Re: Football Chat Thread : Tue Jun 21, 2011 8:42 pm
Roddy B wrote:
He got it via an appeal, for being an 'outstanding young talent', IIRC.
Of course it's the food chain, but not enough clubs try to step out of the circle. It seems to be accepted that English clubs will overspend, they will bring in talentless dross (Poulsen, Zigic) and the smaller clubs around Europe will get the players for dirt cheap. Arsene Wenger is trying/has tried to do it, but hasn't struck the balance correctly between business and competing. Too many clubs bring in a manager and go with what he wants to do, this is where a DOF comes in to place, as a club should have a vision/strategy/plan of how the club will work in the transfer market. If you keep a DOF in charge, no matter who comes in as manager, the club will continue to be stable by sticking to the plan. This also halves the load on a manager, so he can focus on what he should be doing, coaching the players. And I don't buy into the method of "How can a manager manage a team when he isn't signing the players?" If the relationship between DOF and manager is good, they should be able to work out targets and needs between them, yet people seem to believe it the role of the manager. IMO, the DOF will gradually become more successful in England, the clubs won't be able to sustain the spending and they'll eventually try to replicate others around Europe.
Of course it's the food chain, but not enough clubs try to step out of the circle. It seems to be accepted that English clubs will overspend, they will bring in talentless dross (Poulsen, Zigic) and the smaller clubs around Europe will get the players for dirt cheap. Arsene Wenger is trying/has tried to do it, but hasn't struck the balance correctly between business and competing. Too many clubs bring in a manager and go with what he wants to do, this is where a DOF comes in to place, as a club should have a vision/strategy/plan of how the club will work in the transfer market. If you keep a DOF in charge, no matter who comes in as manager, the club will continue to be stable by sticking to the plan. This also halves the load on a manager, so he can focus on what he should be doing, coaching the players. And I don't buy into the method of "How can a manager manage a team when he isn't signing the players?" If the relationship between DOF and manager is good, they should be able to work out targets and needs between them, yet people seem to believe it the role of the manager. IMO, the DOF will gradually become more successful in England, the clubs won't be able to sustain the spending and they'll eventually try to replicate others around Europe.
You could argue laziness, you could argue that English clubs don't invest enough in a worldwide scouting network. I'm not sure what the answer is to be honest. As for Wenger, his intrinsic knowledge, and more likely his contacts in France, get him the steal on his rivals. Here he can use his PL monies to prise away French talent from a financially poorer league. Fabregas and Bendtner (wasn't he signed from Copenhagen's first team?) are the only ones off the top of my head who he signed at an early age who aren't from France.
When it comes to managers, you are dealing with a cultural mindset. I am not aware of anybody plying their trade in the upper echelons of English football who is a solely a coach. It is the English way to run the club, effectively from top to bottom. As it stands, there is far too much cross over between responsibilities between a DoF and manager. It will be interesting to see how it pans out at Liverpool, that said, I can see Daglish being quite in favour of it as it means he doesn't have to hit the ground at 100mph.
If I am honest, I can't see the DoF role working in this country for a fair while yet, as current players who become future managers/coaches, will, invariably, stick to what they know. I don't see how that cycle of events will be broken.
