Comolli gone!

Wearing fancy glasses didn't save him

Damien Comolli has stepped down as Director of Football with immediate effect, apparently by mutual consent. This followed from a meeting with owners John Henry and Tom Werner who are in London for the FA Cup semi final, and possibly as a direct consequence of the debacle at Newcastle when Kenny, Steve Clarke and Comolli were asked for written appraisals of our current mess. Nevertheless, it is still a surprise given the timing, yet not totally unexpected given the pragmatic way the business is run with the Americans. Thoughts of barn doors and horses cross our minds at this juncture.
I met Damien Comolli in Kuala Lumpur during Pool's Asia Tour and he seemed quite a polite and approachable sort of chap very much given to intense physical workouts possibly as a way of letting off steam. I remember asking for his autograph thinking this might be worth something (cerebrally of course) if he ever gets the boot. He has, though there doesn't seem to be much joy in that right now.
Damien was brought in as DoF in late 2010 following on from a previous stint at Spurs in a similar role. The appointment at that time was questionable, as Pool have never had a DoF, if memory serves rightly, and his time at Spurs wasn't that great either. He must have impressed someone, and Kenny stands by him, even to the point of sharing blame for his blunders at Anfield, but then, that's Kenny.
The subscript to this is that Peter Bruckner, head of Sports Medicine and Science at Anfield has also been relieved of his job. But then, I don't know him and have never asked for his autograph, so we'll leave it at that. Oh yes, according to John Henry, the job of DoF is open for an "excellent" candidate and the want to get a move on from here soonest possible, thus the departures.

1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/apr/12/the-fiver-football-email-damien-comolli?CMP=EMCFTBEML853
2. http://bleacherreport.com/tb/bg2kq?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=liverpool
3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/9199540/Liverpool-Director-of-Football-Damien-Comolli-sacked-as-owners-react-to-failed-transfers-and-desperate-run-of-results.html