I completely agree that the coach knows best what the strengths and weaknesses are. I completely disagree that he is the best person to fix them. That was the whole point of the analogy. I really don't get why this is in anyway controversial - I shudder to think how well Bayern Munich and Barcelona would do if they saw the light and dispensed with the DoF structure. As usual its us in the UK that are in step and everyone else is wrong?
I think I've already said, and we seem to agree that the manager knows best what his squad needs. I have also already said that yes, if you must have a DOF, then his function is to identify suitable targets to fill the manager's requirements. It is still my contention, however, that the manager should have the final say on which player he thinks is best suited to fill that requirement.
I don't think Barcelona and Bayern are the best examples to support your theory, PS. They are very dominant clubs in their own countries. Despite the popular myth, it is far more competitive here. Those clubs are guaranteed to get the pick of the crop of young talent and can buy up the best players from their own league (and to some extent from overseas). If it's a given that you're going to get the best players available, then the coach can concentrate more on coaching the players and developing a style of play as Barcelona did to great effect. And it helps if you can buy your way out of trouble if you get it wrong. If you have real competition for the players you want to sign at all age levels, then getting the right ones for your team/squad becomes of paramount importance. The choice of players available to Spurs is very different to Bayern. Spending £50M on Soldado and Lamela needs to have the approval of the manager because there isn't another £50M readily available to spend elsewhere if they prove to be the wrong players for him. If someone's judgement is on the online is it not better that it's the manager who has to pick the team, work with the players, decide the formation and tactics and motivate his team to perform?
There is no doubt that the jobs of both the DoF and the coach are harder if you have less money and are in a more competitive league. But that to me is an extra argument for splitting the jobs. The harder they are and the less money you have the less likely you will be to find someone who has the skills to do both. My F1 analogy was to get people to see that selecting players to buy and coaching them to play well were completely different skills that probably don't always reside in one person. Just because someone's neck is on the line won't make him any better at his job. I want to employ two masters of their craft, not a jack of all trades.
On the other hand, there is Jose Luis Caminero at Atletico. Since taking the reins at their DoF, he has... * Hired Diego Simeone * Seen the arrivals the core of their squad (such as Arda Turan, Miranda, Tiago Mendes and Gabi - not to mention Falcao) * In that time they've won La Liga, Europa League, UEFA Super Cup, the Copa del Rey and Supercopa, plus reached the Champions League final Or there's Antonio Fernandez, who... * Put together the Sevilla team that made Juande Ramos look competent * Put together a Xerez team that finished 8th * Put together a Copa del Rey winning Valencia squad, bringing in the spine of their team for several years * Was a coach with Spain for the 2010 World Cup
Or you could go for Damien Commolli... But seriously speaking, his track record probably favoured his better signings than his erm... Shall we say not so good ones. Berbatov, Modric, Bale, Benny, Ghaly (pre-tantrum), Zokora. Boateng, Rocha, Gilberto, Bentley. In the middle - Gomes. 12-18 months of brilliance but about 12-18 months of calamity. Bent in fairness had a half decent strike rate, albeit contributed very little bar goals (which isn't necessarily all the bad).
i don't get the commolli bashing. Yeah he didn't repeatedly address the gaps in the first team squad (was it left wing at that point? Pre-Bale) but he pulled in a lot of youngsters/relative unknowns for good money and most of them moved on for a profit. That strategy is what got us competing towards the top of the league rather than floundering in mid-table.
Agreed - no way we'd have got top four without the signings made while he was there. HBIC seems to think he wasn't actually responsible for any of the good ones but there have not been many obviously good ones since so something was working
There's three reasons for this: 1.) He gets credit for bringing in players that he had no involvement with, notably Berbatov and Modric 2.) He went against the instructions that Martin Jol gave him for players he wanted to sign - or sabotaged Jol so he could work with Ramos, whichever version you prefer 3.) He failed to understand that the squad needed experience as well as youngsters with potential - a mistake Baldini has also made - compared to Arnesen who brought in Naybet and Davids precisely for this reason
How do you know he had nothing to do with Berba/Modric? Even without those 2 he brought in many good players and a lot of profit
In the case of Berbatov it was Jol who identified him and practically had to beg Levy for him, in the case of Modric it was Levy who flew out to Croatia to negotiate with him personally. Arnesen also brought in many good players and made a lot of profit, but you know the difference? He didn't sabotage the manager he was supposed to be working for and, far more important, he knew how to build a squad. Comolli just strikes me as someone who uses that year's edition of Football Manager for all his information, which would certainly account for his comments about us only having three scouts this week.
Comolli was fired, both by us and Liverpool - hardly a glowing endorsement. Arnesen, as I recall, was poached by The Chavs?
Saint-Etienne's chairman Bernard Caiazzo wasn't a fan of his tenure, either: "Damien spent €22 million of our money on seven players in summer of last year. Only one is a first-team regular now. We gave him the keys to our club and are now in financial difficulties. My own view of Damien is he favours size and strength as the qualities he goes for first. Perhaps, he will do better with more money at his disposal at Liverpool than he did with us."
The question was how do you know he had nothing to do with Berba or Modric? Unless you are privy to all behind the scenes conversations involving him you don't
Comolli would probably make a decent scout for future players, rather than first teamers. He did identify various players who were very talented, even if you ignore the biggest names. Not much of an eye for attitudes, though. Bellamy, Suarez, Adam, Carroll, Assou-Ekotto, Bentley, Boateng, Ghaly, Mido, Chimbonda, Taarabt, Hutton, Gilberto, Corluka... It's like a who's-who of loonies, villains and those verging on a nervous breakdown and that's just from us and Liverpool.
