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Kangaroo Court

McNally's Director of Football idea

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Well he didn''t actually say director of football. He just wants additional support for the manager so he isn''t left making too many decisions.

I think what we get will depend on what manager we get and how they want to play it.

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It worked brilliantly well at WBA when they had Dan Ashworth in charge. 
It worked at Norwich as well, with Gary Karsa fulfilling that role

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To me it sounded as if Adams will be getting the job and as he has no backroom staff, there will have to be some new arrivals. Within 7 days anyway.

If it were Mackay or Sherwood wouldn''t they bring along their usual associates?

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I once heard Gary Karsa described to me as "Paul Lamberts Bit4h" haha

Which is fair enough, that''s what he wanted and needed a guy to sort things out for him so he could focus on the team, pretty sure Cully sorted the training. It''s a relationship that worked.

Like I said, it will depend on who we get in and what they require.

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The West Brom "director of football" made some truely dreadful signings last summer.

The Spurs "director of football" basically spunked 100 million up the wall.

Could it work? I don''t know. Personally it''s something i''ve never been a fan of.. and surely every manager wants to bring his own players in?

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[quote user="STAN"]The West Brom "director of football" made some truely dreadful signings last summer.

The Spurs "director of football" basically spunked 100 million up the wall.

Could it work? I don''t know. Personally it''s something I''ve never been a fan of.. and surely every manager wants to bring his own players in?[/quote]

Yet West Brom will be playing in the Premier League next season. As will Sunderland. I believe both of these teams had a Director of Football. Swansea have one in all but name and we did too with Karsa.

It makes sense to me- allows smoother transition between managers. I think the younger generation of managers are more open to this (AVB actually requested one at Spurs) and it will be become more and more common as time goes on.

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Isn''t this just a way for Adams to be a part of the set up (because the new manager would have his own staff)?

Thats my view anyway, we''re just making up a job for him to do, but who knows

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Those bleating about failed cases of a director of football fail themselves in acknowledging the fact that ''director of football'' is an incredibly open-ended term and we could employ one to do anything from overseeing youth players, to tactical advice, to player recruitment, to anything in between.

The fact that McNally backs Chester to define our recruitment strategy suggests that any DoF we would get would be there as a technical director, ensuring that the philosophy, approach and style throughout the club is constant, while the coaches get on with coaching. Chester''s been behind our recruitment throughout his time here anyway, with the managers in his time here identifying a few targets but mostly signing off on Chester''s identifications (see van Wolfswinkel for one)

Whilst Chester''s recruitment strategy has not been without its critics I can only imagine Hughton failed to express to Chester how he wanted his team to play, as we know the players signed did not fit the square pegs set out for them. McNally, therefore, had to concede our dealings were a failure.

I think a DoF in technical director guise is an absolute must if we aim to keep up with the Joneses and be a progressive, modern football club. It ensures, such as in the case of Les Reed at Southampton, that the players have a club philosophy drilled into them from the youth academy onwards, and I fail to see how such an approach could be criticised. It is the blueprint to which good football clubs adhere.

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I think we''re maybe thinking about this a bit back to front. I get the impression that McNally is thinking about the bigger picture rather than just the first team. There was a lot right about the football department even thoiugh the first team were failing. I believe Chris Hughton had ultimate resposibility for a lot more than the first team. With the average life of a manager being 2 years that change reverberates around the whole set up when really it''s only the first team that failed. Much easier to make that first team change if someone stays for continuity for the whole football department. Ironically Hoots would probably have been ideal for that role!

 

 

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[quote user="STAN"]The West Brom "director of football" made some truely dreadful signings last summer. [/quote]
Different DoF. I was specifically referring to Dan Ashworth who left his position at West Brom at the end of the 2012-13 season to take up a role at the FA. 

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Did you nod off?

Goreham directly approached the subject off the back of some of McNally''s comments. I certainly got the impression from his response that this is the route we''re heading down.

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I don''t see Norwich having a DOF in the traditional sense - Peter Grant was one manager who admitted he was trying to do everything and failed.

While a manager must be responsible for recommending potential signings, stretching themselves too far can be counter productive.

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I''m sure Malky would be keen on director of football after the criticism (unfair or otherwise) he has received from Cardiff''s owner. He won''t want to risk being put in the same position again.

I have long thought Malky has all the attributes to be a great manager. His impressive stints at Watford and Cardiff only reinforced my view that he should one day return to Carrow Road.

A natural leader and great talker, fond memories notably his double (very nearly hat-trick) against Ipswich and the sense of unfinished business owing to the way he left us 10 years ago (and was not replaced) following promotion to the Prem.

The most obvious candidate and should do well for us with some luck. If Malky is appointed, we hopefully won''t be disappointed.

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