As I understand it Webber signed a contract with the club, that contact has an end date. I suspect, but I don't know, that the contract contains a clause requiring both parties to let the other party know whether or not it is there intention to renew the contact, most people who are employed have this in the form of a notice period. I don't believe he has told the club that he is leaving at some unknown point in the future, my understanding is that he has informed the club that he doesn't intend to extend his current contract or sign a new contract. I suspect the club / Webber have decided to announce this and try and control the narrative rather than let it come out in an uncontrolled manner. Once Webber starts looking for a new role and the club start the recruitment process for his replacement the story would have come out anyway. I can just imagine the uproar from so call fans if the club had known he was leaving and didn't let anyone know.
All people that start a new job that has been fulfilled by someone in the past inherit the previous incumbents decisions. When we recruit a new Director of football we won't be employing someone who is responsible for starting again, we will be looking to recruit someone who we think can build on the successes of the past and make improvements in the areas where we have fallen short. I would hope that as part of the recruitment process, any applicant would be asked to present to whoever has the ultimate responsibility for deciding who replaces Webber, be it an individual or group of people, their vision for taking the club forward. At the risk of repeating myself any director of football is responsible for delivering the clubs vision not necessarily there's. Whilst there is no doubt Webber has made mistakes in the past, indeed unlike a lot of people he acknowledges he has made mistakes. I don't believe he has ever deliberately harmed the club with his decisions and whilst I doubt he has got every decision he's made right and whilst I have agreed with every decision he's made, I have no doubt that his decisions have always been well thought through and made with good intention. I very much doubt that any of the decisions he has made have not been made on a range of data and opinions other than his own. From what I've seen he's big on data and working in collaboration with others at the club.
Anyway it's not all about Webber the club could have put him on gardening leave if they wished, however I suspect they were delighted that he stayed on until a successor is found / the end of his contract. When replacing anyone, unless there are issues with the person leaving it is always better to have a hand over period. This is what successful and well run businesses and clubs should be striving for. Anyway who's to say his successor isn't already known and working in collaboration with him as I write !!!!!!!!!!!!!