- Jun 7, 2004
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I think the DOF position should be scrapped, and if that means DC out then so be it.
Why does Levy think it's an important role for the club, because some foreign ones do it?...
No, the reason Levy thinks (or perhaps thought) it's an important role was because, until Arnesen arrived, every time a manager got sacked, the new manager wanted to replace half the squad and it was costing too much. Players were being brought in at higher fees than they were being sold.
So Levy decided (he said so in more than one interview) that a D of F being in charge of transfers and a Head Coach being in charge of the squad would give continuity. Any coach that arrived would be told that signing players was not his job and that he should get on with coaching.
That worked well, even through Santini's abrupt departure and Arnesen's tapping-up saga. But it broke down when Levy ran out of patience (for financial reasons, mainly) and demanded CL qualification immediately, leading to Comolli's proposal to replace Jol with Ramos.
Ramos arrived in mid-season and rapidly decided that a lot of the players were not his type of footballer. Because Comolli has hung his entire reputation at Spurs on the decision to replace Jol with Ramos, Ramos was in a position of power and Comolli duly went out to spend huge amounts of money renovating the defence last January and the midfield last Summer.
Comolli and Levy negotiated equally huge amounts of money from the sale of two strikers to pay for this. But so far it hasn't worked at all on the pitch. And now the "continuity" argument for a D of F is out the window, because the coach has demanded that half the squad be replaced anyway - and he has got his way.
So is there a point in having a D of F? Personally, I don't think the roles matter very much. I agree with Martin Jol: what's important is that the D of F chooses the coach and that they can work constructively together, as Arnesen worked with Jol. People tend to diss Frank Arnesen since he left, but despite the fact that many of his cheap, young players got sold, the fact is that the players he bought formed the nucleus of the squad that finished 5th twice.