Damien Comolli, a former manager of Liverpool, has alleged that he was ‘useless’ in his interactions with the team’s owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG).
Between November 2010 to April 2012, Camolli held the position of director of football strategy at Anfield for 14 months. He was hired a month after Tom Hi bought the team from FSG (formerly New England Sports Ventures).During his tenure as the Reds’ manager, Liverpool brought in a number of players as they attempted to reclaim their place among Europe’s top after being eliminated from the Champions League. Andy Carroll was hired at the time of Comolli’s mandate for a record £35 million. Jordan Henderson and Luis Suarez were both added to the team in the summer of 2011 and January 2011, respectively. Liverpool won the League Cup in the 2011–12 season.Comolli, who is currently Toulouse’s director of football, will make his way back to Anfield on Thursday night when the Reds and French team square off in the Europa League.
Given the catastrophic financial condition left by Hicks and Gillette, he said he had to ‘convince’ club principle owner John Henry to finance the team the £22.8 million to sign Suarez, who went on to score 82 goals in 133 games for the Reds.
Comolli regrets not communicating to the Boston-based group more frequently since he might have had his position for a longer period of time. People need to be reminded that you are doing a fantastic job and that you need to manage up, he said. Maintaining control of your project requires regular selling.Â
After winning the [League] Cup and making it to the FA Cup final without any funding, which sporting director is fired? I had to persuade John Henry, the major owner of FSG, to loan money so I could purchase Luis Suarez. We were in need. After winning the first trophy since 2006, I was let go. I don’t know if I would still have a job if I had better up-and-outward communication skills, but things would have been very different.
