In a world that is currently fascinated with abbreviations we now can add "DOF". For those people unaware it stands for director of football. Or as it is commonly known by our European neighbours a sporting director.
This weekend Newcastle United appointed Joe Kinnear into this role at their club and that has encouraged me to write my opinions and views regarding this subject. The role is considered a senior management figure offering a link or even a buffer between the manager and the clubs board. In truth the role has know clearly defined roles or responsibilities and varies from club to club. The definition of the roles and responsibilities leads to most of the conjecture regarding their role.
In truth the director of football role has not been as successful in Britain as it has in Europe. If you look through the German and Spanish leagues you will find this management structure used heavily. The idea in principle is that the director of football sets out the clubs vision and style of play. This vision and footballing principle will be a jointly created idea with the assistance of the clubs board. The board will be involved in this decision mainly due to the fact they know how much finance is available.
The finance aspect will be the driving force behind the type and age of players the club will look to attract. You will find clubs that are in a financially strong position will target players in their late twenties as they are assumed to be in their prime and able to offer a more instant and consistent return. Whilst clubs who operate on a more limited budget or operate within a strict structures will target players in the eighteen to twenty five bracket. This is because these players will be available at a more efficient price range and will mainly still be unproven at the highest level.
It is thought by clubs that operate these management structures that it offers a more stable long term financial model. The vision is that the director of football will operate a scouting network and then identify possible players. He will then have sole responsibility for the signing of players and negotiating contracts. This also then ties in with his other duties of renegotiating existing players contracts and also the sale of players deemed to be surplus to requirements.
In most clubs where this structure is in place your will find the role normally known as manager will be identified as a first team coach. This is to offer clear perspective over roles within the club for both people outside of the club and also for employees and players already employed. If then the club believes results are not at a level expected the coach will be replaced. With this in mind this is where the club makes a perceived financial saving. Under a normal British structure a new manager would then sell a number of players at a price less than they were purchased for and then purchase a new group of players to meet their own personal system. But under the director of football the system does not change and neither does a large number of the playing staff. The only change is the coach who is charged with optimising performances from the existing players within the preset system.
But in truth it is the roles and perception of power within these clubs that seem to cause the most concerns in Britain. The first scenario regarding British clubs who have implemented this structure is they have often failed to give it a real opportunity to succeed. If you decide to venture into this new direction you must maintain belief in the vision and not waiver due to a loss of form or results. Sadly football like most aspects of modern life is a results driven business and demands instant results. Several clubs who have not seen instant positive results have made rash decisions, terminated the contract of the manager and then searching for a candidate to replace him. This is where the problem occurs because once a list of possible candidates are drawn obviously several will state they do not wish to operate under a director of football. This is where the board must be strong if they believe the structure is correct but sadly they often value the possible new manager higher than the system and terminate the director of football. This is surely down to a couple of things, firstly the fear of relegation and loss of revenue and secondly the belief a new manager may well offer results more instantly than the long term structure.
The second scenario is the confusion regarding the perception of authority. Most football managers want to be in charge of their own destiny, this has to be expected as it is their career and results will effect their future employment opportunities and successes. With this in mind they want to have total control over player transfers. As players are one of the major commodities that will have the most impact on the success or failure of their tenure. Being given players or having players sold can cause issues. This is because as with any business or team relationships between people have a massive impact of results. Most managers will assess a players personality and decide whether it will work within the team and also with himself personally. Sadly when a player is purchased by a director this may not always have been taken into account or understood.
The nature of any driven manager is the characteristic to organise, motivate and strive to improve. Several find or feel they have less authority or control over their team under a director due to players believing they are under less pressure to perform as the coaches role is most under threat. Dealing with any team the perception of authority is vital to achieving results and this is even more vital in football when dealing with a multi cultural group with possibly several large egos. Time has proven historically the loss of authority over a group then leads to a drop in performance and poor results.
In truth I sadly believe the decision by Newcastle to venture into this direction is partly driven by the desire to undermine their current manager with whom they have lost confidence with. Then in the belief it may well force him to leave and save the club having to pay a compensation fee. This system can work and has achieved success across Europe as can been seen by the majority of clubs that reached the finals of the major European competitions. In my opinion both systems can work successfully but as with any organisation results will be driven by the abilities and attitudes of the individuals within the team. Also a good manager will be able to achieve positive results if he has the qualities to be able to motivate, enthuse and organise him team. I await to see the results achieved with eagerness and hope they are positive for those concerned at Newcastle.
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