Johan Lange - Sporting Director

[Bedfordspurs]

The questions is, if it doesn’t go well, who would you rather keep out of the 2?

Maybe neither
Who knows
The key is don’t get caught up in one’s strengths over the other and more in what can they bring combined

 

[DubaiSpur]

The way their different roles have been defined by Vinai it could work very well, the excitable Italian alongside the cool headed Dane, we won't be the first club to have co sporting directors.

Agreed. The other thing about this is, at least it's trying something new and innovative when it comes to the backroom staff part of the operation.

Under Levy, there was a period when we were the most forward-thinking club in the Premier League when it came to appointing backroom staff, even in positions that may not have existed in English football at the time.

Appointing Arnesen as sporting director was a sea change for the manager-led transfer model of the Prem - so much so that Abramovich then poached him from us. Comolli then came in and introduced data-driven scouting, which was another major change (albeit its early iterations had hits and misses). A few years after that, we appointed Michael Edwards, which then resulted in our best transfer period in maybe the last quarter century and the assembly of that mighty Poch team of the 2010s.

But we gradually stopped being innovative in that department, as other clubs caught up and then surpassed us. Clubs now do crazy things to innovate in the market - whether it's Tony Bloom-style data operations where they own and develop proprietary scouting IP, to sprawling multi-club operations spanning entire continents, to buying £1 billion worth of players and then amortizing them over decades to find those few gems in the trough.

Being traditional in this arms race is never going to be enough. Which is why I'm heartened that at least we're trying something by diversifying the transfer team - may not work, but it's a risk worth taking.

 

[metalgear]

Agreed. The other thing about this is, at least it's trying something new and innovative when it comes to the backroom staff part of the operation.

Under Levy, there was a period when we were the most forward-thinking club in the Premier League when it came to appointing backroom staff, even in positions that may not have existed in English football at the time.

Appointing Arnesen as sporting director was a sea change for the manager-led transfer model of the Prem - so much so that Abramovich then poached him from us. Comolli then came in and introduced data-driven scouting, which was another major change (albeit its early iterations had hits and misses). A few years after that, we appointed Michael Edwards, which then resulted in our best transfer period in maybe the last quarter century and the assembly of that mighty Poch team of the 2010s.

But we gradually stopped being innovative in that department, as other clubs caught up and then surpassed us. Clubs now do crazy things to innovate in the market - whether it's Tony Bloom-style data operations where they own and develop proprietary scouting IP, to sprawling multi-club operations spanning entire continents, to buying £1 billion worth of players and then amortizing them over decades to find those few gems in the trough.

Being traditional in this arms race is never going to be enough. Which is why I'm heartened that at least we're trying something by diversifying the transfer team - may not work, but it's a risk worth taking.

what about Paul Mitchell? Thought he did well when he was here.

 

[DubaiSpur]

what about Paul Mitchell? Thought he did well when he was here.

Sure, him too, though by then data-driven scouting had become more of the norm. His 'black box' methodology worked brilliantly at Southampton, but by the time he came to us, others had started up competing models (most notably Edwards, who had by then left us for Liverpool).

Still, it was a forward-thinking move for sure. Think the real regression came when we went with Steve Hitchen as a chief scout working directly with the manager and Levy. That was a grim time - almost none of the players we bought at that time worked out, short or long term. Doherty, Hojbjerg, Rodon, etc.

 

[SirPercyHotspur]

Agreed. The other thing about this is, at least it's trying something new and innovative when it comes to the backroom staff part of the operation.

Under Levy, there was a period when we were the most forward-thinking club in the Premier League when it came to appointing backroom staff, even in positions that may not have existed in English football at the time.

Appointing Arnesen as sporting director was a sea change for the manager-led transfer model of the Prem - so much so that Abramovich then poached him from us. Comolli then came in and introduced data-driven scouting, which was another major change (albeit its early iterations had hits and misses). A few years after that, we appointed Michael Edwards, which then resulted in our best transfer period in maybe the last quarter century and the assembly of that mighty Poch team of the 2010s.

But we gradually stopped being innovative in that department, as other clubs caught up and then surpassed us. Clubs now do crazy things to innovate in the market - whether it's Tony Bloom-style data operations where they own and develop proprietary scouting IP, to sprawling multi-club operations spanning entire continents, to buying £1 billion worth of players and then amortizing them over decades to find those few gems in the trough.

Being traditional in this arms race is never going to be enough. Which is why I'm heartened that at least we're trying something by diversifying the transfer team - may not work, but it's a risk worth taking.

And in his interview Vinai said he expects disagreements between the two , he sees that as good thing bit like any two people working together you don't always agree but hopefully after a discussion you select the right course to take . Another thing Vinai mentioned was the extensive network Fabio has , Levy always made public his dislike of football agents maybe that now changes.

 

[parklane1]

It reminds me of a very old saying [ too many cooks spoil the broth], we shall see i guess.

 

[Bullet]

I think we could have avoided some chatter by calling them 2 slightly different titles, rather than simply Sporting Director. Hopefully they can be adult and dovetail rather than clash.

 

[billyiddo]

The title of their job isn't really important - it's the responsibilities each has. As Paratichi mentioned in the interview (iirc) across the footballing landscape what a sporting directing does exactly will vary from club to club - so with that in mind why can't there be two (or more even) SD's at a club if the demands of role isn't set in stone?

 

[Lilbaz]

Paratici was never gone. Nothings really changed.