Director of Football

[Jags..class]

What is their job? I see Newcastle have got one now, how many clubs in the premiership have a director of football? and is this the future?

 

[flo]

No idea if it's the future of the PL, but I think most clubs abroad have a director of football or sports director or however. In Germany for example the coach is responsible for the training and what happens on the pitch and the sports director does most of the transfer business and extends contracts. At Bayern Munich this season Jupp Heynckes was the coach and Matthias Sammer the sports director.

 

[ScouseBlueBoy]

It remains to be seen whether it's to stay or just an anachronism.

Reminds me of STAR TREK TNG. What dates it is the inclusion of a 'ship's counsellor'. Man, that is so 80s.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

I don't think most clubs would need a DoF

A good manager should be capable of both coaching and handling transfers

 

[ijjysmith]

They direct the football mate.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

They direct the football mate.

On a big map with sticks to push the footballs!

 

[TheFinnFan]

I think Chicolino should be Evertons director of footyball

 

[Julian Carax]

Franco Baldini has been appointed Spurs Director of Football.

Still don't know what they do, but I want one now.

 

[electricblue]

It's another name for General Manager.

 

[Allezfan]

It's another name for General Manager.

That's not as helpful an answer as you think it is, given that I've never heard that term before.

 

[Azza]

Franco Baldini has been appointed Spurs Director of Football.

Still don't know what they do, but I want one now.

Technical director you mean, completely different role.

 

[Julian Carax]

Technical director you mean, completely different role.

I stand corrected. So what does that entail?

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

The mere fact that a goon like Kinnear has the word 'Director' associated with him, is laughable.

The idea is that the 'manager' basically becomes the first team coach & the DoF takes responsibility for recruiting (& disposal) of the playing staff & all of the other administrative tasks that traditionally sit on the managers desk. (contracts etc)

When the DoF has a fantastic knowledge of the World game & the right agent relationships / contacts, then it can work well, when the man in question is Joe Kinnear, then it's liable to be a car crash, with poor decisions & clashes with the manager, a daily occurrence

 

[davek]

I never used to like the idea of these because it just looked like a recipe for internal wrangling in clubs. But I suppose they add some stability to a club by retaining their core values which often get bashed about with the hiring and firing of managers - each new one implementing a totally new regime from top to bottom. That's probably more disruptive than threat of friction between characters. I suppose we saw Everton (hamfistedly via Kenwright and the outgoing Moyes) trying to implement this when looking for a new manager who'd continue with what we had. A proper football man would have made the process of choosing a new manager a lot more thorough than the one we ended up with.

 

[njligernj]

I think it's the future and it makes a lot of sense. To me managing the players and developing tactics (plus all the media etc.) is more than enough work for one person and allowing someone to focus on that exclusively makes a lot of sense. It's not like the manager would have no input into buying/selling -- they work together but a DoF takes the edge off.