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Director of Football - Do we want one?

Discussion in 'Celtic Chat' started by Zander, Feb 13, 2021.

Discuss Director of Football - Do we want one? in the Celtic Chat area at TalkCeltic.net.

  1. Wullywanbaw

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    Matteo Tognozzi from Juve apparently being eyed as DOF.
     
  2. Henrik 07 Gold Member Gold Member

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    Celtic eye Juventus scout Matteo Tognozzi as new director of football
    https://www.goal.com/en/news/celtic...as-new-director-of/1g1b23erwzetj11c31eakfg6ri




    The Scottish giants are preparing for an overhaul of their football operations and are on the hunt for a new director


    Celtic are considering appointing Juventus chief scout Matteo Tognozzi as director of football.

    The Premiership side are looking to overhaul their football operations as they prepare for the departure of long-time chief executive Peter Lawwell.

    Former Scottish Rugby chief operating officer Dominic McKay will take Lawwell's place, but the club are looking to find another experienced figure to take over as director of football.



    Who is Matteo Tognozzi?
    Tognozzi is being monitored as an option, having gained experience in Italy, Germany and Russia over the years.

    Tognozzi decided to follow the path set by his father, Stefano, by pursuing a career in football.

    His dad worked in a technical role for Luciano Spalletti at Empoli and took Matteo along to matches as a child while he scouted players. He even used to recommend signings to his father. Stefano then followed Spalletti to Zenit in 2007.

    He went on to work as a sports director at lower league sides Rosignano and Pontedera before eventually joining up with his father and Spalletti in Russia.

    From there he ended up in scouting roles at Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg before returning to his homeland to join Juventus in 2017.

    Who are the other candidates?
    While Tognozzi may be a top candidate for Celtic, the Glasgow side are also eyeing other options.

    The Scottish Sun reported last week that the Scottish giants are also considering offering Manchester City's Fergal Harkin the role.

    Harkin joined the Premier League side's scouting department in 2009 and was soon put in charge of the club's loan players the following year.
     
  3. Valhalla Thus spoke Batistuta.

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    That has * all to with loyalty to the club.

    If the best person for the job is a complete mercenary then we should get him in.
     
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  4. MacEwan Himmy Butler Gold Member

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    We need a proper coach and a proper DOF.

    Not a horrendous coach being dragged along by a CEO playing DOF.

    A manager who can do both is out of our reach unfortunately.
     
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  5. MacEwan Himmy Butler Gold Member

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    The new CEO is obviously not from Football. We’d need a stepping stone between him and the manager. That’s a DOF. A good one could be invaluable.
     
  6. Mr. Slippyfist

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    CEO should concentrate solely on running the club. Part of his remit should be passing on the footballing budget for recruitment to the DoF and letting him spend it with the manager.
     
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  7. Sgt Neppers*

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    Sounds like the media know as much about the DOF as they do our next head coach. Game of guess who? Chuck plenty names and one of them.will be right eventually.
     
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  8. MacEwan Himmy Butler Gold Member

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    Basically what I mean aye. Absolutely no hand in transfers unless it’s about the budget.
     
  9. rudebhoy67 Gold Member Gold Member

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    You previously said that lawell hired yes men in every department now you're saying yes men are hard to find? So surely the man who has filled the club with yes men would have done the same for a role of dof, a role that he would have had complete control over the hiring and firing of.

    I've not made any argument against a dof nevermind a "stupid as *" one. What might be considered "stupid as *" is touting a retrospective, hypothetical scenario as being the bottom line.

    Of course you would want a good dof, I never actually thought you would want a bad one,
    . We all wanted a good manager, we never got one though. We all wanted good additions to the playing squad this year, we never got that either.
    Now I'm not for or against the idea of dof, but why in your opinion does it have to be a dof or the alternative of a ceo making unqualified decisions? Why can't it be a normal ceo and a good manager with a good backroom team?
     
  10. rudebhoy67 Gold Member Gold Member

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    Why is it a good manager is out of our reach but a good Dof and a good coach willing to work under him aren't?
     
  11. MacEwan Himmy Butler Gold Member

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    We aren’t getting an established manager with his own coaches and his own recruitment team and system.

    We need to find the pieces to create our own system.
     
  12. JamesM09

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    * sake mate, calm down :56:If you never made an argument against DOF then.. good for you? I maintain what I said, anyone saying a DOF is a bad idea because we might get a bad one is making a stupid argument. If that doesn’t apply to you then why take offence?

    I actually think we might get someone for that role and it probably will go * up and the club and support will reject the idea and go back to the old-fashioned way, but hey-ho what can you do?

    I’m not getting into a pedantic argument about yes men at DOF level. He could hardly get away with hiring John Kennedy or Neil Lennon to that position, put it that way.

    Even if he did get someone that just does everything he says, at worst just having an alternative opinion from a non-accountant would’ve obviously been beneficial. As much as Lawwell was driven by self interest, its wrong to say that was his only driver. He clearly at times needed guidance. Many of his decisions have obviously partly been out of ignorance rather than malice.

    Anyway, theres lots of reasons we shouldn’t go to a normal CEO and a good manager cycle because:

    1. That leads to a boom and bust cycle with no continuity between between managers. At best a good manager for us will be here 3 years max. There needs to be someone focussing on the bigger picture in the football department. Realistically a CEO can’t fill that role. Like I said, as an example, you should be able to ask a DOF what his succession plan is on any day of the year. That job alone is tough. It’s completely unrealistic to put that onto a CEO of a club like Celtic.

    You might find one that can do both that and typical CEO activities/commercial dealings but I would say that’s extremely unlikely. Even if you do, see problem 2 below.

    2. There’s no one to challenge the CEO, so even a good CEO with the best intentions will eventually become to engrained and end up like Lawwell. This is a common and well understood problem in all organisations, by the way. You need someone challenging decisions and they need to have a different remit.

    3. You also need someone with football experience to support and challenge the manager, and support the players. This season is a perfect example of that.

    From time to time you’re going to get a manager like Lennon and there needs to be someone that can seriously raise questions about his professionalism. I think if we had a good DOF they would’ve stepped in a long time ago and forced Lennon to raise standard, especially on fitness. Maybe a CEO could do that too but I think that’s unrealistic. There has to be a reasonable separation of concerns, as we all know.
     
  13. Just Kieran Gold Member Gold Member

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    The clear expectation at Celtic is to win the League and the aim is (or should be) to qualify for the Champions League and make progress in Europe. It's important to me that Celtic play good football, and are known as a club who develop players and move them onto the top Leagues in Europe.

    Without going into a lengthy post of why, I want to see a Director of Football coming in, but it's important we get the right person in, because we're in the situation we are because of poor decisions at the top level.

    Have we lacked a playing identity because the recruitment has been poor? Or does our recruitment look poor because we aren't being coached properly?

    In theory, the role of a Director of Football is to align the coaching & scouting/recruitment teams and push towards achieving a style of play that will deliver success, while also making the club money on transfers whcih can be reinvested.
     
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  14. Stevie6767

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    If you have the right CEO and right Manager then you wouldn't need a DOF.

    Our current situation is we have the wrong manager who is happy just to be there and collect his wages and a CEO who thinks he's a DOF.

    if the strategy is to restructure and go for a younger, up and coming manager then I'd be happy getting a DOF, with the new CEO sticking to the business side of things.

    However if we go for another rodgers type appointment, then a DOF could potentially end up causing issues somewhere along the line.
     
  15. Valhalla Thus spoke Batistuta.

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    Rodgers is exactly the type of manager we need a DOF for.

    A good coach who’s utterly clueless when it comes to recruitment, planning, squad building.
     
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  16. Stevie6767

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    Don't disagree regarding rodgers recruitment I was meaning alot of top managers, with the ego of rodgers, end up falling out their DOFS
     
  17. Valhalla Thus spoke Batistuta.

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    Rodgers hated Michael Edwards at Liverpool. Liverpool backed Edwards and look whats happened since. He’s probably been the best in Europe since he got rid of Rodgers and was given more power by FSG.

    You don’t let someone completely neglect one of the most important of your football clubs incase you upset them.

    Klopp and Pep are happy enough to work under DOF/technical directors. Someone works under one. Conte works under one. Flick works under one. Mourinho has begged for one in his last two jobs.

    Get a structure in place and if someone doesn’t want to work under it then get them to *.
     
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  18. HoopswithPride

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    Do we want one? Or Do we need one?

    A "Yes" for me on both accounts. Based on the recruitment side alone, we have needed this years ago. Instead, we are back to asking the Israeli version of Raiola to get us the Rami Gershon of 2019.

    The DOF role would cover a lot more than recruitment. This club needs/has needed a structure and process for recruitment of players, managers, coaches, scouts, analysts, coach education, youth development and physical infrastructure for years.

    Yet are spunking money on disco lights to have a stadium suitable for UEFA's demands, but not a team on the park to reach the Champions League. Or towards a suitable indoor training facility and so on.

    There was a recent podcast I heard from the Sport Development Director Marijn Beuker at AZ Alkmaar. Its mainly about the youth development process at AZ. But it gives a background to the level and depth of their operation.

    One quote from it

    "The programme is in charge, not any one individual"
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2021
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  19. Scotzbhoy

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    Undecided at the moment. Certainly our problems go beyond just the manager and CEO, we need more than just replacing Lenny and Lawwell if we want to progress as a club. Part of that needs to include linking up all aspects of our football, making sure e.g. that the youth teams are all connected, playing the same way as the first team and each other with a clear path to the first team. A DoF seems like a way of helping this to happen. That said, I worry that some people seem to think of the role as some kind of silver bullet, that all we have to do is get a DoF in and we'll suddenly start to see progress in Europe. There are no easy solutions and we won't get anywhere thinking there are. We've tried a DoF once before. It did not go well.
     
  20. Ziggy

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    Using a headhunting company to find a DOF.

    Hopefully rules out boys for the jobs
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2021
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