Accountability

[ChamonixBaggie]

I'm not sure anyone has really responded to the point Dekka has made here which is that the DoF system has 2 enormous points of failure rather than one and whether this system is preferable to a single manager who can be held solely accountable for the football side of the club. There is absolutely a muddying of the water with regards to accountability for performance on the pitch. The concepts of "club signings" or "manager signings" are an example of this. We as fans can never really know. As Derek says, if a club gets the DoF appointment wrong then it can spell years of failure as they will oversee several seasons worth of manager and player turnover.

Birdie - who are "the British" who are refusing to accept the DoF system? The fans? The coaches/managers? And what impact is this having on the pitch?

I agree that ultimately the DoF system is preferable for long-term strategy/planning purposes but it definitely comes with its own set of risks. If we see failure on the pitch, who decides if the responsibility lies with the DoF or manager and who should get the chop?

[Noibla]

Ultimately the responsibility has to be split.

Dowling - As the man responsible for overseeing the summer transfer business we have to say he failed miserably.

Bilic - Manager of the team, fitness levels, bizarre selections and lack of any tactical plan are all on him. Also contributed to the window fuck ups.

Allardyce - When improvement came it was too little too late. The December/January thumping and our failure to take enough points from the Fulham, Newcastle, Burnley, Palace and Sheff Utd games have been terminal.

The players - Not good enough is one thing, almost acceptable. But could every player put their hands on hearts and say they have their all this season? Too many silly mistakes and moments of individual indiscipline.

Can i throw in another name, Ian Pearce who is Head of Recruitment. Shirley he has to take some flack as well?

[Birdman1811]

The British as a whole, fans, coaches, boards, even players sometimes.

With the turnover of managers, they can't have full control, else teams need to be rebuilt every 18 months.

[Cheshire East Baggie]

Pulis bargained for pretty much complete control over recruitment and Peace agreed because he was desperate to stay in the Premier League so he could sell the club. That didn't work out too well in the long term, it led to relegation. Strange signings like James Chester and Callum McManaman, lazy signings like Gareth Barry and Rickie Lambert, mixed in with total successes like Darren Fletcher. When Pulis left we had an ageing and overpaid squad with little potential for the future.

It was like a return to the days of Megson or Buckley who both used the "me mate and me Dad" technique for scouting. Not appropriate for the modern game, with the money involved. Clubs should set performance targets for the DoF as well as the coach. I guess these targets need to be less short term than those for coaches, there should be an element of future planning and development. But an incompetent DoF can do immeasurable damage. We saw that in the vacuum after Ashworth moved on.

[Ministry Of Silly Signings]

Some years back, I read a book about Italian football. It basically said, the `Director of Football` or `Technical Director` type of thing originated in Europe, where agents were the norm, long before they were here. It was to stop managers / head coaches etc getting together with agents, signing their clients, and expecting a cut of the transfer fee. A certain ex manager of ours always demanded total control of transfers, and has been taken to court several times.

[Logic1]

Either system can work well but ultimately it is dependent on the budget and we know who is responsible for that. If Dowling's budget wasn't competitive (which is likely) then we had no chance. This is based on wages which no one really knows about so it is hard for fans to hold people to account anyway. Covid-19 screwed the Albion as we had no time to prepare. On the contrary, the deludedfisheatingsealcun** benefited from it significantly as well as beating us in a penalty shoot out (and twat face not giving us a penalty at Seal Park) and technology not working like it should. Nevertheless, the Vile would have got up anyway as their owners have unlimited money.

[Babel]

The DOF in our instance was probably designed for ashworth; later incumbents haven’t measured up to the task.
All this analysis neglects the link to ownership. Our tribulations are the result of two sets of disengaged owners, from where Jezza lost interest

[baggy1]

Director of Football role is there to protect the long term benefit of the club as a whole, the Manager is there to provide short term success. By having both it spreads the risk of failure rather than provides more options of failure. 

Our downfall started when Peace was selling up and his one goal was to keep the team in the Premier at all costs, Pulis was rewarded to do that by getting older pros who could do a job and get us to 17th with the obvious problem being the long term benefit of the club was being sacrificed. We are now paying for that strategy choice and may take us a few years to overcome - one thing is for certain, selling our best players at this point to balance the books will set us back and be a short term solution that delays the inevitable.

[Borin' Baggie]

The DOF in our instance was probably designed for ashworth; later incumbents haven’t measured up to the task.
All this analysis neglects the link to ownership. Our tribulations are the result of two sets of disengaged owners, from where Jezza lost interest

It's not that it was designed for Ashworth, it's that when he left his replacements ripped everything we had up.

[Derek Hardballs]

Director of Football role is there to protect the long term benefit of the club as a whole, the Manager is there to provide short term success. By having both it spreads the risk of failure rather than provides more options of failure. 

Our downfall started when Peace was selling up and his one goal was to keep the team in the Premier at all costs, Pulis was rewarded to do that by getting older pros who could do a job and get us to 17th with the obvious problem being the long term benefit of the club was being sacrificed. We are now paying for that strategy choice and may take us a few years to overcome - one thing is for certain, selling our best players at this point to balance the books will set us back and be a short term solution that delays the inevitable.

The system itself doesn't negate any risk it's only as good as those in their respective positions. You can have short and long term failure, the idea that if a DoF stays in their role for long enough it will inevitably lead to success or at the very least avoid complete failure isn't accurate.