Article by e-Spurs Writer Chris Mecoy (UK)
Hello again Spurs fans, I’m writing today to discuss our need, or lack of, for a Director of Football.
First of all, an admission, dare I say a confession. I’ve never been a big fan of the Director of Football at Tottenham. There, I said it.
I liked Frank Arnesen, until he screwed us over and jumped ship (literally) onto Roman’s yacht, and I thought Damien Commoli was dreadful at his job. He thought Bentley was worth £16 million, nearly bankrupted St. Etienne and believed spending £80 million on Carroll, Downing, Adam and Henderson at Liverpool was good value for money. Yes, he was behind deals for Bale, Kaboul and Modric amongst others, but I can’t see past the whole Bentley thing. Sorry.
It feels good to get that off my chest.
Now we come to Franco Baldini, and I feel my black heart and boiling blood melting to welcome this man. Many Spurs fans would have seen the list circulating online about his transfer dealings in the past with Real Madrid and his two stints at Roma. But, in case you missed it, here’s a few of the players he has helped acquire. Cristiano Zanetti as a 22 year old, Chivu, Guardiola, Batistuta, Cannavaro, Van Nistelrooy, Higuain (aged 18), Gago, Osvaldo, Bojan.....the list goes on. He obviously knows his football and has an eye for talent, two things which deserted the oh-so-wise Commoli more often than not. AVB has also gone on record as saying he has pestered Daniel Levy for a Director of Football since his first day at the club, so if the manager is willing, even happy, to work with a man upstairs, all the better.
Lastly, there comes the most crucial and obvious point. In my first article for e-Spurs, I received a lot of derision for my appreciation of Daniel Levy. I think he’s doing a decent job (for the most part). However, even I have to admit that his last minute transfer dealings leave a bitter taste in the mouth. Correct me if I’m wrong, fellow Spurs fanatics, but I believe that the 11th hour Levy Deadline Day has only really started happening since we have been without a Director of Football to deal with this sort of thing.
So....it hasn’t always worked in the past, and some will still disagree that we need another man upstairs, but Baldini seems to be one of the best in Europe at what he does and could prove to be a pivotal cog in the (hopefully) ever-growing Spurs wheel.
If it happens, this could just be our signing of the season.
Up the Spurs!!
Comment on this article below.
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Yes I agree!
ReplyDeleteThe issue was always the conflict between Coach and DoF - most coaches seem to prefer to work that way, just not always in England. AVB has actively asked for this, so as long as he can work with the guy its all good. The issue will be what the priority is. For the record, I think Commolli did a reasonable job at spurs, most of the players we bought either became great (Bale, Modric, Kaboul, Boateng, etc. etc.) or seemed to lack a mental aspect which hindered (and still does) their development dev (Taarabt, Dos Santos...Bentley?). His record at liverpool is poor, but based on his buys I think he was told to buy English - and that is not an unrepresentative look at the state of English football (The prices are insane though...don't know if thats him or not).
ReplyDeleteThe obvious issue at Spurs was that we were always buying for the future rather than for now - we bought players who were likely to become very good, but never the players we needed that season. However, I think the eventual emergence of that talent (in fairness Modric was great when we bought him) is what has finally pushed us up to be consistent challengers for 4th spot. Hopefully the brief for the DoF now is to get players for THIS season as well as 3 seasons time.
A DoF is necessary in every football club today given that the manager is mainly fully occupied with the squad and the chairman/owner is mostly ignorant of football issues.
ReplyDeleteThat Levy has failed to find and appoint a skilful and competent DoF doesn't mean that the club doesn't need a well qualified and intelligent person who will be responsible mainly for recruitment issues, to organise effectively the scouting network of the club and to function also as a link between the chairman and the manager.
He's definately a good thing moreover to give Dan Levy a reality check regarding our purchases (but not our sales, Dam Levy is good at breaking balls)......
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more mate. Levy is great at squeezing every penny out of clubs!!
DeleteAll depends if Levy will support Baldini. I think AVB is hoping that if Baldini comes in and controls the purse strings for transfers then AVB may actually get some of the signings he wants rather than leaving it to Levy to mess up, or for Levy to leave it too late. We all know Levy cares only about money and profit and he always has an excuse why this or that player never arrived in the mean time spurs profitability increases and everyone sees him as doing a great job. He developed the club the training ground, academy etc. That's great using the profit from great players he has sold and not replaced, he has continued to improve the club dynamic. But the bottom line is by increasing the club dynamic, he has once again increased the profitability of the club by improving the asset. This is great but it will never win championships which is what money spending fans want. But just a thought, whoever comes in, most likely now it will be Baldini I just hope AVB and all us fans don't get their hopes up. There is no way Levy will not want the last word and control of all monetary matters and expenditure. Unfortunately I still see a poor summer again in the transfer market, Levy playing hard ball to drive prices down failing to secure any of AVB's wish list and possibly bringing in a couple of "they will do players," just to keep the fans of his back an example of this would be wanting Moutinho and getting Dembele. Don't get me wrong Dembele is a good player but he is not the same quality as Moutinho, but hey saved some cash didn't it. I am hoping Levy will give whoever a figure he can spend and then leave it to AVB and probably Baldini to finalise transfers. COYS!!!!
ReplyDeleteOf course Levy will support Baldini. The director of football role is his little baby, he just got his fingers burnt with Comolli and arnensen and has since been looking for the right man. Also I read somewhere that Levy knows Baldini personally and also Baldini wanted to recruit AVB to manange Roma. I think that Levy knows we've been underperforming in the transfer market and he's trying to rectify the situation. Personally I love the way that Levy runs the club, but he is prone to his WTF moments!
ReplyDeleteYou haven't a clue what a Director of Football or Technical Director does so are in no place to determine whether we need one.
ReplyDeletePresumably all his work you want to heap onto AVB, who wants a Director of Football himself to lighten the load and allow him to concentrate on coaching.
It works successfully for the rest of the world. The Director of Football joins AVB and Levy in discussing what targets to go for, having been noticed by scouts, and the Director then does all the work to evaluate the player, mentally as well as on the field, and does all the major groundwork to bring the deal to fruition. He passes numbers to Levy who can negotiate wages, exact transfer fee, player contract and methods of payment.
Some of the comments here are plain daft, who ever heard of the boss saying to a manager, here you control all the money, it's my club, my money, I don't want the responsibility?
Good job you lot don't run your own companies, they'd go broke in no time.
You've obviously misread my article and all the other comments posted so far. We've all said we do want a DoF in place. You seem to be very angry considering you pretty much agree with everything I've said
DeleteFrance = Dreamworld.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think the DOF should work for the head coach or along side him and not under him and be headed up by the DL or whoever. Other wise you get players you dont want.
ReplyDeleteHere you would be able to look for current established players who are at the end of contract/buy out clauses/general unrest and be able to source them to improve a weak area in the team/squad.
They will also focus on long term strategy of the team/business which will identify the evolving squad by the management and will uncover raw talent which will benefit the football club in the long term
Baldini is the man as he has a wealth of experience and believe that there are not many better than him. Arnesen is good but was not given the time at Chelski and would of done a good job at Spurs if he was not lured by the coin.
My bigger issue is that we are recruiting again from outside England and will focus on players from the continent while I am sure that we are missing a trick in developing local British boys who have the talent but not the opportunity to get the required experience
WTF France=dreamworld........ explain please? If you are talking about the fact that psg and monaco have done the same as chelsea and city.....then you are not really keeping up to date with things. If you are saying that to say that I live in france and therefore i live in a dreamworld......you aren't really on the ball are you? I am an ex pat of 36 years of age who has been in france for 6 years. I was a regular at white hart lane when i lived in england and now whenever i come home i do my best to take in a match.......your comment is a bit of a strange one.
ReplyDelete@ Chris mecoy.......who was the you know nothing comment aimed at?
ReplyDeleteI think it may have been all of us mate. Not really sure what happened there. Never mind, eh?
ReplyDeleteHope you liked the article
Yep I did. Keep up the good work :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks very much mate
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