₦airaland Forum

[b]The director of football has become the bete noir of English managers.

Alan Curbishley and Kevin Keegan both cited interference in transfer policy as the key reason for their resignations earlier this week.

Curbishley was infuriated that West Ham technical director Gianluca Nani had authorised the sale of George McCartney without his knowledge, while Keegan could not accept that executive director Dennis Wise had signed two players he had never even heard of on transfer deadline day.

Harry Redknapp voiced the thoughts of many English bosses when he said: "Players are bought and sold without the manager's
consent - and even knowledge in some cases. How can you do the job like that?"

Five Live football correspondent Mike Ingham has even suggested that the trend of appointing directors of football could lead to the demise of the English manager.

But can the partnership between a director of football and a manager work?

David Pleat, who was Spurs director of football from 1998 to 2004, says it can.

"It's absolute rubbish to say it can't," he told BBC Sport. "But both men need to buy into the idea from the start and respect each other."

These sentiments are backed by Stoke director of football John Rudge who, in tandem with manager Tony Pulis, helped the club secure promotion to the Premier League last season.

He told the BBC: "I'm working with someone I get on really well with in Tony and I hope I can just help by taking the strain off him, because I know exactly what it's like to be a manager."

Rudge says it's too much to ask one man to oversee coaching, transfers, the academy, dealing with the board and matchday matters.

"Being a manager is a hard role and can be often too much for one person," he said.

"I'm here to lighten the load so Tony can focus on winning matches."

West Ham vice chairman Asgeir Fridgeirsson also believes the old-fashioned model of one man being in control of all football matters leads to expense and instability.

When a new manager comes in, he inevitably wants to bring in new players and ship out many of the old ones.

"About a year ago, we began to feel we were vulnerable in having a structure with one manager who runs all football matters," Fridgeirsson said.

"If the manager leaves, where does it leave you? We decided to build an infrastructure and philosophy for the club, which would provide continuity."

West Ham and Newcastle have both decided on a policy of mainly signing young players who can be developed.

The clubs believed that Nani and Wise were better suited to doing this than the respective former managers.

A source "close to Newcastle's board" is reported to have ridiculed Keegan's lack of knowledge of emerging players, saying he had presented a wish list of signings valued at more than £200m, including Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard.

Instead, Wise was charged with looking to South America and Spain for previously undiscovered talent.

Nani had an impressive track record of unearthing talented players when he worked at Brescia.

Folklore has it that he discovered Kaká in Brazil, only for the Italian club to be unable to afford him.

What is undoubtedly true is that he helped to develop future Italy internationals Andrea Pirlo and Luca Toni and enabled the club to make huge profits on players such as Slovakian Marek Hamsik.

Yet, despite all these arguments in favour of the director of football role, it is the manager who has to stand on the touchline on matchday and suffer abuse if his new signings fail to perform.

And it seems clear, as Pleat and Rudge suggest, that the director of football and manager must get along.

Ideally, the director of football will have recruited the manager in the first place.

This was not the case with either Keegan or Curbishley, but perhaps the structure will work when their successors are appointed.

What do you think?

Can the structure work? Is it unsuited to English football or do English managers need to change their ways?[/b]

lalaboi:
hearing that news al over and over again! MAKES ME SICK MAHN!!

bt we are short of wingers! just joe cole. malouda is just not malouda anymore! kalous is counted as a striker!

maybe he'll strenghten further in january! this squad aint strong enough!! as it used to be!

true

madamkoko:
L O L

_{*thread is turning to something else*}

hey guyz i'm off and i wont come back here till tommorow , so sistawoman enjoy urself and keep that YELLOW ASS for me

menix:
Poster.
Take her to third mainland bridge ask her to close her eyes and count to 50 before she opens up. Then dive into the sea, get to d bottom and get her a very colourful Jelly fish.
Ladies lofe Jelly fish,

ha! anorher MARASHIKA

sistawoman:
He can kisssssssssssss my high yellow ass.

can i see that ASS

just kidding but im serious

well yes ur right.

yes becos they Bleep we guyz well.

was tryin to say , you cheats , they are off ,

off to court
off to anywhere,

Ujujoan:
I prophesy you'll marry a Nairalander

Back to sender !!!

You guys should stop complaining and go make money jare . .

Abi oh . .

go make money for you Scums right?

Lazy twats, i'm talkin to all the Girls in the world!

madamkoko:
L O L. meaning ?

they dont give a DAMN!

tope2000:
hmmmmmm intresting

yes it is

its like your tired or something , maybe bored.

sorry.

madamkoko:
really, you'D send your husband packing ?

what do u expect from an American woman ,

tope2000:
lol
no thank you

your still welcome,

ee he , chai

Ujujoan:
<sub>See topic and panicks

Reads thread and becomes frantic</sub>

Seun please delete this post before my BF runs in to it.

what

tope2000:
the one that loves me

what about carny love?

tope2000:
no i mean stalking

im still teasing. . . . . hehehehehe

kemisuga:
There is nothing wrong if a girl sees what her eyes like.

I do admire guys who are clean, tall, good looking with round moustaches.

Admiring does not mean falling in love.

But that just a Step for LOVE

tope2000:
follow you??
i am stalking you

Talking u mean right? okay , lets continue talking, lol

me too , i got something longer and similar, i got her pictures too she said shes from kenya, shes cute anyway.

tope2000:
hehehehehhehehe

You dey follow me everywhere

i hope the poster's question is answered already

yes a girl can admire a Guy , i was once admired by Beyonce but right now shes married and right now again , Ciara is admiring me.

what a boy

tope2000:
from sistawoman

just teasing.

tope2000:
u are welcome

from?

tope2000:
she is an american woman, she is not nigerian
stop assuming everyone here is nigerian oo

long thing
most nigeran guy prefers the easy way out

i don hear uuu ooooooo

mechengin:
I am a young man in port harcourt and i want to know if it is wrong for a guy to be in love with his fellow guys.I am always in love with my fellow guy.

are u crazy ?

simply create a topic saying i need a Gay Lover simple.

[quote author=Brash! link=topic=165097.msg2724430#msg2724430 date=1220018114]HABA!! [/quote]yes oooo

sistawoman:
i am not familiar with this slang. longtin please explain

why did u leave this country at first or why didnt u just come here and spend a year to know wassup,

Ibare plenty scatter!!

Emperoh:
First correction, I am a Mr. not a Miss or Mrs.
You only managed to define Love and Lust. But the issue of coexistence is still left pending
Much as i love to tell myself they can, i am forced to believe they can't because Lust is a lesser good to Love
Or are u saying that lust can be confused with passion
We are talking about 'Strong Sexual desire' here as u defined and not 'eagerness to posses'

for her to define both love and lust , shes tryin to let u know that they cant EXIST

chamotex:
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaassssssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeee!!!!

all the stuff wey u write na to dey rub . . . . rub her back, rub her feet, rub her breast. Say wetin happen? all these criteria just to show love. Omo bank balance go dey at all-time low if person follow this instruction o

hahahahahaha  

very funny, haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

sistawoman:
You can:

cook her a meal
rub her feet after a long day
buy her something nice - like something for her hobby - something she has been eyeballing or saving for
rub her back
walk up and just touch her in the small of her back unexpectedly
pack a pinic lunch and surprise her at work
sweet text messages
Tell her you love her
take her out to dinner
long walks in the park
ask her to talk about herself and really listen to her when she talks.

no bi Naija girls need all those stuff, sey for naija rural area where u wan see Park walk , dem go kidnap both of them,

to be honest Naija Men think about many things that cost them their un-romantism,

@Topic

Guy , just dey Bleep her well!

superstan:
it seems robinho will not be moving to chelsea again.

after madrid saw what they face in the champions league, it's expected of them to back off.

selling robinho without a replacement will be folly.

i hope the deal stalls. i love seeing a pissed peter kenyon and his egg-shaped head.

you are just a simple IDIOT!

somze:
Lampard has silenced critics again.

yup surely he has.


Ibime can you give me the stats of highest scoring midfielders in world past and present.

azubunks:
hello chelsea fans im valentino blues 4 life![color=#000099][/color]

you welcome dude,

@hannibal

when are u going to wake up from your stupidity and foolish talks on here especially on this forum, take your mats and go to the wilderness thats where you belong sucka!.

@dayokanu

look this isnt a battle ground , how i wish u guyz meet in person and lets see how u gonna defend urselves.

@Ibime

what up dude, remove those fakers away from you fantasy okay, u gonna gain good points. the earlier the better okay.

folahann:
I'm the overall 4th in the head to head league, only few people have got 6points so far.
So I'm far ahead of other Nairalanders

im the second to you, dude, no 10 just on 3 points, but expect me coming from behind to hit u with a slegde!!!!!!!!!!!! ,