Incoming? Tim Iroegbunam

[billyblademan]

That was a lot to do with the manager in situ at the time who, rightly or wrongly, wanted control of the whole football operations side.

What we had was sub-optimal. What we've got is a vacuum.

 

[Youngand70]

That was a lot to do with the manager in situ at the time who, rightly or wrongly, wanted control of the whole football operations side.

Quite rightly allegedly Wilder didn't want to work under a Director of Football and Bettis no doubt went along with it, but what's his excuse now?

 

[Balti Pie]

He was interviewed in March 2024 by the Star and asked regarding us having a DofF. He stated that we were not having one. Despite the vast majority of clubs throughout UK and Europe having either a DoF or Sporting Director we continue not to. He needs to come into the "real" world and think outside the box.

I would suggest that he is already thinking outside the box by ignoring what the majority of successful teams do and doing his own thing - shit as that may be!

 

[Frank the tank]

Well he made that statement under the Prince's tenure and here we are in August 2025 under COH tenure and we still haven't got a Director of Football, typical United backwards thinking like it or not.

How could he possibly know
And aren't we linked with the guy at Bristol city

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

He was interviewed in March 2024 by the Star and asked regarding us having a DofF. He stated that we were not having one. Despite the vast majority of clubs throughout UK and Europe having either a DoF or Sporting Director we continue not to. He needs to come into the "real" world and think outside the box.

Ok. Hardly shows he “publicly came out against” a DoF though? He’s not necessarily expressing an opinion in that interview. More likely he was just passing on a decision from the then board, of which I don’t think he was a full member at that time.

There may be reasons to be sceptical about Bettis, and what he has or hasn’t accomplished over the years. I really don’t think the club’s decision not to employ a DoF is one of them.

As ever, happy to be wrong.

 

[Youngand70]

How could he possibly know
And aren't we linked with the guy at Bristol city

I believe Brian Tinnion, ex Bristol City FC player is their Technical Director and there were rumours we were interested in him but to date nothing has come of it. Personally I would want some with more experience at a higher level than him.

 

[Youngand70]

Ok. Hardly shows he “publicly came out against” a DoF though? He’s not necessarily expressing an opinion in that interview. More likely he was just passing on a decision from the then board, of which I don’t think he was a full member at that time.

There may be reasons to be sceptical about Bettis, and what he has or hasn’t accomplished over the years. I really don’t think the club’s decision not to employ a DoF is one of them.

As ever, happy to be wrong.

The interview being in the paper is "public", and he was making it as a representative of the club. Now it maybe that he was making that statement due to what the Prince wanted or the situation with Chris Wilder not wanting to work under a DoF of both we'll never know. The fact that we still haven't got a DoF even under COH'S ownership goes totally against the vast majority of top level clubs in UK and Europe read into that what you will. Are COH getting crap advice if so who from?

 

[Frank the tank]

I believe Brian Tinnion, ex Bristol City FC player is their Technical Director and there were rumours we were interested in him but to date nothing has come of it. Personally I would want some with more experience at a higher level than him.

My point is they must be considering sprinting one if they were linked with him

 

[Macfarlane21]

Looks like we'll be waiting abit longer for a chance of this one happening

 

[loyalblade95]

Looks like we'll be waiting abit longer for a chance of this one happening

Depends who (if any) Everton might sign instead of Luiz.

 

[Wards]

Rumours that Everton might go for McGinn if Villa can get someone in

 

[Gtblades]

Everton will keep playing him so that he can be classed as a premier league regular this season and therefore worth another 5 million.
Bit like we have tried to do with RND to try and get an extra 50 quid. Don't think it's working for us though......

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

The interview being in the paper is "public", and he was making it as a representative of the club. Now it maybe that he was making that statement due to what the Prince wanted or the situation with Chris Wilder not wanting to work under a DoF of both we'll never know. The fact that we still haven't got a DoF even under COH'S ownership goes totally against the vast majority of top level clubs in UK and Europe read into that what you will. Are COH getting crap advice if so who from?

Is there any evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, that Bettis is responsible for us not having a DoF?

 

[FriethBlade]

Is there any evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, that Bettis is responsible for us not having a DoF?

Plenty, hes the CEO, he runs the shooting match, if he wanted one we'd have one by now

 

[Kenilworth]

Plenty, hes the CEO, he runs the shooting match, if he wanted one we'd have one by now

He’d only get one if the owners want one and are prepared to stump up the budget for one. Bettis is an employee, not an investor / owner. He has no funds or a stake in the club to do that sort of thing unilaterally

 

[KMC-1889]

He’d only get one if the owners want one and are prepared to stump up the budget for one. Bettis is an employee, not an investor / owner. He has no funds or a stake in the club to do that sort of thing unilaterally

He’s a board member and part of the consortium. As CEO it would also be his job to advise the board on the best exec hierarchy to support their targets.

 

[bornablade]

Bettis should be the one who is responsible for communicaring with the fans.

Poor performance from our CEO.

 

[Youngand70]

Is there any evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, that Bettis is responsible for us not having a DoF?

Tell you what I'll get a barrister to look into it. The bottom line is we still haven't got one and we are still a big city club with a small town mentality.

 

[Frank the tank]

Everton will keep playing him so that he can be classed as a premier league regular this season and therefore worth another 5 million.
Bit like we have tried to do with RND to try and get an extra 50 quid. Don't think it's working for us though......

Bizzare take !

 

[sheepbridge]

He’d only get one if the owners want one and are prepared to stump up the budget for one. Bettis is an employee, not an investor / owner. He has no funds or a stake in the club to do that sort of thing unilaterally

I would say as CEO he has control of the staffing budget. If he wanted one now I'm sure he could find the funds (I bet Selles is earning a lot less than Wilder) and as a board member justify it. Doubt that would be too hard given most other clubs have one, and it's hardly like not having one is working out well.

 

[FriethBlade]

He’d only get one if the owners want one and are prepared to stump up the budget for one. Bettis is an employee, not an investor / owner. He has no funds or a stake in the club to do that sort of thing unilaterally

Staffing is a day to day decision and the CEO, or in the case of a 'proper company' the head of HR or whatever its called nowadays tend to be responsible for all hires within the budget set by the board.

Are u saying that all members of the consortium have to decide whether we want a DOF? Or that they are going to call a board meeting to discuss it?

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Staffing is a day to day decision and the CEO, or in the case of a 'proper company' the head of HR or whatever its called nowadays tend to be responsible for all hires within the budget set by the board.

Are u saying that all members of the consortium have to decide whether we want a DOF? Or that they are going to call a board meeting to discuss it?

If it's extra staffing outside the agreed budget, it probably needs board approval.

 

[FriethBlade]

If it's extra staffing outside the agreed budget, it probably needs board approval.

If outside the budget yes. But given we've taken millions and millions off the wage bill it wouldn't be outside the budget. I suspect Bettis likes the control and doesn't want anyone else in the decision making process as hes been the one constant throughout this time of other clubs moving to the DOF model and us doing things our own way.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

If outside the budget yes. But given we've taken millions and millions off the wage bill it wouldn't be outside the budget. I suspect Bettis likes the control and doesn't want anyone else in the decision making process as hes been the one constant throughout this time of other clubs moving to the DOF model and us doing things our own way.

Who knows? My guess is there's more to it than just creating a DoF position (which many clubs have dropped), the whole football structure would need to change, rather than having the current system and just adding a DoF.

It's not very American, but maybe this board is for evolution rather than revolution.

 

[Kenilworth]

As I say. He has no cash of his own in the game.

If the owners want a DoF they will provide the budget.
If Bettis advises them to get one, they will consider and make the decision.
Even as a CEO, Bettis will not unilaterally go and spend money without a business case and board approval. It’s a company, not an autocratic regime.

The fact that Bettis stated, a year or two ago, that a DoF was not in the plan doesn’t mean that there may not be one in the future.

The reality of this transfer window and the apparent cluster fuck it is turning out to be, may well indicate to COH that they do need a DoF to support Selles. From the outside in it now looks as though they have missed out on several first choice picks and are now in full Corporal Jones mode, prepared to waft (by our standard) silly money in the face of “some bodies” just to get options in the door but having to pay well over the odds for them.

It does baffle me that they haven’t foreseen the need for a DoF, given their apparent direction. Selles is not the traditional manager that Wilder was, the sort that covers many more managerial tasks and decision making. They surely cannot have thought that Selles was a like for like swap and everything would be plain sailing?

It’s all back to this infrastructure and readiness for a campaign on the Championship. Sacking Wilder may well have been their statement move, to make a break from the previous regime and ethos and move into a new era with their own plans in mind. However, I cannot see a plan. If there was one there would be a DoF, more back room staff (has Selles only got two coaches with him and that’s it?) and I’d have expected much more progress on the academy Cat 1 status.

Wilder had an AM, goalkeeper, defensive, & attacking coach for the first team. He also performed a lot of tasks himself in identifying, recruiting and “selling the vision” to prospective players. Whether you’re in the pro Wilder camp or not, I don’t see how all that can be replaced with unproven Selles plus two lads he’s worked with at Reading and Hull. That makes no sense whatsoever.


I know we take the piss out of the AI stuff but it looks increasingly obvious, given the lack of infrastructure elsewhere, that they actually believed the AI shit, on its own, would be a viable, total alternative to proper scouting & recruitment. Just leave Bettis to sort the contracts out for their targets. Bosh. Done.

If that is the case it’s laughable and highly worrying. A FUBAR of epic proportions.

 

[Kenilworth]

Staffing is a day to day decision and the CEO, or in the case of a 'proper company' the head of HR or whatever its called nowadays tend to be responsible for all hires within the budget set by the board.

Are u saying that all members of the consortium have to decide whether we want a DOF? Or that they are going to call a board meeting to discuss it?

Yep. It’s a key post and Bettis won’t make that commitment on his own without a business case. A DoF is not just own hire. It comes with a whole infrastructure and a way of working.
It’s not that same as hiring a new shop assistant. Which may well have already been budgeted for and have headcount.

Also - see my other recent post.

 

[LBA_Blade]

I am fairly new to the DoF principle, what qualities are we looking for ? From my understanding they are there to manage the player transfers, and run the football operations side of the business, working with the Head coach and other Board of Directors. Does this person need to be a former player at an elite level? Or are we looking at more of a negotiator/businessman than can manage people and processes? For example at Man City they have Txiki Begiristain who has had a high profile Barca and Spain career which makes sense for them where Gary Probert at Ipswich has only really been highlighted as an Academy coach. Could someone like Del Geary be able to step into a role such as that?

 

[SufcBilly]

I am fairly new to the DoF principle, what qualities are we looking for ? From my understanding they are there to manage the player transfers, and run the football operations side of the business, working with the Head coach and other Board of Directors. Does this person need to be a former player at an elite level? Or are we looking at more of a negotiator/businessman than can manage people and processes? For example at Man City they have Txiki Begiristain who has had a high profile Barca and Spain career which makes sense for them where Gary Probert at Ipswich has only really been highlighted as an Academy coach. Could someone like Del Geary be able to step into a role such as that?

Somewhere between the 2 I’d suggest, player experience of how a football transfer works but also business running knowledge. I’d suspect however they’d ignore the 2 and go down some sort of baseball route with the whole moneyball analytics background based on what we know now

 

[Snowflake]

Plenty, hes the CEO, he runs the shooting match, if he wanted one we'd have one by now

…not if the owners didn’t want one. Conversely there would/will be one if the owners consider that to be the way forward.
For all we know they may have started the recruitment process for one already.

 

[Yogi]

I am fairly new to the DoF principle, what qualities are we looking for ? From my understanding they are there to manage the player transfers, and run the football operations side of the business, working with the Head coach and other Board of Directors. Does this person need to be a former player at an elite level? Or are we looking at more of a negotiator/businessman than can manage people and processes? For example at Man City they have Txiki Begiristain who has had a high profile Barca and Spain career which makes sense for them where Gary Probert at Ipswich has only really been highlighted as an Academy coach. Could someone like Del Geary be able to step into a role such as that?

A lot at our level have a background in coaching normally at academy level and go from being something like academy director to a director of football as really the roles are very similar as an academy director you’re responsible for overseeing both the recruitment and coaching departments setting out the long term vision for the whole set up which is effectively what you’re then doing at senior level just with a lot higher stakes.

There’s no reason though that we’d have to go for a first timer. Stuart Webber is making noises about wanting to get back into football following a break after leaving Norwich he masterminded the very impressive recruitment which saw Huddersfield have their stint in the prem and then Norwich’s period of success completely transforming them on and off the pitch building a new academy and completely overhauling their recruitment infrastructure. He’s a very smart football obsessed bloke.

He’s still only 41 and if the new owners are serious about starting an ambitious project to modernise the club on and off the pitch he’s a name which should be at the top of their list.