Why do we need a DOF?

[rez9000]

I think you should just join the cynics, Rez. You obviously want to. For me, having a Sporting Director gives the Dear Leader another level of protection. The Dear Leader must, like Caesar's wife, be above all suspicion. Although he must be allowed to take credit for the good stuff, of course.

You know how, in about Episode 15 of '24', the master terrorist Jack Bauer's been pursuing makes a phone call and you realise the bloke who answers is the real Dr Evil? That's Comolli, that is. And then in Episode 20 he makes a phone call and you realise he isn't Dr Evil after all—it's this new bloke!

And that's Levy.

:rofl:

I haven't watched 24. I watched the first episode and got up thinking 'And?'.

I take the point though. And I already am cycnical, I just try to force myeslf not to be. It would be a lot easier if we knew exactly what happens at our club, but if your view is accurate, that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

 

[TopSpurMan]

the point is not the jobs but the responsibility, who was/is responsible for who? if this is not clearly defined then you have no chance of really knowing who to praise and who to admonish. perhaps that is levy's aim fud factor the club, fear uncertainty and doubt as to who does what which means he can make all sorts of balls ups and not get the blame

 

[Defsta]

First of all we dont have a Director of Football we have a Sporting director which puts Comolli in charge of not just our scouting network but our medical, academy and club secretarial departments.

It seems to work for the like of AC, Barcelona and Real Madrid so why cant it work for us.

True, it just needs right person to work :think:

 

[pablo73]

I think you should just join the cynics, Rez. You obviously want to. For me, having a Sporting Director gives the Dear Leader another level of protection. The Dear Leader must, like Caesar's wife, be above all suspicion. Although he must be allowed to take credit for the good stuff, of course.

You know how, in about Episode 15 of '24', the master terrorist Jack Bauer's been pursuing makes a phone call and you realise the bloke who answers is the real Dr Evil? That's Comolli, that is. And then in Episode 20 he makes a phone call and you realise he isn't Dr Evil after all—it's this new bloke!

And that's Levy.

spot on - like the analogy. these are my feelings exactly - as I said originally, Comollis position muddies the waters and I think our glorious leader likes the waters the murkier the better.

 

[sloth]

The nail's been hit on the head in this thread. No one knows. I'll say it again, this time with emphasis: no one knows.

And because no one knows we paint our own prejudices into the vacancy.

Some people don't like Levy, some don't like Commolli, others didn't rate Jol, depending into which of the three categories you fall/fell i can pretty much guarantee your attitude to the DoF structure.

I rate Levy, I think he's responsible for the good things at the club, but also the bad. I feel very positive about our short, medium and long term prospects, i think we've a fantastic squad of players, a great coach and coaching team and very good DoF. This season's been a real misery, but I didn't rate Jol in the end and if there's a silver lining it's been his replacement with a man of vision.

This is my wager, by this time next year no one will be talking about the DoF, we'll be sitting here once more feeling smug that our's is the club with the foresight to put in the structure we have.

 

[senseispab]

Drop this stupid argument. We've got one and it helps the coach spend more time coaching. Fullstop.

Why don't you ask Jol if he agrees....

 

[ShadyRay]

Why don't you ask Jol if he agrees....

Well of course he'll agree.

We have got one, he'd be an idiot to disagree with that. And it also allows the coach to spend more time coaching, it'd be impossible to disagree with that.

But yeah... thanks for your input :-|

 

[stevenqoz]

I actually agree with you Sloth but as I posted elsewhere I have doubts on whether Levy actually still wants to be at Tottenham at all. A 'for sale' sign could put us back another season or so.

 

[Defsta]

I actually agree with you Sloth but as I posted elsewhere I have doubts on whether Levy actually still wants to be at Tottenham at all. A 'for sale' sign could put us back another season or so.

Well Levy is businessman and as long as he think we can get to chaqmps league he ain't going to sell us. But again he wants us success but he want us to profitable team same time and CL is only way how to succeed in that if we are buying players like we have done recent years :think:

 

[orkneyspur]

Who do we blame for our shit season.
Who do we blame for our shit season.
WHO DO WE BLAME FOR OUR SHIT SEASON.

We can't blame Martin anymore, even if we did. ('Cause he's gone)
We can't blame Levy anymore, even if we did. ('Cause he's changed the manager)
We can't blame the players anymore Eek, because they're all thin and trying really hard and the one's that aren't have been dropped or moved on.

So lets fall back on the anti-christ again. FFS, after two good years we've fcuked up the league this year, but we can still win a cup. Even in the good years, we only ever won cups, so why this big fixation with the league nowadays. Levy is no mug, if he thought Comoli was shit he would be gone. And if Ramos thought that Comoli was not doing the job he wanted, we would tell Levy, or make a sharp exit himself, a la Santini.
Do we need a DOF, I don't know, but he's there so live with it.

 

[fozzi44]

i am very concerned by the fact that there is a lot of talk of Stewart Dowing signing for us. Not to comment on the player but more on the mechanism for getting him.

To me Downing is not a Ramos style player, Ramos hasnt even been in England long enough to know enough about downing or what he is capable of.

Then i read the ITK which states that Downing is 'very much' a Comolli signing. This is very concerning for me, it has to be the manager that buys the players. End off.

I hear echos of Jol already.

I only hope there is agreement in the ranks. Fucking Comolli - running about spending money on Tom Dick and Harry, half shite half good we need to start signing good players that the manager wants.

 

[llamafarmer]

To me Downing is not a Ramos style player, Ramos hasnt even been in England long enough to know enough about downing or what he is capable of.

He played Boro in the UEFA when he was at Sevilla, so will no doubt have done plenty of homework on Downing.

Wouldn't have thought of him as a Ramos type player though, as you say.

 

[ShadyRay]

1. Ramos is football obsessed, and is said to watch football from all the leagues around the world. For every time you've seen Downing play, I'm sure Ramos has seen him 10 times. He'll also be pretty familiar with him from the UEFA cup final.

2. There is no such thing as a "Ramos style player"!

 

[eViL]

Nobody but the people in these roles actually knows what goes on anyway so it's irrelevent.

Jol was happy working in that system, but OBVIOUSLY you can't always guarantee people will get on.

And whether you want one or not, we have a DOF, as lots of clubs do, so get over it.

 

[rez9000]

Nobody but the people in these roles actually knows what goes on anyway so it's irrelevent.

Jol was happy working in that system, but OBVIOUSLY you can't always guarantee people will get on.

And whether you want one or not, we have a DOF, as lots of clubs do, so get over it.

A bad result is something that can be gotten over, evil. But the uncertainty of the club's structure is an ongoing problem. And it is a problem because it seeds uncertainty in the fanbase. That is not a good thing for any club. Every football club is built on a fanbase foundation. If the club's foundation is uncertain and grumbling it can cause problems.

Look at the Scum. There is no doubt in anyone's mind what the role of Wenger is, what the role of David Dein was. They had a coherent, transparent structure in place and they are reaping the rewards. Because Wenger is the ultimate arbiter of who comes to the club and who doesn't. His scouting network is second to none and he knows which players he would like at the club and the club oblige him without question.

Moving on. Ramos strength, by all accounts is his tactical ability - the way he can change the team to produce the effect he wants. But to be able to do that optimally, he needs to have players that fit the tactics he chooses to impose on a game. His 'tactical freedom' would be restricted if the players that he has at his disposal don't fit the model he wants to utilise. Rather than being free to choose the system he believes will win a game, his choice of tactic would be based on the players he has available to him. If Jol was ousted because he didn't have the tactical know-how to win a game (something I don't believe anyway), how stupid would the club have to be to impose those very same weaknesses on the new coach?

Some people have said that we have a great DOF. Do we? What's his pedigree? 7 years as one scout in a network of scouts at Arsenal and then Technical Director at St Etienne do not a DOF make. The man is only 36 years old. Most footballers are still playing at thatage. I have yet to see evidence of real ability in discovering talent that no-one else spots or in being able to build a coherent team.

Let's look at the summer signings: Bale: everyone was salivating over Bale long before we even declared our interest. Kaboul: French Under-21 captain. Hardly hiding his light nder a bushell was he? Boateng: German Young Player of the Year, likewise. Bent: Top English goalscorer in the PL (two years running was it). And speaking of Bent, he is not the player we needed to be a fourth striker. He can't play, or certainly isn't used to playing, with his back to goal, which our strikers do. Yet Comolli saw fit to smash our transfer record to bring him to the Lane. Carrick: The heart of our midfield. We sold him and replaced him with a player who rather than filling the vacuum left by Carrick, seems better suited to play as a CB. These were not inspired footballing decisions, by any stretch of the imagination.

A real DOF is not just about buying and selling players. It's about having the ability and the know-how to shape the footballing nature of a club. And the, frankly, hit-and-miss transfers that we've seen under Comolli are evidence that that role may not be being adequately discharged.

 

[coldasice199]

Who do we blame for our shit season.
Who do we blame for our shit season.
WHO DO WE BLAME FOR OUR SHIT SEASON.

We can't blame Martin anymore, even if we did. ('Cause he's gone)
We can't blame Levy anymore, even if we did. ('Cause he's changed the manager)
We can't blame the players anymore Eek, because they're all thin and trying really hard and the one's that aren't have been dropped or moved on.

So lets fall back on the anti-christ again. FFS, after two good years we've fcuked up the league this year, but we can still win a cup. Even in the good years, we only ever won cups, so why this big fixation with the league nowadays. Levy is no mug, if he thought Comoli was shit he would be gone. And if Ramos thought that Comoli was not doing the job he wanted, we would tell Levy, or make a sharp exit himself, a la Santini.
Do we need a DOF, I don't know, but he's there so live with it.

well said. I completely agree

 

[SpurSince57]

1. Ramos is football obsessed, and is said to watch football from all the leagues around the world. For every time you've seen Downing play, I'm sure Ramos has seen him 10 times. He'll also be pretty familiar with him from the UEFA cup final.

2. There is no such thing as a "Ramos style player"!

Yes, there seems to be this idea that Comolli has said to Ramos, 'I'm going to try and sign Downing for you, any objections?' and Ramos has just gone, 'Whatever you reckon, Damo. If you say he's the mutt's nuts, that's good enough for me.'

Bollocks.

And, as Joey pointed out in the ITK Discussion thread, Ramos had Duda signed from Malaga, and Duda isn't a 'Ramos-type player'. Whatever that is.

 

[idlepete]

There was a time I was all for the DoF structure, because player coaching and player spotting are two very different skills, and I was convinced we'd have a better chance of success if we split these two jobs up instead of relying on one man to do it all. It clearly has its limitations though, mainly because its success is dependent on having the right chemistry in place in the transfer decision making mix. We didn't have that with Jol. I'm not convinced we will with Comolli in the job. Have to wait and see though.

 

[Real_madyidd]

Watch this video, and then think about why we need someone overseeing everything that is going on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJeJXwosZ5o

 

[TopSpurMan]

A bad result is something that can be gotten over, evil. But the uncertainty of the club's structure is an ongoing problem. And it is a problem because it seeds uncertainty in the fanbase. That is not a good thing for any club. Every football club is built on a fanbase foundation. If the club's foundation is uncertain and grumbling it can cause problems.

Look at the Scum. There is no doubt in anyone's mind what the role of Wenger is, what the role of David Dein was. They had a coherent, transparent structure in place and they are reaping the rewards. Because Wenger is the ultimate arbiter of who comes to the club and who doesn't. His scouting network is second to none and he knows which players he would like at the club and the club oblige him without question.

Moving on. Ramos strength, by all accounts is his tactical ability - the way he can change the team to produce the effect he wants. But to be able to do that optimally, he needs to have players that fit the tactics he chooses to impose on a game. His 'tactical freedom' would be restricted if the players that he has at his disposal don't fit the model he wants to utilise. Rather than being free to choose the system he believes will win a game, his choice of tactic would be based on the players he has available to him. If Jol was ousted because he didn't have the tactical know-how to win a game (something I don't believe anyway), how stupid would the club have to be to impose those very same weaknesses on the new coach?

Some people have said that we have a great DOF. Do we? What's his pedigree? 7 years as one scout in a network of scouts at Arsenal and then Technical Director at St Etienne do not a DOF make. The man is only 36 years old. Most footballers are still playing at thatage. I have yet to see evidence of real ability in discovering talent that no-one else spots or in being able to build a coherent team.

Let's look at the summer signings: Bale: everyone was salivating over Bale long before we even declared our interest. Kaboul: French Under-21 captain. Hardly hiding his light nder a bushell was he? Boateng: German Young Player of the Year, likewise. Bent: Top English goalscorer in the PL (two years running was it). And speaking of Bent, he is not the player we needed to be a fourth striker. He can't play, or certainly isn't used to playing, with his back to goal, which our strikers do. Yet Comolli saw fit to smash our transfer record to bring him to the Lane. Carrick: The heart of our midfield. We sold him and replaced him with a player who rather than filling the vacuum left by Carrick, seems better suited to play as a CB. These were not inspired footballing decisions, by any stretch of the imagination.

A real DOF is not just about buying and selling players. It's about having the ability and the know-how to shape the footballing nature of a club. And the, frankly, hit-and-miss transfers that we've seen under Comolli are evidence that that role may not be being adequately discharged.

Excellent posting and I could not agree more if I tried - clear lines of responsibility - The video posted by Real changes nothing no one is disputing any skills that DC may or may not have the only issue is what is actually responsible for same questions for JR and of course the leader