I actually think this is exactly how it will be smug. Papers making up Bollocks to get at little old Sunderland. Poyet, Short and Congerton will be the people who matter. Gus will have an input but the negotiations will be done by Lee imo and I think Gus will be happy with that
Part of the problem Poyet had at Brighton and the reason for leaving was he had didn't have 100% control over transfers and the head of recruitment and a team would have plenty of input into it. Poyet clearly didn't like it and that and kicked up a fuss about it. Might be a load of crap, but he does have previous for this type of thing.
I can understand a director of football at the top clubs in the world as they will be buying world class players who should be able to adapt to whatever a good manager wants them to do (top clubs usually have the best head coaches/managers after all). I can't understand it with the also rans who will be getting good/very good players but no where near world class. These players will more than likely struggle to fit in, and the manager might not get on with them at all. That's my take on this director of football stuff, just don't understand why we need one. We do need someone to do the contracts and transfer amounts etc, I would not expect the manager to go that deep, but the manager should be the one to pick transfer targets and sell the club and his philosophies in what he wants to accomplish to the players he wants to purchase.
I can see why we need one if we're really going to step up a gear regarding youth recruitment, there's no way Gus has the time to over see that aspect. Lot of work to be done in that area and the youth coach are best left coaching.
Kevin Ball is head of youth, you don't need a director of football for the youth side surely, pretty sure other dof don't do that, or at least if they do its only a small part of their actual job. Just seems bonkers to me having one. I would rather see us putting our feelers out there and imalginating with other clubs around the world, building academies with these other clubs and getting young ones that way, even though its hard as we need work permits, its surely possible to get the next Landon Donovan (USA) Raccoba (Argentina) Drogba (Africa) etc etc etc... Than having to rely on young ones from around the area (albeit getting them as well).
And Bally is going to organise that is he? If we're to follow the Udinese model as we were led to believe then we're talking much higher numbers joining both youth squads as well as more complex scouting assignments to a larger network. I don't see any evidence that Kevin Ball is up for that, He's only managed to bring three players through in 5 years. The young uns Bally has brought to the club in most part just haven't been up to the standard where we can make money off them. Do I trust Bally to bing in 30+ kids in a season, not really.
Neither do I but my point was I don't see congerton doing anything like that either. If you have a link to his job description and it says Take full charge of the youth Then fine, I bow to your knowledge But for me he won't have much if anything to do with that side of things at all but I am willing to be proved wrong.
This is just hearsay, but I've heard he has already been put in charge of contracts for youth players, as Short was suspicious as to why we've let go certain youths (Laing, Egan etc) and kept certain others. He was heavily involved with the reserve at Chelsea and Hamburg, so will likely be the same here.
Look at the last few years since we've come up to the EPL.. how many managers have we had? Look at how long some of them lasted in that position. Each manager, with his own backroom staff/scouting network, doing things their way. Now what happens when they get sacked? All of that goes with them, we go back to the beginning with a new manager to rinse and repeat. We never move forward. A DoF will allow us to keep the same scouting network in place, the same ideology, despite whoever is in the hotseat. All we need is the right guys in the right positions and we will be good. Recruit promising youth, we have an awesome academy but something isn't right. MoN, Keane, Bruce.. they didn't really recruit youth did they? Apart from Wickham, who else did they really bring in? Knott, Laing? Look how they turned out. We need to keep the same policies for youth in place despite manager changes. Even recruitment policies. Di Fanti was an agent, he was looking out for his wallet probably. Lee seems to be much more qualified for the position, and hopefully in the next few months he can show us.
Look at the last few years since we've come up to the EPL.. how many managers have we had? Look at how long some of them lasted in that position. Each manager, with his own backroom staff/scouting network, doing things their way. Now what happens when they get sacked? All of that goes with them, we go back to the beginning with a new manager to rinse and repeat. We never move forward. A DoF will allow us to keep the same scouting network in place, the same ideology, despite whoever is in the hotseat. All we need is the right guys in the right positions and we will be good. Recruit promising youth, we have an awesome academy but something isn't right. MoN, Keane, Bruce.. they didn't really recruit youth did they? Apart from Wickham, who else did they really bring in? Knott, Laing? Look how they turned out. We need to keep the same policies for youth in place despite manager changes. Even recruitment policies. Di Fanti was an agent, he was looking out for his wallet probably. Lee seems to be much more qualified for the position, and hopefully in the next few months he can show us.
So ball got rid of Laing etc? Why is he still at the club? And if he was brought into look after the youth, why did cingerton let them go, he is the dof after all and been there for 6 months so must have known about the contracts. Sounds like a f**king shambles to me and it will end in tears, never liked dof and never will. PS: as for he done it at Chelsea and Hamburg, yes because that was his job, Arneson was the DOF and he had Congerton as the youth technical director, which is my whole point, Congerton is now DOF but has Ball as his youth technical director. So why would Congerton stick his nose in?
Don't know, because bally Isn't producing the goods? because the amount of work needed on youth is overwhelming, DoF will also take care of contract negotiations and negotiations on transfers with other clubs instead of Short doing it. I think that's better as he knows football better than Short. At the end of the day, we're guessing at answers that will answer themselves in time.
We've tried various ways of taking us forward but in recent years, they've failed miserably. Poyet isn't perfect and isn't infallible but for me he represents a strong and heathly future and whatever happens, we need to retain him. We just can't have yet another managerial all change again. However, I have always believed he will stay and retain that thought after this but one thing us for certain, this situation regarding his future needs to be sorted this week so preparations can begin for next season now, thus illuminating the topsy turvy merry go round we witnessed this time last year. Poyet needs to declare his position and sign a new 2 or 3 year deal and end the speculations immediately, or decide WTO go and give us plenty of time to get in his replacement. The club is always more important than the individual and with a worthy successor in the shape of Moyes still available and I think would be interested. That said, I like Poyet and desperately hope he stays.
This is one of our most important summers in years - if Gus is demanding control over our transfers why is he going to be a pundit for ITV in the world cup surely he should be working on bringing players in at that time?
Because he wants to submit his list of targets to Congleton in the next few days, so he (Congleton) can then negotiate the deal as happens in most EPL clubs now. What Gus doesn't want is being told by the Director of football in August, "here's your player I've sourced, now off you go and work with them". I agree 100% with Gus on this. As for going to the world cup as a pundit, he will only be away the same time as the players are off anyway? Not sure what your beef is with this personally and what a great opportunity for him to see the worlds elite players, in the words elite tournament and maybe even scout a couple if he likes what he sees. Plus, there are a couple or three SAFC players out in Brazil at his summer anyway don't forget.
