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Director of Football


Christmas Tree
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Sounds like this is going to be done properly going forward. 
 

Is it the case that the successful clubs have dof’s who outlast several managers?

 

Is it sort of like the set up in Moneyball?

 

Any truth in rumours that Marc Overmars is a possibility?

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Spurs had a DoF called Baldini when they sold Bale to Real... as far as I can make out he wasted the fuckin lot, including a ludicrous amount of money for a player who might have been Eric Lamela(?)  from his previous club Roma.... basically depends if the club & its recruitment team are operating in good faith and not stuffing cash into agents back pockets for players that aren't in any way good enough or appropriate for the clubs needs.  See the Joelinton deal for instance...that sort of shit could happen with or without a DoF, and the club doesn't progress regardless of the set up...

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Yeah so you pick a DOF with a good track record and not a cowboy. Both Overmars and Campos for example have made the clubs they've been at hundreds of millions of pounds in profit from player sales, and consistently found players that improved the team. Very few managers can be across scouting and recruitment to the extent that they can as consistently find quality players at a cheap price. Rafa is about as obsessive as they come when it comes to being across player info, but even he picks some stinkers from time to time. 

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The idea of a person in place who comes up with, then executes long term plans is sound. You can get the wrong person in place, of course, but if you get it right it can reduce the missteps below them. For example, if your DoF thinks that, for the next 5 years you need to be playing pragmatic football he'll guide the scouts to find organised, defensive players and efficient attackers, he'll guide recruitment of managers who play that style and coaches who understand that system. He won't flit from a cavalier attacking manager like Keegan, to a patient possession based manager like Dalglish, back to Sexy football Gullit.

 

He won't sign Joelinton with no idea who the manager will be, let lone how that player would fit into the system. He won't sell Cabaye without a suitable replacement in mind.

 

Look at Lange at Villa. They knew they were selling Grealish, so they replaced him in the aggregate with Bailey, Buendia and Danny Ings. 

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23 hours ago, PaddockLad said:

Spurs had a DoF called Baldini when they sold Bale to Real... as far as I can make out he wasted the fuckin lot, including a ludicrous amount of money for a player who might have been Eric Lamela(?)  from his previous club Roma.... basically depends if the club & its recruitment team are operating in good faith and not stuffing cash into agents back pockets for players that aren't in any way good enough or appropriate for the clubs needs.  See the Joelinton deal for instance...that sort of shit could happen with or without a DoF, and the club doesn't progress regardless of the set up...

Sounds like Dennis Wise when he was here

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  • 3 weeks later...
31 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

OMG here I go again. I fall in love too easily. 

 

33 minutes ago, Christmas Tree said:

In our usual way of getting all excited about somebody who isn’t here yet…. :lol:

 

Great interview here

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/19/michael-emenalo-the-narrative-that-white-is-good-has-to-change?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

The only concern with that interview is he seems a deeply principled man who may have an issue working for our Saudi overlords!

Other than that, I hadn't heard of him 10mins ago but now I'm convinced he's the only man for the job and anyone else would be an absolute letdown  :lol: 

Edited by Kid Dynamite
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On 08/11/2021 at 09:45, Kid Dynamite said:

 

The only concern with that interview is he seems a deeply principled man who may have an issue working for our Saudi overlords!

Other than that, I hadn't heard of him 10mins ago but now I'm convinced he's the only man for the job and anyone else would be an absolute letdown  :lol: 

:lol: It’s fucking class isn’t it? Being actually excited and positive about incoming appointments is such a difference compared to ‘which fucking idiot is out there that’s been forgotten about or is about 15 years behind the times?’ 

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41 minutes ago, Howay said:

:lol: It’s fucking class isn’t it? Being actually excited and positive about incoming appointments is such a difference compared to ‘which fucking idiot is out there that’s been forgotten about or is about 15 years behind the times?’ 

image.png.ad1a29d59e6efc3d908818adb0f23c1f.png

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Like most sports directors in the world of football, Emenalo has made great signings and bargains and has also made great failures. 

 

In one side... Mata, Lukaku, Courtois, De Bruyne, Salah, Hazard, Azpi, Oscar, Matic, Willian, Costa, Ake,  Cuadrado, Deco, ...

 

In the other side Zhirkov, Di Santo, Kalas, Moses (even with Conte was good), Atsu, Djilobodjiji, Kenedy, Baba Rahman, Hector, Nathan...

 

But being involved in a top team for so long tells me that it is hopeful. And that later a club like Monaco wanted to sign him, which is characterized by an important policy of signing young promises and then developing them (Fabinho, Mbappe, Bernardo, Bakayoko, James, Carrasco ...) I like it a lot.

In addition, he has also been director of the Academy and I believe that in the last 10-12 years the Chelsea youth squad is the best in the country, having won 5 or 6 Youth Cups and has won the Youth League twice and has been runner-up twice. in the 7 years that it has been disputed. 

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A lot of those that you highlight as not working out well they still turned a profit on I think. That seems to be what the bloke did really well at Chelsea, aside from bringing in players that had a first team impact he made them into a side that generates so much money from loan and transfer fees. 

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38 minutes ago, Diego21 said:


Like most sports directors in the world of football, Emenalo has made great signings and bargains and has also made great failures. 

 

In one side... Mata, Lukaku, Courtois, De Bruyne, Salah, Hazard, Azpi, Oscar, Matic, Willian, Costa, Ake,  Cuadrado, Deco, ...

 

In the other side Zhirkov, Di Santo, Kalas, Moses (even with Conte was good), Atsu, Djilobodjiji, Kenedy, Baba Rahman, Hector, Nathan...

 

But being involved in a top team for so long tells me that it is hopeful. And that later a club like Monaco wanted to sign him, which is characterized by an important policy of signing young promises and then developing them (Fabinho, Mbappe, Bernardo, Bakayoko, James, Carrasco ...) I like it a lot.

In addition, he has also been director of the Academy and I believe that in the last 10-12 years the Chelsea youth squad is the best in the country, having won 5 or 6 Youth Cups and has won the Youth League twice and has been runner-up twice. in the 7 years that it has been disputed. 

Diego the man with the knowledge 

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