Director of folly

The increasing pre-eminence of the director of football role does, to a large extent, make sense. Having someone behind the scenes, who sits as a constant above the churn of playing and coaching staff, facilitates much needed consistency of vision, style and philosophy. The other option, of pandering to the increasingly short-term needs of managers, makes little sense. It creates a disjointed approach to recruitment, with the next manager through the revolving door deeming the diamonds of his predecessor’s eyes to be immediately disposable. Having someone in charge of recruitment, who then selects the next manager based upon the style of the players available, should help ensure continuity.

All sounds good and sensible, doesn’t it? But fault lines rapidly appear when that person, to pick a random example, decides Jesse Marsch is the natural successor to Marcelo Bielsa. To compound that error, that person might then, for example, be left entirely unchecked while buying numerous players from a semi-professional league to fit the mould of the new manager in a desperate bid to make their gamble pay off and make them look good.

Unintended consequences, you might call them. Andrea Radrizzani’s blind following of Victor Orta’s preaching resulted in Leeds United becoming a place where people could gamble on improving their professional reputations without having any skin in the game.

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