Director of Football Coming In?

[jt64]

Calling having enough people to cover the huge number of roles that are required to keep a club competitive, sustainably in the top 30 clubs "a DoF" is really reductive. The issue is, it's far far too much to ask the person responsible for winning the next match to also be responsible for everything else

For everything, read anything. I would guess half the division have someone whose sole job is to gameplay for the next match

 

[Pandev]

Wish this was us..

 

[UddersBlade]

Wish this was us..

I don’t. DofF are largely a waste of money other than the Elite clubs in Europe.

 

[Kenilworth]

Wish this was us..

Struber lasted a long time after such a decent start. BC already had a DoF so what makes this one different?
Having a DoF only seems to lead to a string of Head Coaches because they invariably fail, and that’s more to do with funding than the fact a DoF is in place.

Most people proposing a DoF on here seem to be doing so on the basis that the current structure isn’t successful (really?) so such a change is as good as any. That defies logic, to me. You don’t just change something just for the sake of it since it sounds trendy. It’s more complicated than that.
Some cite where a DoF has been relatively successful but the clubs that have them and get some success are usually the most well funded clubs. Doing a Temu DOF is probably a recipe for even more non accountability than a standard manager set up at a medium sized club.

 

[Pandev]

Struber lasted a long time after such a decent start. BC already had a DoF so what makes this one different?
Having a DoF only seems to lead to a string of Head Coaches because they invariably fail, and that’s more to do with funding than the fact a DoF is in place.

Most people proposing a DoF on here seem to be doing so on the basis that the current structure isn’t successful (really?) so such a change is as good as any. That defies logic, to me. You don’t just change something just for the sake of it since it sounds trendy. It’s more complicated than that.
Some cite where a DoF has been relatively successful but the clubs that have them and get some success are usually the most well funded clubs. Doing a Temu DOF is probably a recipe for even more non accountability than a standard manager set up at a medium sized club.

All 20 premier league teams have some sort of sporting director / director of football. It’s not doing something trendy, it’s something we need to do.

It’s like not upgrading an F1 car with the latest technology because we won a race 5 years ago

 

[Silent Blade]

All 20 premier league teams have some sort of sporting director / director of football. It’s not doing something trendy, it’s something we need to do.

It’s like not upgrading an F1 car with the latest technology because we won a race 5 years ago

 

[Striker]

All 20 premier league teams have some sort of sporting director / director of football. It’s not doing something trendy, it’s something we need to do.

It’s like not upgrading an F1 car with the latest technology because we won a race 5 years ago

But in your analogy, surely the F1 car is more relative to the players and not the race director. Even Toto Wolf couldn't win a race with a Ford Cortina.

 

[247Blade]

All 20 premier league teams have some sort of sporting director / director of football. It’s not doing something trendy, it’s something we need to do.

It’s like not upgrading an F1 car with the latest technology because we won a race 5 years ago

Probably needs addressing if/when we get back in the Premier League?

 

[PrestwichBlade]

Probably needs addressing if/when we get back in the Premier League?

Disagree I'm afraid. When we have gone up recently, we've been shown to be woefully unprepared. We need to get a more robust structure in place before we entertain promotion again

 

[247Blade]

Disagree I'm afraid. When we have gone up recently, we've been shown to be woefully unprepared. We need to get a more robust structure in place before we entertain promotion again

Can we afford another big earner?

 

[PrestwichBlade]

Can we afford another big earner?

I've no idea, but if we want a more stable structure then we'll have to find that money from somewhere

 

[UddersBlade]

I've no idea, but if we want a more stable structure then we'll have to find that money from somewhere

Absolutely zero chance will ever work with a DoF. So that won’t happen for at least another 12 months whilst he is still our manager until the end of his contract.

 

[PrestwichBlade]

Absolutely zero chance will ever work with a DoF. So that won’t happen for at least another 12 months whilst he is still our manager until the end of his contract.

Oh I agree, but my earlier response was just in respect of the suggestion of waiting until we're in the PL again before initiating structural changes. I don't agree with that and think we should do it much before that, if indeed that is even the ultimate intention

 

[Tom Bott]

Wish this was us..

I bet when Bristol City saw we had James Bord and his magic computer coming last summer, they were jealous.

He was effectively contracted as sporting/technical director in all but name.

Anyone wish he was still here?

 

[PrestwichBlade]

I bet when Bristol City saw we had James Bord and his magic computer coming last summer, they were jealous.

He was effectively contracted as sporting/technical director in all but name.

Anyone wish he was still here?

Yes, that's exactly what happened

 

[KMC-1889]

But in your analogy, surely the F1 car is more relative to the players and not the race director. Even Toto Wolf couldn't win a race with a Ford Cortina.

But what did toto wolf actually do?

He surrounded himself with competent people with mixed experience and trusted them to deliver, you could almost say he was directing the sporting part of the team. Like a sporting director.

Strange concept, it’ll never catch on.

 

[Kenilworth]

All 20 premier league teams have some sort of sporting director / director of football. It’s not doing something trendy, it’s something we need to do.

It’s like not upgrading an F1 car with the latest technology because we won a race 5 years ago

Baaaaaaah
Baaaaaaaah
Baaaaaaaaahhhh

 

[jt64]

Can we afford another big earner?

We don't have any big earners.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Baaaaaaah
Baaaaaaaah
Baaaaaaaaahhhh

It's a little bit silly that people are saying Chris Wilder is better at 5 jobs than 5 qualified people working on their specialisms and to a plan that benefits the club in the short and long term, managed by someone given the power to oversee the whole club.

But sure, upandatem

 

[Kenilworth]

It's a little bit silly that people are saying Chris Wilder is better at 5 jobs than 5 qualified people working on their specialisms and to a plan that benefits the club in the short and long term, managed by someone given the power to oversee the whole club.

But sure, upandatem

That’s just as tired a trope as the first half tonight. It’s lazy. Of course CW doesn’t do it all. He already has people doing jobs as a team to a plan. I get your viewpoint that you want a person that appears detached from the day to day football side and that’s your DOF. My point is it’s just changing one person with power AND responsibility AND Accountability for another person that has all the power and no accountability. We all know if the team fails then the DOF gets a free pass and the coach gets the bullet.
Yes, I keep on banging on about Watford because that’s the blueprint of you try this and don’t have the funds to do it properly. It just created mediocrity and kills a club. You have a DoF that is seemingly untouchable and unaccountable and no one can oust them. Who’s to say that the DoF isn’t the cause of a malaise when the coach is always the one with their balls on the block and always the one that get them cut off?

 

[Carlton Blade]

That’s just as tired a trope as the first half tonight. It’s lazy. Of course CW doesn’t do it all. He already has people doing jobs as a team to a plan. I get your viewpoint that you want a person that appears detached from the day to day football side and that’s your DOF. My point is it’s just changing one person with power AND responsibility AND Accountability for another person that has all the power and no accountability. We all know if the team fails then the DOF gets a free pass and the coach gets the bullet.
Yes, I keep on banging on about Watford because that’s the blueprint of you try this and don’t have the funds to do it properly. It just created mediocrity and kills a club. You have a DoF that is seemingly untouchable and unaccountable and no one can oust them. Who’s to say that the DoF isn’t the cause of a malaise when the coach is always the one with their balls on the block and always the one that get them cut off?

You're advocating keeping failures in support job roles because of Watford. You're saying let Wilder run everything when he's struggling to even find consistency in the job that's meant to be the one he's judged on.

What you're saying is that you'd rather have one man doung a mediocre, at best job across 5 roles than filling those roles with competent people. Look at the loan signings of the last 3 seasons. Look at the lack of ability to look beyond the same player type. Look at the insistence that athleticism isn't a requirement. How is letting that continue, with the huge amounts of money it wastes a better idea than taking some money, especially when the cost of these roles will not count towards SCR costs, and employing a few people who have experience of success and then holding them accountable for results of their work?

No accountability? Not every employee is as free of responsibility as Bettis. Others are given targets to achieve and milestones to hit.

Because Watford are a joke, keep the club where it is and pray the football world turns the click back a decade. I think it's complete madness.

 

[Kenilworth]

You're advocating keeping failures in support job roles because of Watford. You're saying let Wilder run everything when he's struggling to even find consistency in the job that's meant to be the one he's judged on.

What you're saying is that you'd rather have one man doung a mediocre, at best job across 5 roles than filling those roles with competent people. Look at the loan signings of the last 3 seasons. Look at the lack of ability to look beyond the same player type. Look at the insistence that athleticism isn't a requirement. How is letting that continue, with the huge amounts of money it wastes a better idea than taking some money, especially when the cost of these roles will not count towards SCR costs, and employing a few people who have experience of success and then holding them accountable for results of their work?

No accountability? Not every employee is as free of responsibility as Bettis. Others are given targets to achieve and milestones to hit.

Because Watford are a joke, keep the club where it is and pray the football world turns the click back a decade. I think it's complete madness.

No, that’s not what I am saying.
I’m saying that a DoF without proper funding is a waste of time. And Watford is the prime example of how that turns out.

Those that advocate it just want a change, for changes sake. They spout the utterly naive trope about landing a “person” in a role to oversee all the footballing plans. Like those plans magically fall into place by that very appointment. The key issue they conveniently forget is that there are no plans that can be actioned without the essential funding in place. Until that is available and has the backing of the board (does anyone seriously believe COH have the nous to make that happen, have a plan at all, or the reddies?) it would be doomed to failure.

I’d rather we concentrate on a Cat 1 before we get any other changes of a DoF nature but we know COH has already stated that won’t happen without Prem money. And until that time, the way the club is structured currently, a managerial style is better suited.

The Selles Summer put this club back by at least three years. That’s how much this board know about English league football. What we’re witnessing now is the fallout from that. It continues and will continue into the next season and beyond because of the dross purchased and the length of contracts agreed.

Now, here’s where my Wilder hat goes back on. I still think if anyone can sort it out in a shorter time frame then he’s the best candidate to do so, currently. If it doesn’t work out next season then I’m certain that will be it for Wilder and we move on. I just don’t see a DoF being a panacea that will magically change the clubs fortunes, overnight. It just shifts the deck chairs since there’s no plan or funding for them to work with.

 

[247Blade]

We don't have any big earners.

Its an extra position .... nothings cheap in football.

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

Isn't the DoF the answer to "the owners know nothing about football" ?

 

[Bladesman]

We do need a head of football operations or something along those lines. It can't be left to a bloke who keeps saying he is only an accountant when pressed about things going wrong.

 

[Carlton Blade]

No, that’s not what I am saying.
I’m saying that a DoF without proper funding is a waste of time. And Watford is the prime example of how that turns out.

Those that advocate it just want a change, for changes sake. They spout the utterly naive trope about landing a “person” in a role to oversee all the footballing plans. Like those plans magically fall into place by that very appointment. The key issue they conveniently forget is that there are no plans that can be actioned without the essential funding in place. Until that is available and has the backing of the board (does anyone seriously believe COH have the nous to make that happen, have a plan at all, or the reddies?) it would be doomed to failure.

I’d rather we concentrate on a Cat 1 before we get any other changes of a DoF nature but we know COH has already stated that won’t happen without Prem money. And until that time, the way the club is structured currently, a managerial style is better suited.

The Selles Summer put this club back by at least three years. That’s how much this board know about English league football. What we’re witnessing now is the fallout from that. It continues and will continue into the next season and beyond because of the dross purchased and the length of contracts agreed.

Now, here’s where my Wilder hat goes back on. I still think if anyone can sort it out in a shorter time frame then he’s the best candidate to do so, currently. If it doesn’t work out next season then I’m certain that will be it for Wilder and we move on. I just don’t see a DoF being a panacea that will magically change the clubs fortunes, overnight. It just shifts the deck chairs since there’s no plan or funding for them to work with.

No, that’s not what I am saying.
I’m saying that a DoF without proper funding is a waste of time. And Watford is the prime example of how that turns out.

Those that advocate it just want a change, for changes sake. They spout the utterly naive trope about landing a “person” in a role to oversee all the footballing plans. Like those plans magically fall into place by that very appointment. The key issue they conveniently forget is that there are no plans that can be actioned without the essential funding in place. Until that is available and has the backing of the board (does anyone seriously believe COH have the nous to make that happen, have a plan at all, or the reddies?) it would be doomed to failure.

I’d rather we concentrate on a Cat 1 before we get any other changes of a DoF nature but we know COH has already stated that won’t happen without Prem money. And until that time, the way the club is structured currently, a managerial style is better suited.

The Selles Summer put this club back by at least three years. That’s how much this board know about English league football. What we’re witnessing now is the fallout from that. It continues and will continue into the next season and beyond because of the dross purchased and the length of contracts agreed.

Now, here’s where my Wilder hat goes back on. I still think if anyone can sort it out in a shorter time frame then he’s the best candidate to do so, currently. If it doesn’t work out next season then I’m certain that will be it for Wilder and we move on. I just don’t see a DoF being a panacea that will magically change the clubs fortunes, overnight. It just shifts the deck chairs since there’s no plan or funding for them to work with.

You're going to have to point to where I've said one magically job title is the only update required. Because you are arguing things I'm not saying

No, that’s not what I am saying.
I’m saying that a DoF without proper funding is a waste of time. And Watford is the prime example of how that turns out.

Those that advocate it just want a change, for changes sake. They spout the utterly naive trope about landing a “person” in a role to oversee all the footballing plans. Like those plans magically fall into place by that very appointment. The key issue they conveniently forget is that there are no plans that can be actioned without the essential funding in place. Until that is available and has the backing of the board (does anyone seriously believe COH have the nous to make that happen, have a plan at all, or the reddies?) it would be doomed to failure.

I’d rather we concentrate on a Cat 1 before we get any other changes of a DoF nature but we know COH has already stated that won’t happen without Prem money. And until that time, the way the club is structured currently, a managerial style is better suited.

The Selles Summer put this club back by at least three years. That’s how much this board know about English league football. What we’re witnessing now is the fallout from that. It continues and will continue into the next season and beyond because of the dross purchased and the length of contracts agreed.

Now, here’s where my Wilder hat goes back on. I still think if anyone can sort it out in a shorter time frame then he’s the best candidate to do so, currently. If it doesn’t work out next season then I’m certain that will be it for Wilder and we move on. I just don’t see a DoF being a panacea that will magically change the clubs fortunes, overnight. It just shifts the deck chairs since there’s no plan or funding for them to work with.

You’re arguing against a fantasy version of a DoF, not what’s actually being proposed.

No one is saying a DoF “magically fixes everything” or operates without board backing or budget. That’s a straw man. What is being argued is that the current over-concentration of power and responsibility in one role has demonstrably failed — repeatedly — and continuing it is not pragmatism, it’s inertia.

Watford’s proble isn’t the existence of football operations roles; it's instability, owner interference, and zero accountability. That isn’t an argument against structure — it’s an argument for competent structure.

Right now, we have:

A manager expected to coach, recruit, shape long-term squad planning, define player profiles, and influence contracts

Three seasons of poor loan recruitment

A clear inability or unwillingness to recruit beyond a single player type

An explicit rejection of athleticism as a requirement, in the Championship

Huge sums wasted on players that don’t fit the league or system

And the solution is to double down?

You say funding is the blocker. But these roles don’t count towards SCR. That matters. Spending relatively modest sums on experienced football operations staff to reduce multi-million-pound player waste is not indulgence, it’s basic risk management.

Accountability is the missing word in your argument.
Everyone else at the club gets targets. Milestones. Consequences. The idea that football operations are somehow exempt aandn that failure is just “context” is exactly how clubs stagnate.

W ildermay well be the best short-term fixer again. But asking him to run five jobs while judging him only on results in one is not backing him — it’s setting him up.

This isn’t about panaceas or overnight miracles.
It’s about stopping a known, expensive failure mode and replacing it with basic competence, separation of duties, and accountability.

Doing nothing because Watford once did something badly isn’t caution. It’s fear dressed up as realism.

 

[PrestwichBlade]

You're going to have to point to where I've said one magically job title is the only update required. Because you are arguing things I'm not saying

You’re arguing against a fantasy version of a DoF, not what’s actually being proposed.

No one is saying a DoF “magically fixes everything” or operates without board backing or budget. That’s a straw man. What is being argued is that the current over-concentration of power and responsibility in one role has demonstrably failed — repeatedly — and continuing it is not pragmatism, it’s inertia.

Watford’s proble isn’t the existence of football operations roles; it's instability, owner interference, and zero accountability. That isn’t an argument against structure — it’s an argument for competent structure.

Right now, we have:

A manager expected to coach, recruit, shape long-term squad planning, define player profiles, and influence contracts

Three seasons of poor loan recruitment

A clear inability or unwillingness to recruit beyond a single player type

An explicit rejection of athleticism as a requirement, in the Championship

Huge sums wasted on players that don’t fit the league or system

And the solution is to double down?

You say funding is the blocker. But these roles don’t count towards SCR. That matters. Spending relatively modest sums on experienced football operations staff to reduce multi-million-pound player waste is not indulgence, it’s basic risk management.

Accountability is the missing word in your argument.
Everyone else at the club gets targets. Milestones. Consequences. The idea that football operations are somehow exempt aandn that failure is just “context” is exactly how clubs stagnate.

W ildermay well be the best short-term fixer again. But asking him to run five jobs while judging him only on results in one is not backing him — it’s setting him up.

This isn’t about panaceas or overnight miracles.
It’s about stopping a known, expensive failure mode and replacing it with basic competence, separation of duties, and accountability.

Doing nothing because Watford once did something badly isn’t caution. It’s fear dressed up as realism.

Superb