Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has claimed that former director of football Damien Comolli was not the "right person" to take the Reds forward but remains 'confident' in manager Kenny Dalglish.

The French director departed the Merseyside club by mutual consent today after 17 months at Anfield.

The 39-year-old was the main instigator in clinching the transfers of Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing, Luis Suarez, Charlie Adam and £35m Andy Carroll.

Werner told the club's official website: "Frankly, we make these decisions with a great deal of care because it's our track record in Boston to give people authority and we've had great success with our manager, who was there for eight years, and our general manager, so we prefer stability.

"But when it's time to act, we need to act. We're coming close to the end of the season and the transfer window for the summer, and we felt it was important to make this change expeditiously.

"We feel there is enough talent on the pitch to win and, as I said, we've been dissatisfied, as most supporters have been, with the results so far. But we're also talking about the future - we have a strategy we need implemented and we felt Damien was probably not the right person to implement that strategy."

When asked if Comolli's axe will affect Dalglish's position at the club, Werner responded: "Absolutely not. We've got great confidence in Kenny. We feel the team is going to make strides in the future and he enjoys our full support."

The board shake-up comes just days before Liverpool take on local rivals Everton in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.