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Liverpool Director of Football Damien Comolli sacked as owners react to failed transfers and desperate run of results

Liverpool have sacked Director of Football Damien Comolli after the club's owners, Fenway Sports Group, reviewed the club's failure in the transfer market that saw high-profile and expensive acquisitions such as Andy Carroll contribute to a chastening season in the Premier League.

Comolli was appointed to the position of Director of Football Strategy at Anfield in Nov 2010, and given a remit to oversee the recruitment of players to the club.

His first major impact was to play a role in the January signings of Luis Suarez and Carroll, for a British transfer record fee of £35 million.

He became Director of Football in March 2011, effectively taking on many aspects of a chief executive's role, though focused solely on the business of the football side of the club.

He was pivotal in the signings of Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing, Jose Enrique, Sebastian Coates and Craig Bellamy - although, in all instances, manager Kenny Dalglish had the final say in the deals.

"[Comolli] has been really helpful in every transfer target we've gone for," said Dalglish.

"Everyone who has come into the club since Damien has been here was of my choice.

"Once I made the choice who I wanted Damien went away and did a fantastic job of bringing them in.

"It is sad to see anyone leave the football club and he goes with my best wishes and hopefully it is not long before we meet again.

The mixed success in the transfer market, most notably Carroll but also Henderson, Adam and to a lesser extend Downing, appears to have cost him his job.

"Fenway Sports Group and Liverpool FC confirmed today that Director of Football Damien Comolli had left the Club by mutual consent," read a club statement

"Principal Owner John Henry said: 'We are grateful for all of Damien's efforts on behalf of Liverpool and wish him all the best for the future.'

"Liverpool Chairman Tom Werner added: 'The Club needs to move forward and we now have a huge game on Saturday. It is important that everyone joins us in supporting the manager and gets behind Kenny and the team and focuses on a strong finish to the season.'

"Damien Comolli commented: 'I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to work at Liverpool and am happy to move on from the Club and back to France for family reasons. I wish the Club all the best for the future.'"

It is an extraordinary turn of events that sees a high-profile member of the administration relieved of his job days before an FA Cup semi-final, against Everton, rather than at the end of the season.

The owners are believed to feel they rushed the appointment of the Frenchman in the aftermath of buying the club, though the timing of his departure will no doubt shock Comolli.

The decision was made following a face-to-face meeting between Comolli and the owners, in the UK for this weekend's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

However, an awful run of results, that has left Liverpool closer to the relegation places than the top of the table in terms of points, has seen the American owners act decisively.

(Source / LFC's official statement)

SO MANY THOUGHTS:

1. Kenny makes it sound like he said "Go buy this player" and Comolli made it happen, which makes firing Comolli kind of cruel given the support for Kenny vocalized by Tom Werner.


2. I'm always interested to see who people outside the club/fanbase see as our failures. Carroll is unsurprisingly (although unfairly, IMO) the "biggest" failure and Downing seems to have been cut some slack.


3. Can't decide if this was good to announce days before the FA Cup semi-final: will it give the team a lift because it might mean a different, improved approach to summer signings or will it depress them because it signifies trouble? Or something else, because I've literally only thought about it for five seconds.