1. Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!

Home / Liverpool FC Analysis / Director of Football: The Case Against Disrupted Continuity at LFC

Discussion in 'Liverpool' started by Jimmy Squarefoot, Apr 13, 2015.

  1. Jimmy Squarefoot

    Jimmy Squarefoot Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2011
    Messages:
    29,120
    Likes Received:
    7,806
    http://anfieldindex.com/13634/director-football-the-case-against-disrupted-continuity.html

    FSG and John Henry wanted to learn about the business of soccer in an alien region. Well, it is alien compared to the sporting industry in the United States, and a basic part of this learning process was to quickly identify their mistakes and learn from them. One key mistake that was still fresh a few months prior to the hiring of Brendan Rodgers, was affording the total accountability of the role of coach and manager on the long term direction of the club that they’ve heavily invested in. This total accountability risks the role to be almost indispensable with the spectre of ‘disrupted continuity’ looming above the club.

    Here’s how ‘disrupted continuity’ can be described in simple words. A manager procures players for his team that would be for immediate campaigns and for the long term continuity of future campaigns. His team, not the club’s team, let’s be clear here. When this manager’s tenure is no more tenable, his replacement would then need to do the same. The transition from the incumbent to his replacement would be another transition typically taking 2 seasons at least; until the dust settles and until his replacement’s team starts playing to his replacement’s style and methodology. His replacement’s team and not the club’s team, let’s be clear again. Rinse and repeat this with a few subsequent successors and this period of transition will no more be a transition, rather more the Jekyll and Hyde transformation of teams struggling to adapt to the successfully built platforms of the other uber-rich clubs in Europe. The team would be the perennial ‘have-beens’, ‘the sleeping giants’ always on the verge of making a comeback but not quite. Not coincidently, we are where we are because of this.

    In a fierce environment where football clubs struggle to remain competitive and profitable at the same time, the one-man-show model that has created messiah-like personalities in Liverpool’s illustrious history cannot do the job anymore. It’s just not efficient and has no long-termism inculcated in it. Remember, this is the same environment that the manager is no more sacred and can be sacrificed faster than you can say ‘5 year plan’. A committee where the manager has veto power is just another glorified version of the same old, where the manager has a few scouting agents reporting to him about players that can make the cut.

    A footballing mind, with an extensive knowledge of the business, the grassroot movements, the fast evolving tactics is required to chart the strategy of the club over 5 year periods. This plan treats the manager as just another facet in the strategy, a role and not a personality. A box in an organisation chart and not a name. If the results don’t indicate the competition required and the profits from it, then the box remains, the name in it changes. The style and the methodology remains recognisable if not identical to the tee. It remains the club’s and not the manager’s. This continuity is vital for progress, that goes without saying. The lesser the transition, the lower the risk for planned progress. This is why the Director of Football or the Sporting Director was the role that FSG had wanted to plant in their tiered management structure for the club after letting Kenny go. This was in spite of the Comolli fiasco as the pseudo Director of Football.

    Brendan Rodgers displayed an audacious show of confidence, almost arrogantly, on his first day as Liverpool Football Club manager when he politely contradicted Ian Ayre about working with a Director of Football in his new tenure. FSG decides to allow Rodgers to entertain this marker he laid down, their memories of Dalglish’s failed tenure as the one fully responsible for the mess of mediocrity still very fresh. They were prepared for a new transition from Kenny’s season, after all they had already committed that Kenny was always meant to be an interim. The idea of a Director of Football was filed under the KIV folder, buying FSG more time to evaluate their candidates further, hoping that it would not be another transition if the services of one is required.

    But FSG also demanded results ruthlessly, which was to progress from where the interim ended. It’s safe to say that getting 4th, qualifying for Champions League, from the 7th position of Kenny within 3 seasons was as reasonable for any club of Liverpool’s stature as possible. It wasn’t announced nor tweeted by John Henry, but climbing up the ladder one step at a time from 7th to 4th in 3 seasons seemed logical, if not reasonable. It has to be also taken into account that a young inexperienced manager like Rodgers had to learn on the job, as long as he doesn’t regress in his path to the goal.

    Getting 2nd in his 2nd season was an anomaly, a delightful surprise for FSG and all, a spike in their expected steady rise to 4th in an XY graph. But that steady rise still remains in their plans, 4th a mid point in that slanting horizontal line that ends with 1st. This is why getting 4th was always the priority, not trophies. Not for now anyway. 1000 more words would be required to debate the pros of getting 4th, which totally outweighs winning a trophy like the FA Cup but I digress…

    The loss of Suarez completely forced the hand of the Rodgers to completely change his playing DNA. This was because of the lack of proper replacements to play the numerous roles Suarez played. But Suarez was irreplaceable, he was more a phenomenon, wasn’t he? Rodgers had to adapt but completely dismantling this very successful formula would need another transition. This was further exacerbated with many a new additions to the team, new players needing time to settle down. Ironically, it didn’t matter where these new players came from, abroad or ‘Premier Proven’ players took longer than expected. With Suarez, the Liverpool of last season is your Jekyll .Without Suarez, the Liverpool of this season is your Hyde. But the root of all this wasn’t the large gaping hole of Suarez, it was the dismantling of Rodgers’ settled play that the 10 other players were already comfortable with, their individual games programmed with what was so successful the season before. Unprogramming, and reprogramming, building new partnerships, settling new players, all these were ingredients for the perfect storm. The descent from the heady heights of second last May to mid-table doldrums in December was for all to see. The dust has yet to settle, the losses to both United and Arsenal jolting the cold hard truth of the transition we’ve been in since last season. Rodgers’ 3rd season, mind you. A dismantling of such fashion would’ve been discouraged at the very least by the mandate of a Director of Football. A strong character would’ve ensured the player requirements in the summer were to minimise disruption to the successful play and managed the manager to the same aim as well. The ‘continuity’ mantra would’ve been banged into Rodgers’ forehead.

    But Rodgers would need to eat his own words should a Director of Football be shipped in during the summer, something I foresee not happening. His failure to get 4th, the analysis of his failure would be fully fledged, and his credibility more than chronically damaged. A shiny FA Cup would mean not a single jot because it does not appear as a milestone in that XY chart of progress. A new transition beckons and the risks for the manager to pull the team back into the plans of XY progress would be identical for a new manager, under the stewardship of the spanking brand new Director of Football. The new combination of names between both new Head Coach and Director of Football should compensate for the lack of pulling power to attract players of Champions League calibre. These players aren’t for competing in the Champions League, mind you. These players are there for the long term with the end objective of winning the league, with the new Head Coach charting his new ship back to the same slanting horizontal line in the XY chart.
     
    #1
  2. luvgonzo

    luvgonzo Pisshead

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2011
    Messages:
    102,240
    Likes Received:
    60,467
    It's a sad day for football fans everywhere when the FA Cup doesn't matter.
    Not a fan of that article it seems as though the author is intent on having little digs at Rodgers and seeing as the season is still ongoing and that we may get 4th for a second successive season it would make all his remonstrating pointless.
     
    #2
  3. moreinjuredthanowen

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2011
    Messages:
    115,701
    Likes Received:
    27,602
    This sounds anti fsg who have piled cash into lfc realitively

    But actually suck Rodgers balls....

    One sided IMO
     
    #3
  4. Tobes

    Tobes Warden
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2012
    Messages:
    72,888
    Likes Received:
    57,325
    Given that Jimmy's last 20 threads have ALL been links to blogs from this particular website, anyone get the feeling that he's either connected to the site or indeed one of the authors of this guff?
     
    #4
  5. InBiscanWeTrust

    InBiscanWeTrust Rome, London, Paris, Rome, Istanbul, Madrid
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    May 22, 2011
    Messages:
    69,225
    Likes Received:
    24,833
    Or you hire managers in the same mould as previous.

    swansea did it... They built a platform by paolo Sauso I think it was and developed a way of playing... They ten hire Martinez to carry on playing sinilar style. Quickly follows by Rogers, laudrup and now monk.

    That way, they play the game in a similar way and therefor players signed by one manager still fit the philosophy of the new man.

    Its t's only an issue if you go from hiring Rodgers to fat sam then back to Martinez and then pullis.
     
    #5
  6. InBiscanWeTrust

    InBiscanWeTrust Rome, London, Paris, Rome, Istanbul, Madrid
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    May 22, 2011
    Messages:
    69,225
    Likes Received:
    24,833
    Or just reads it a lot?

    hes posting the article in the thread and not forcing anyone to go to the site so not n issue in terms of advertising the site to be honest <ok>

    #modhaton
     
    #6
    Super G Ted'inho likes this.
  7. Tobes

    Tobes Warden
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2012
    Messages:
    72,888
    Likes Received:
    57,325
    I never said it was mate, merely an observation.
     
    #7
  8. InBiscanWeTrust

    InBiscanWeTrust Rome, London, Paris, Rome, Istanbul, Madrid
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    May 22, 2011
    Messages:
    69,225
    Likes Received:
    24,833
    Fair enough. Just a lot of request to ban people on mod board over site advertising where just shove a link and direct people there which is obviously quite different to this.

    Anyway, back to topic....

    I wonder if MFG wrote that...?
     
    #8
  9. luvgonzo

    luvgonzo Pisshead

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2011
    Messages:
    102,240
    Likes Received:
    60,467
    That is something that has come up a lot lately, I did a post on it and I still find it shocking that fans have started to feel this way.
     
    #9
  10. moreinjuredthanowen

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2011
    Messages:
    115,701
    Likes Received:
    27,602
    The thing about Swansea is they have a chairman who is in effect the technical director and I feel the real danger to clubs is throwing baby out with bath water

    If you sack a manager either you promote from within ala monk or you hire in but if you hire in and sack all your coaches to you are at serious risk of disaster IMO

    Football should be about individual performance. Each coach should be having to perform not be the managers buddy and then of course managers who want all their own staff should not be considered unless you are doing whole club change

    A manager should have a say in performance review of course
     
    #10

  11. luvgonzo

    luvgonzo Pisshead

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2011
    Messages:
    102,240
    Likes Received:
    60,467
    I agree with that, we should be finding the best staff available and they then come with the club, the manager has to work with them.
     
    #11
  12. saintKlopp

    Joined:
    May 31, 2011
    Messages:
    37,690
    Likes Received:
    25,655
    I think the inexorable rise of the CL is responsible for this - that and the fact that football has become big business over the last few decades, in detriment to the spirit of the game.
    Money is all that seems to matter to so many of the type of club owners we have nowadays. As that is almost inseparable from success in competition it's easy for them to disguise that motive as a desire for the club to succeed in footballing terms.
    Younger fans have been brought up in this climate so it seems normal and is not questioned by the majority of them.

    European football used to be the province of the few - the overhaul of the CL and EL into extended competitions, making them available to more teams, has given them a higher profile and wider appeal. The money involved has become astronomical, plus the glamour of playing against the top foreign teams leaves the domestic cups in the cold.
    Having said that, I imagine the attraction of Europe is only there for fans of teams who have a chance of getting there- I'd have thought the FA Cup is still important to the rest.
     
    #12
    luvgonzo and Tobes The Grinch like this.
  13. Tobes

    Tobes Warden
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2012
    Messages:
    72,888
    Likes Received:
    57,325
    I could take the degrading of the League Cup, as for me that's always been a sub standard competition, but the same thing happening with the FA Cup feels like sacrilege. Hearing younger fans say it's worthless when put next to finishing 4th in the League shows just how far that competition has slipped off the back of the rise of the CL gravy train, that most don't even have any real aspirations of actually winning ffs!
     
    #13
    saintKlopp and luvgonzo like this.
  14. luvgonzo

    luvgonzo Pisshead

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2011
    Messages:
    102,240
    Likes Received:
    60,467
    It again downplays the cup here and presumes that we've already failed to get 4th, the milestone is also presumed although it is a good assumption seeing as Kenny was sacked but who knows a 2nd finish last season coming close to 4ht again and a cup and that may well be enough for the owners.
     
    #14
  15. The answer is simple; give the FA Cup Winners the fourth CL spot.
     
    #15
  16. luvgonzo

    luvgonzo Pisshead

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2011
    Messages:
    102,240
    Likes Received:
    60,467
    I don't know if that's a possibility but I agree with the idea.
     
    #16
  17. Tobes

    Tobes Warden
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2012
    Messages:
    72,888
    Likes Received:
    57,325
    The PL would never sanction it, and I'm not sure UEFA would either.

    However, I'm with you, that's the solution <ok>
     
    #17
  18. England are given four CL places and it is up to the FA to decide how they are allocated. Can't see why its not possible. the only real argument against it is if we see teams like Wigan and Portsmouth winning it.
     
    #18
  19. Totally agree about the FA not doing it.
     
    #19
  20. InBiscanWeTrust

    InBiscanWeTrust Rome, London, Paris, Rome, Istanbul, Madrid
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    May 22, 2011
    Messages:
    69,225
    Likes Received:
    24,833
    Then the coefficient drops, we only have 3 places how do you split it then? What goes, 3rd place or the fa cup?
     
    #20

Share This Page