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Sporting Director.

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Alfa said:
He’s 37 man ! Would he get in ahead of Dobson, Power, Scowen ...... ah you’re right he’d be our best player as soon as he walked in the door !!
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Could walk right out of the car onto the pitch without a single training session and instantly be the best player out there for us.
Grammar Police said:
He was just a two-bit dodgy agent.

Some of those players he signed were dreadful. Backhanders all over.

Roberge.
Diakite.
Mavrias.

Awful.
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Don’t forget Cabral...
 
Grammar Police said:
He was just a two-bit dodgy agent.

Some of those players he signed were dreadful. Backhanders all over.

Roberge.
Diakite.
Mavrias.

Awful.
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He was also given a ridiculous remit.

He appointed a good team of world renowned scouts and looked for players under intrinsic value.

Mendy, Duncan and other players who would have made the club financially stable were lost due to lack of funds.
 
Coeus said:
He was also given a ridiculous remit.

He appointed a good team of world renowned scouts and looked for players under intrinsic value.

Mendy, Duncan and other players who would have made the club financially stable were lost due to lack of funds.
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If you read his bio on his website he says he was appointed as the youngest ever DOF in the premier league

'In February 2013 Roberto was offered the position of consultant to Premier League club Sunderland AFC. In June of the same year he was appointed as the club’s Director of Football (DoF), becoming the club’s first DoF and the youngest DoF ever of the Premier League'
 
Our experience with a Director of Football has not been good and the managers who had to work with them were not pleased. It all went to shit tor Poyet and trying to walk the ball into the net frustrated me at times, but his side was the first in ages where you could see a genuine style of play and changes to how players dealt with the ball. That was from him, not a director of football. He didn't get the players he wanted and was disaffected and clearly unhappy that the team wasn't really his with the inevitable parting of the ways. The culture of football in this country doesn't facilitate a DoF.
 
Exapno Mapcase said:
Our experience with a Director of Football has not been good and the managers who had to work with them were not pleased. It all went to shit tor Poyet and trying to walk the ball into the net frustrated me at times, but his side was the first in ages where you could see a genuine style of play and changes to how players dealt with the ball. That was from him, not a director of football. He didn't get the players he wanted and was disaffected and clearly unhappy that the team wasn't really his with the inevitable parting of the ways. The culture of football in this country doesn't facilitate a DoF.
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Maybe 20 years ago, but not now.

The role is about long term planning. Given the fact that a manager is only in post a couple of years at a time these days, it doesn’t make sense for them to be in charge of planning and continuity - someone else needs to do that

Even when we’ve had a DoF role we haven’t actually utilised it properly. We still brought in managers who played a completely different style and needed to overhaul the squad every 12-18 months. Having a proper SD/DoF role should be preventing that.

It’s also a myth that the sporting director brings in the players and the manager just has to deal with it. Do you really think it was Congerton who brought in Bridcutt and Buckley? It’s more likely that financial constraints were behind not getting the players he wanted later on, and it was a convenient excuse for things going wrong.
 
Love to know where a lot of people are getting their information about what a Director of Football or Sporting Director or Technical Director actually does.

The fact is that the role is very different with hugely varying amounts of control from club to club. The role is very tailored to the club.

So the reality is that a handful of people within the club, maybe some recruitment consultants and the shortlist of applicants actually know what we are looking for with our Sporting Director.
 
Confucius said:
If you are picking someone experienced in the role, you would limit your options to a very small pool.
Any potential new owners will need to make an immediate impact and if we go down this route, the appointment of a DOF is the benchmark. Push the boat put and get the biggest footballing character out there. Look at Newcastle, one foot in the 3rd Division, along came Keegan and were one minute away from relegation, thanks a bunch Steve Walsh. From 20th to 1st in a season.
Anyhow, KK was inexperienced but a big name in football and he transformed the jammy black and white bastards. No guarantees of course, but the same would apply to an experienced DOF. This appointment, if in the pipeline needs to be right
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Similar could be said about Reid and us although admittedly he did have prior experience
 
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Sunderland fan and Seaham lad Brian Marwood would be my choice as DOF but he is head of Manchester City's global football operations so there's no way he would come here at present.

We'll probably end up with a French or Uruguayan gadgie we've never heard of.
 
DJP said:
Sunderland fan and Seaham lad Brian Marwood would be my choice as DOF but he is head of Manchester City's global football operations so there's no way he would come here at present.

We'll probably end up with a French or Uruguayan gadgie we've never heard of.
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Turned us down when we were in a far better position so zero chance now.
 
DJP said:
Sunderland fan and Seaham lad Brian Marwood would be my choice as DOF but he is head of Manchester City's global football operations so there's no way he would come here at present.

We'll probably end up with a French or Uruguayan gadgie we've never heard of.
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He's already said he's not interested coming here last time he was approached.
 
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DJP said:
Sunderland fan and Seaham lad Brian Marwood would be my choice as DOF but he is head of Manchester City's global football operations so there's no way he would come here at present.

We'll probably end up with a French or Uruguayan gadgie we've never heard of.
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They can be French, Uruguayan or from Mars as long as they bring fit, committed, athletic footballers to the club they’ll do for me
 
Mickdundee said:
Maybe 20 years ago, but not now.

The role is about long term planning. Given the fact that a manager is only in post a couple of years at a time these days, it doesn’t make sense for them to be in charge of planning and continuity - someone else needs to do that

Even when we’ve had a DoF role we haven’t actually utilised it properly. We still brought in managers who played a completely different style and needed to overhaul the squad every 12-18 months. Having a proper SD/DoF role should be preventing that.

It’s also a myth that the sporting director brings in the players and the manager just has to deal with it. Do you really think it was Congerton who brought in Bridcutt and Buckley? It’s more likely that financial constraints were behind not getting the players he wanted later on, and it was a convenient excuse for things going wrong.
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You are probably right, I just have my doubts about the quality we can attract and what is driving everything now is getting out of this division. There seem no obvious route to the first team for promising young players who would be playing for most of our opponents. I certainly agree with the financial constraints - I always got the impression that Bridcutt and Buckley were because he knew them but also because they were relatively cheap options that might have worked and better players he wanted weren't in the budget. I suppose the "summer of all the signings" is the extreme model of "look what I have picked up cheap, some of them even play in positions you want_.
On the surface at least, our infrastructure beyond the first team is woeful and if a more planned development is expected then that will need to be protected. We clearly need a clearer approach to whole club progress. We will find out soon hopefully.
 
6inarow said:
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If you read his bio on his website he says he was appointed as the youngest ever DOF in the premier league

'In February 2013 Roberto was offered the position of consultant to Premier League club Sunderland AFC. In June of the same year he was appointed as the club’s Director of Football (DoF), becoming the club’s first DoF and the youngest DoF ever of the Premier League'
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Being the youngest doesnt make him any good, He signed some utter shit
 
Farfrom Athletic said:
This appointment will set the tone, shite underwhelming appointment and it starts on a flat note. Ambitious (or just the right bloke) appointment and it’ll give us a lift and them some brownie points.

A very important appointment in my eyes.
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bang on, a statement of intent and if you want to get most fans (you won't get all) on side, and get the snowball rolling downhill, this is it
 
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