Tuesday, 21 September 2010 06:16 Paul Johnson
Damien ComolliMention the name ‘Damien Comolli’ to a pub of packed Spurs fans and you’d probably be lucky to escape with a just a pint or two poured over you.
Tottenham’s Sporting Director between 2005 to 2008 is largely blamed for the malaise that set in during the end of the Martin Jol and Juande Ramos era’s but just take a look at the Spurs team that beat FC Twente in the Champions League last week and maybe you’d be so kind as to give Comolli the benefit of the doubt.
Time can be a great healer so they say (whoever ‘they’ are). Just look at Villa’s appointment of Gerard Houllier. A few years ago, towards the end of his Liverpool reign, everyone seemed to be saying how rubbish he was. Now, a few years on and people are falling over themselves to say how the modern Liverpool were basically created by Houllier. (That’s the Liverpool who consistently finished in the top four and won a champions league title by the way, not the shambles that lost to Northampton the other week).
I wonder if history will be so kind to Comolli ? If you don’t see what I mean then I invite you to look at the current Tottenham Hotspur side. Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Heurelho Gomes are all signings made by Comolli and, (Bale and Modric especially) are the fulcrum of an exciting young team that is currently making people sit up and take notice in the Champions League.
It’s hard to argue that everything that Comolli did turned to gold. The signings of players such as Bentley, Bent and Zokora for example perhaps didn’t work out as expected; however, when looking at the signings he made, there are more success stories then hiccups.
When Comolli finally got his P45 in 2008, I think it was the time was right for him to go. Those dark days saw Tottenham propping up the league and a change was required from top to bottom at the club. Redknapp has proved to be the right appointment but that’s not to say that I think Spurs fans should constantly lambast our former Sporting Director. His time at the club has yielded some great players.
So never mind give peace a chance, give Comolli a chance. Anyone who can bring Bale and Modric to White Hart lane can’t be all bad.
http://soccer-portal.org/cat/news/3729-damien-comolli-does-he-deserve-a-pardon.html