Director of Football

[Frenk]

Someone has to head up scouting, medical department, player contracts, the academy, etc. Chelsea and Liverpool call it a technical director. We need someone to oversee the operations side of football to allow the manager to focus on the first team. It’s also someone to keep Farhad and Bill away from meddling. Calling them a DOF seems to imply though that they’ll be getting involved in setting tactics, picking players etc. I’d rather we just called them something else and let them get on with supporting Frank in the best way possible.

Totally agree, this sounds great!

 

[allen]

Well thats why i never warmed to it. I didnt want to hear from him. He wasnt the manager. Who cares what a dof thinks.....unless. players on the pitch were in some way connected to him. Then i start asking myself why a person who never played at any level. Never managed at any level, was putting players on the pitch in Everton shirts.

If he’s the man directing the football, why wouldn’t you want to hear about that direction, and the rationale behind it?

 

[Gilbert..]

There was a headline piece on the BBC football website, that was the first time I'd heard him referred to as "The Architect" That was followed up by a bizarre tribute video on the official site lasting about 20 minutes and featuring contributions from his brother amongst others.

I still find it utterly unbelievable.You would have been forgiven for thinking we had just won the treble. I have some empathy for trying to work in the turmoil the club has been in but to all intents and purposes he was found out here in every respect.

I missed that mate. I'll have to go and track that down. Amazed it never worked out, what with his brother's recommendation and everything ?

 

[Gilbert..]

If he’s the man directing the football, why wouldn’t you want to hear about that direction, and the rationale behind it?

What does directing the football exactly mean? I need to know what exactly that is before i can answer.

 

[allen]

What does directing the football exactly mean? I need to know what exactly that is before i can answer.

Exactly my point! We were never told what he was doing. We never heard from him.

Therefore, more Marcel Brands would’ve been better.

 

[ilikecheese]

Someone has to head up scouting, medical department, player contracts, the academy, etc. Chelsea and Liverpool call it a technical director. We need someone to oversee the operations side of football to allow the manager to focus on the first team. It’s also someone to keep Farhad and Bill away from meddling. Calling them a DOF seems to imply though that they’ll be getting involved in setting tactics, picking players etc. I’d rather we just called them something else and let them get on with supporting Frank in the best way possible.

Over here in the states our professional sports teams in most cases have a head coach/manager and a general manager. Ideally they work in lockstep on personnel/vision for how the team needs to be set up. The head coach or manager is the face of the organization working directly with the players. The GM does all the behind the scenes stuff.

 

[Gilbert..]

Exactly my point! We were never told what he was doing. We never heard from him.

Therefore, more Marcel Brands would’ve been better.

Ah. So then the only thing we needed to hear from marcel brands was to the direct to the point question...
Hello. What the fck is it you do?

That wouldnt have taken that long.

 

[allen]

Ah. So then the only thing we needed to hear from marcel brands was to the direct to the point question...
Hello. What the fck is it you do?

That wouldnt have taken that long.

Honestly, I’d have loved to have heard the answer to that.

I’d still love to hear the answer to that. Maybe we’ll hear it one day!

 

[Drico]

Chapeau, Mr. Brands. You might not make a successful top level director of football, but you certainly know how to make a fortune.

Now that he has made his failure money, he can return to the little league.

 

[FOXINPEACE]

Catching up here, sorry for the delay. Has Brenda lost the dressing room and the fans? Very surprised if so. Btw, you are always welcome on this site mate.

I think he's lost a large section of the fans but there's still a fair few that make excuses for him. Hard to say whether he's lost the dressing room but his comments after the Forest game were scathing to say the least. My main gripe with him is his own lack of accountability

Oh and thank you

 

[Zezti]

I'm not sure anyone here can honestly and accurately describe the roles and responsibilities of a DoF. Therefore, I can't give an opinion on the question.

If the club feels like they need a dedicated person for some types of high-level work that would otherwise detract from the work Lampard and co. are doing, then sure.

 

[Bluerover]

Over here in the states our professional sports teams in most cases have a head coach/manager and a general manager. Ideally they work in lockstep on personnel/vision for how the team needs to be set up. The head coach or manager is the face of the organization working directly with the players. The GM does all the behind the scenes stuff.

You also have defence teams, offence teams and I think kicking teams? Each with its own coach..

So far Frank seems to have got really stuck in and also brought specialists as coaches.

Feeling optimistic for the first time in a long time.

 

[Librarian]

Over here in the states our professional sports teams in most cases have a head coach/manager and a general manager. Ideally they work in lockstep on personnel/vision for how the team needs to be set up. The head coach or manager is the face of the organization working directly with the players. The GM does all the behind the scenes stuff.

There’s also usually a fat kid who’s good at statistics who knows which lads get on base even if they have a gammy leg

 

[ilikecheese]

There’s also usually a fat kid who’s good at statistics who knows which lads get on base even if they have a gammy leg

Been watching Moneyball have ya?

Honestly I kind of expected Walsh/Brands to be doing that sort of a job. Constructing the personnel (with input from the manager), and letting the manager coach the team. It doesn't really seem like that was the case.

 

[Steve EFC]

Do what the successful clubs do, what ever that is…. There’s a blueprint for everything surely. If that’s to have a DoF then get the right one, if it’s not to have one then don’t.