Yes, I am saying that.
The job of a good DoF, and the clue is in the title, is to be the manager's eyes and ears. The relationship usually breaks down for one of two reasons:
Either the manager wants to do everything his way and rejects all players offered to him simply because he didn't have the idea (Poch was guilty of this towards the end which is why his final transfer window was the most disastrous in the club's history).
Or the DoF simple ignores the manager entirely and sets the whole recruitment agenda himself. Damien Commolli was guilty of this and is the reason everything collapsed under BMJ and then Ramos.
In an ideal world, there is a healthy synergy between the two men, with both respecting eachother's right to veto certain decisions. So the DoF shouldn't sign players without the manager's blessing; but the manager should also respect the fact that the DoF is paid to look at the club's long term future as opposed to the typically very short shelf life of a PL manager, and he can therefore push back against signings who don't obviously fit in with that vision.
This balance isn't impossible. Several PL clubs manage it with apparently minimal fuss, including several who are bigger and better than us (Arsenal, City and until last year Liverpool). The big clubs who don't have this balance are the ones who have badly underperformed: us, Chelsea and United.
