SAF was actually a DOF

[crossy1686]

Was listening to an Athletic podcast this morning where the structure of United was addressed and how SAF was actually a European style DOF.

He oversaw and made final decisions on recruitment, contracts, player management, style and direction of the team. He also hired assistant managers and coaches to do the heavy lifting for him and drill the players in practice, meaning he had time to step back and view the big picture, something he talks about often in his biographies. Would also explain the rate at which we went through assistant managers, SAF liked to keep things fresh for the players, stating that they would get bored with hearing the same voices in the changing room year in year out.

Is this perhaps what we're missing now? Is the reason we're not appointing a DOF because Solskjaer is trying to assume SAF's former structural position? If so, would appointing some quality coaches be what we need to start seeing a big difference on the pitch? Thoughts?

 

[Lynty]

Said this years ago.

 

[JPRouve]

We already know that.

 

[Sultan]

Ole would be my choice for DOF. I said this on here some while back.

 

[Igor Drefljak]

Only person who doesn't know this and doesn't feel the need for a DOF is that Liverpool supporter... Ed Woodward
I'm not actually sure if he is a Liverpool fan, but I've read it quite a few times

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Was listening to an Athletic podcast this morning where the structure of United was addressed and how SAF was actually a European style DOF.

He oversaw and made final decisions on recruitment, contracts, player management, style and direction of the team. He also hired assistant managers and coaches to do the heavy lifting for him and drill the players in practice, meaning he had time to step back and view the big picture, something he talks about often in his biographies. Would also explain the rate at which we went through assistant managers, SAF liked to keep things fresh for the players, stating that they would get bored with hearing the same voices in the changing room year in year out.

Is this perhaps what we're missing now? Is the reason we're not appointing a DOF because Solskjaer is trying to assume SAF's former structural position? If so, would appointing some quality coaches be what we need to start seeing a big difference on the pitch? Thoughts?

The OG. That role Fergie made for himself; where he's on the training ground, looking at transfers and on the touchline and facing the media is gone and isn't coming back.

As for Ole trying to assume Fergie's position I certainly hope not. Of course I'd encourage Ole to try to learn from the great things he must have witnessed as a player in his United dressing room but he has to understand that he cannot hope to have the entire footballing side of the club within his purview with every member of the football staff reporting to him.

 

[Jim Beam]

Aye, that is pretty obvious. However, I am against Ole in a DoF role as it is much more then just understanding of the club. Connections, worldwide focus on talent and progressive football, organisational skills, leadership... Don't think he hits all the right spots.

What I do think was a mistake is not putting someone of that ilk to help Ole as a manager and with his job.

 

[Skills]

I partially agree. Fergie had invented himself an almost hybrid role at the club, and shaped the entire club around him for it to work. I don't think that would work under anyone else though.

Fergie had way too much influence on the matchday selection to be a true DOF. And no top head coach would want to that kind of interference, to work under that structure.

 

[harms]

In other news, Tyler Durden was the Narrator all along!

His role was not limited to DOF though, but it included his duties.

 

[VeevaVee]

Yep, he ran the show. Ideally his departure would've been known well in advance, and he could've overseen the next step, where we move to teams of people doing what he did, and behind the scenes would've been better prepared for him leaving.

Him leaving was very poorly planned for.

 

[JPRouve]

I partially agree. Fergie had invented himself an almost hybrid role at the club, and shaped the entire club around him for it to work. I don't think that would work under anyone else though.

Fergie had way too much influence on the matchday selection to be a true DOF. And no top head coach would want to that kind of interference, to work under that structure.

It's not even an hybrid job, that's what the role of "british manager" means and as some of us have said in the past that role doesn't really exist on the continent, no manager has an experience in that role. Which is why the head coach+DOF idea makes sense because it allows the club to get the best head coach possible without having to worry about things that they have never done, like handling agents or building a squad with long term in mind, that's a specialist job.

 

[sunama]

Him leaving was very poorly planned for.

Planning is something MUFC aren't particularly good at.
Even now, they are apparently rebuilding for the future, but are using a manager who is woefully underqualified.
Ole will be fired, the reset button will be pressed and the re-building will begin once again. The only question is the time line of this.

 

[el3mel]

He was everything for the club, coach, manager, DOF, everything. That's the reason we have become crap since then, because we have been trying so hard to get a manager to do everything in the club and this will never happen. Managers now are head coaches and not supposed to run the policy of the club.

 

[CognitiveNeuro]

Only person who doesn't know this and doesn't feel the need for a DOF is that Liverpool supporter... Ed Woodward
I'm not actually sure if he is a Liverpool fan, but I've read it quite a few times

Where did you read this?

 

[Bebestation]

As much as this is a positive - this is also a negative.

He should've been the guy who set the DOF up. He was the one with the voice, he was the one who who could see the rotting before the fungus appeared. Even if he was going to get chucked out of the job - we would have listened to him more than anybody else.

I'm not having a go at him - but he built a club that was the biggest in the world in 2 decades before leaving it to absolutely no one. He may have given us hints - but I'd rather he went out with a fight.

I guess we wouldn't have understood back then. Football like everything happens in waves & success can't last forever - so I'm not sure how I feel either.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Wasn't he just a traditional football manager at a time when all English clubs had someone operating in this role? It's the continental Head Coach role that is now permeating English football that necessitates a DoF

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

& Manager.

& Head Scout.

& Tea [Man-]Lady.

All this said Ranieri won the league since SAF has left with little to no responsibility for club signings. As good as SAF was the whole management structure since he left has been just as bad.

 

[Invictus]

Was listening to an Athletic podcast this morning where the structure of United was addressed and how SAF was actually a European style DOF.

We don't really need to listen to the Athletic podcast to arrive at this conclusion, to be fair — it's well established that many of the prolific old-school British style managers operated like sovereign rulers (Fergie, Busby, Stein, Clough, Shankly, peak Wenger), and were a combination of Director of Football and Head Coach (and often much more). Ironically, a lot of the most successful ones became slightly removed from the day-to-day trivialities of coaching as the de facto Head Coach to focus on the broader footballing picture of the club as administrators (while delegating standard coaching responsibilities under their overall authority to appropriate/trusted coaches).

It remains almost impossible to imagine a sporting director in the UK being similarly feted. But the role, once derided as a continental idiosyncrasy, is now accepted as a necessity of a modern club. Traditionally English football thought of managers as autocrats, with unique powers to bend a club according to their will. The logic was simple. The manager was accountable for the team’s performance, so they should be solely responsible for buying and selling players.

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/...or-of-football-managers-harry-redknapp-147100

This is precisely why a massive power vacuum was created at United upon Fergie's departure — we lost a Head Coach, but beyond that, the man whose unifying vision as the unquestioned football authority provided the principles for the “United Way” (or more appropriately the Fergie Way) for over two decades. The club's top brass should have anticipated this, and planned accordingly by diversifying the power structures because no one could bear Fergie's burden — there's a reason why he was considered an anomaly and once-in-a-generation type figure...and why old-school managers have gone out of fashion for the most part, but they didn't and the institution is still paying the price for their lack of foresight (even worse, we're not out of the woods yet).

 

[pacifictheme]

Was listening to an Athletic podcast this morning where the structure of United was addressed and how SAF was actually a European style DOF.

He oversaw and made final decisions on recruitment, contracts, player management, style and direction of the team. He also hired assistant managers and coaches to do the heavy lifting for him and drill the players in practice, meaning he had time to step back and view the big picture, something he talks about often in his biographies. Would also explain the rate at which we went through assistant managers, SAF liked to keep things fresh for the players, stating that they would get bored with hearing the same voices in the changing room year in year out.

Is this perhaps what we're missing now? Is the reason we're not appointing a DOF because Solskjaer is trying to assume SAF's former structural position? If so, would appointing some quality coaches be what we need to start seeing a big difference on the pitch? Thoughts?

He didn't go through assistant managers quickly.

Brian Kidd - offered managerial job and left
Steve mcclaren - offered managerial job and left
Carlos queiroz - offered managerial job and left

 

[ti vu]

What’s new?

The old type of manager is both head coach & DOF in one. Wenger is similar. Moyes was one for Everton. Level of greatness, competent is a different talking point.

 

[NewGlory]

There is no news in that SAF was a traditional club manager, which combined roles of head coach + a number of others. That said, it's shocking how this entire thread is ignoring the role of David Gill in our success, during SAF's times. Gill was a great club executive and he deserves a lot of credit for our success.

 

[Vidyoyo]

A more interesting theory would be that Solskjaer is presently our DOF which actually kinda makes sense when you think about it.

 

[SirAF]

Well yeah

 

[adexkola]

Which is why I don't understand the reluctance from some fans to recognize the immense difficulty of finding a replacement for SAF. His retirement (or anytime since then) was the perfect time to split the responsibilities between a head coach, a DOF, a youth czar, and so on.

 

[JPRouve]

Which is why I don't understand the reluctance from some fans to recognize the immense difficulty of finding a replacement for SAF. His retirement (or anytime since then) was the perfect time to split the responsibilities between a head coach, a DOF, a youth czar, and so on.

It should have happened when he was still the manager. The club needed to transition during SAF's last years whether they knew exactly when he intended to retire or not. It should have been obvious for Gill that without SAF the club had no football brain at all.

 

[adexkola]

It should have happened when he was still the manager. The club needed to transition during SAF's last years whether they knew exactly when he intended to retire or not. It should have been obvious for Gill that without SAF the club had no football brain at all.

Agreed.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Yes, he was an old school manager. The difference between that and a DOF is that the DOF isn't involved in the match day which old school managers took charge of that too. Just a man in charge really. I'd think by now everyone knows he wasn't walking around with cones running drills.

 

[WR10]

Fergie should have passed the torch to a DOF not a PE teacher for a manager role

 

[Igor Drefljak]

Where did you read this?

Honestly couldn't tell you. Just one of them information things I stumble across from time to time I guess, whether on here or random articles.
I had a quick look online and it appears he isn't, but again, not sure

 

[Sky1981]

What made the last 2 decades works is the man, not the system.

Replicate the system withour replicating the man is stupidity.