Keen's and King Kenny's. Adds that bit of stability. To think of it like that along with the opinions of different scouts part of a huge scouting network really makes the club feel secure, something we never had when H&G were in charge. So from now on, its not 'In King Kenny we trust', its 'In Liverpool FC we trust'!
