Sporting director

[StevieM]

Yeah, I'd be quite interested to find out a bit more about "Eddie" and Rodgers' relationship

I hope it wasn't all about Balotelli, because if that WAS down to Eddie, then he's a fucking moron.

I think what it's more likely to show is that Rodgers didn't really know what he was doing - changing tactics & lineups regularly and playing players out of position - which gave me the impression that sometimes he didn't really know what sort of player he wanted and more importantly didn't know how to get better performances out of the players he had.

Certainly, if you believe that Rodger's successes were down to Luis Suarez being the force of nature he was, it's one way of looking at it.

Klopp, on the other hand has a more defined style of play and more clarity as to what is required for each position. He has shown he can work with current players to improve them and identify exact gaps to be filled.

I'd imagine that makes a stat driven recruitment process easier and more likely to be successful.

 

[juniormember]

Promotion from within troubles me greatly.

It suggests that he's not there on merit, but because he has earned the favour of the insiders who matter through friendship or mutual favours, and/or has eliminated those who dislike him. A worse possibility is that the owners are too lazy or inexperienced to find someone better.

Almost no one good in our management structure has emerged by being 'promoted from within'.
I smell troubled waters ahead.

That's an extreme view.
By the same token I've seen plenty of dickheads scouted to companies/corporations that have destroyed all the good done by the previous team and leader, where someone from within with the understanding and know how of strategy could have led them to better things had he/she been promoted.
Outsiders tend to make people work from scratch, just because.
But that's also an extreme view.
We have no idea how good this guy is so we'll just have to see I guess.

 

[Hyena]

The other aspect of this appointment that worries me is that we have yet again appointed someone with no experience in playing or coaching football to the highest footballing position in the club.

It just doesn't seem to do the job for us. If Klopp is calling the shots and he's just there to assist him in statistics or contract negotiations then he's harmless.

 

[StevieM]

Why would you necessarily want a director of football to have played or coached at the highest level.

Surely there's different skill sets involved - and would a DoF with a strong coaching background not just meddle with the current coach.

Surely the modern DoF role is about managing the entire footballing side - which means analysis, contracts, scouting, etc - has very little to do with actually playing or coaching.

 

[tombrown]

Promotion from within troubles me greatly.

It suggests that he's not there on merit, but because he has earned the favour of the insiders who matter through friendship or mutual favours, and/or has eliminated those who dislike him. A worse possibility is that the owners are too lazy or inexperienced to find someone better.

Almost no one good in our management structure has emerged by being 'promoted from within'.
I smell troubled waters ahead.

Err ....

 

[HC]

The other aspect of this appointment that worries me is that we have yet again appointed someone with no experience in playing or coaching football to the highest footballing position in the club.

It just doesn't seem to do the job for us. If Klopp is calling the shots and he's just there to assist him in statistics or contract negotiations then he's harmless.

I'm not sure there's a proven correlation between former players making better back room staff or whatever , especially at the top level.

 

[Judge Jules]

Why would you necessarily want a director of football to have played or coached at the highest level.

Surely there's different skill sets involved - and would a DoF with a strong coaching background not just meddle with the current coach.

Surely the modern DoF role is about managing the entire footballing side - which means analysis, contracts, scouting, etc - has very little to do with actually playing or coaching.

For me the highlighted bit is the key. If you can find both in the same individual that's well and good, but I wonder how common it is.

 

[Hansern]

I'm not sure there's a proven correlation between former players making better back room staff or whatever , especially at the top level.

Not sure if it is either but Paratici (Juventus) played in the lower divisions in Italy, Monchi played about 80 games for Sevilla as a goalkeeper and Zorc was a legend with Dortmund and played nearly 500 games.
Not sure about Luis Campos but he has coached a bit and worked as a scout.

All in all, I think you need a basic understanding of the game, business sense and the ability to spot a deal and talent.
Your understanding of the football market might be better if you've played yourself but I dont think its that important.
Having a great network of scouts and a good set up internally at the club will be just as important.

Sevilla and Porto are two clubs who have excellent scouting networks. Dortmund aswell.

 

[FoxForceFive]

Well, I suppose my point is more that nobody has any definitive proof how good he is, or isn't, or will be, or won't be.

So it's a hard thing to debate, given you can't exactly look at 2 minutes of his spreadsheet skills on Youtube.

Hahaha. Give it time, I'm sure some fucktard will compile some clips of him signing documents, speaking to Klopp behind his hand, & tapping away on his keyboard, all with a horrific eurodance track banging away in the background.

 

[King Binny]

Christian Heidel, the ex-Mainz Sporting Director credited with the appointments of Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel as well as Mainz's rise to Bundesliga joined their management at 29 yrs old and was there for 24 years before he joined Schalke this summer. If I'm not mistaken, he has no background as a footballer/coach too.

 

[Windom Earle]

Christian Heidel, the ex-Mainz Sporting Director credited with the appointments of Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel as well as Mainz's rise to Bundesliga joined their management at 29 yrs old and was there for 24 years before he joined Schalke this summer. If I'm not mistaken, he has no background as a footballer/coach too.

If the Edwards appointment is the correct one, and Klopp gives us some of the longevity that we are hoping for; then these two appointments could set us up for the next decade and beyond.

 

[Comical Aly]

Surely the modern DoF role is about managing the entire footballing side - which means analysis, contracts, scouting, etc - has very little to do with actually playing or coaching.

Rather like managing a bar doesn't involve working behind it - that role is more like hiring attractive staff, watching Liverpool games and dishing out free pints to SCM members.

I can definitely see where you're coming from.

 

[StevieM]

Rather like managing a bar doesn't involve working behind it - that role is more like hiring attractive staff, watching Liverpool games and dishing out free pints to SCM members and being stalked by Dreambeliever.

I can definitely see where you're coming from.

Fixed... you missed the really important bit at the end.

 

[Oncy]

He's fucking good this lad ay?