Johan Lange

[Laughable Chimp]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Is there really a need for one?

I mean what are scouts for in the first place?

FM might be a bad place source of reference here but if it works in there like it does in real life, I'd imagine that the scouts all have specific jobs and report their findings to the sporting director. The sporting director then, is the one who makes the final decision on transfers, after taking into account all the scouting reports.

[LxYoungAVFC]

Need a shrewd negotiator.

[LxYoungAVFC]

1 minute ago, Laughable Chimp said:

FM might be a bad place source of reference here but if it works in there like it does in real life, I'd imagine that the scouts all have specific jobs and report their findings to the sporting director. The sporting director then, is the one who makes the final decision on transfers, after taking into account all the scouting reports.

Sounds like a 20% job to me rising to 60% during the transfer window.

[KenjiOgiwara]

8 minutes ago, sne said:

But we've only known for a day or so which division we'd be playing in. I imagine this effects the caliber of person we'd be able to bring in.

Good point. Hopefully they had a list 

[Laughable Chimp]

5 minutes ago, LxYoungAVFC said:

Sounds like a 20% job to me rising to 60% during the transfer window.

I would think the sporting director deals with more than just incoming transfers though. Sporting Director sounds like a job that would cover a more wide range of things than just solely be on transfers, just on the name.

Edited July 28, 2020 by Laughable Chimp

[Teale's 'tache]

Seems his contract ran out and after a bust up with Purslow it's only going to end one way.

In the Villa post it states he helped to restructure the academy, so his job was wider ranging than just transfers, if that job is now done maybe we need a different kind of sporting director? Maybe one more focused on the scouting side of things? Maybe more focused on the sports science side of things? Who knows, will be interesting to see who they bring in and what the job title will be though!

[Jareth]

Is it not as simple as needing to see which league we'd be in? Surely we can get a better level of candidates in the prem, with a foundation to start from and a big budget - Vs offering a complete restructure again in the Championship? I mean, maybe he'd have carried on another year if we dropped, purely for stability. 

Edited July 28, 2020 by Jareth

[Villan4Life]

Great Article from last year on Stuart Webber

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50086438

 

Quote

Teemu Pukki has made a blistering start to life in the Premier League - even surprising the man who signed him after several years of research.

"Did we expect 29 goals in a Championship-winning season? No that would be a lie. We don't try to pretend we're magical geniuses," Norwich City sporting director Stuart Webber told BBC Radio 5 Live's Euro Leagues podcast.

Having played a key role in taking Raheem Sterling to Liverpool, as well as uncovering the players that helped send both Huddersfield Town and Norwich to the Premier League, Webber is well versed in the tricks of player recruitment.
"What people get caught up on is the idea of one person spotting or finding a player. It's much bigger than that," said Webber, appointed as Norwich's first sporting director in April 2017.

"Scouting has changed a lot, even since I started. If you look at the use of data now it's incredible what you can do."

Webber, 35, was headhunted by Liverpool as director of recruitment from Wrexham in 2009 and recalls the thorough process undertaken in monitoring the progress of current England and Manchester City forward Sterling.

"I was fortunate enough to be a part of signing Raheem Sterling at Liverpool. We watched him constantly for 12 months in different environments - in the Queens Park Rangers youth teams and with England.

"I remember watching him play away in Belgium. He was a substitute, the pitch was frozen - it's still the coldest night of my life in football - and he came on and set up a goal.

"It's about gathering the information with your own eyes and reporting it accordingly."

More recently, Webber's meticulous approach saw striker Pukki sign from Celtic on a free transfer in June 2018 - before the Finnish international went on to terrorise Championship defences.

The arrival of Pukki at Norwich took "years of work" according to Webber - although he admitted he had wanted to sign the player much sooner.

"I first came across Pukki when he was at Schalke and I was at Wolves. I told our manager at the time, Stale Solbakken, that we could get him for about £1.2m and Stale liked the idea - but he got sacked two days later.

"Teemu then went to Celtic and we followed him over a period of time. When we saw he was coming out of contract, we looked at the goals he had scored and the chances we were creating and thought it could really work.

"He was watched for about five years, so we knew the type of player he was and how he would fit into how we play football."

Currently, only Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne boasts more assists than Canaries midfielder Emiliano Buendia in the Premier League this term.

But when Norwich discovered him, Getafe's Argentine was playing on loan at struggling Spanish second tier side Cultural Leonesa.

"If you look at now, we signed Buendia from the Spanish second division after he was flagged to us by the data," Webber said.

"The analysts flagged him because of the chances he was creating. His team were not scoring but we felt he would fit the way we play perfectly and we would score if he created those chances for us.

"His assists when we signed him were not high but his expected assists and number of big chances created were unbelievable high, we felt, for a 20-year-old."

Despite Leonesa eventually being relegated, Webber - who follows action from across Europe closely - would not be dissuaded from signing Buendia, a footballer he likens to former Norwich midfielder James Maddison.

And, although statistics and data hold an increasing influence in such decisions, sometimes a player just stands out.

"There is no better feeling than when you see a player for the first time who just grabs you," added Webber.

"The scouts showed me clips of Buendia for 20 minutes. Three minutes in they had my attention.

"I watched five games of him back to back that night. It was a dream to see how he played football."

 

While attempting to secure Buendia, Webber travelled to meet the Getafe president with a budget significantly short of the La Liga side's initial evaluation.

Plotting his route to a favourable outcome, the Norwich sporting director took the bold decision to walk out of the meeting.

"You have different negotiations. Some are friendly - this one was awkward. It went back and to. In the end I just got up and said I was leaving.

"I just left the room. You could tell this would be a fight and we needed to fight back. All the foreign clubs think English clubs have stupid money - some do - but at Norwich we didn't.

"I knew they were desperate to do this deal. We could afford to leave it, we really wanted the player but it wasn't life or death. I went back home to Norwich and after a couple of days passed Getafe wanted to speak again.

"I drove to the airport but on my way I rang to tell the agent I was going to turn around. The president was much nicer, he knew I wouldn't be coming back again and we did the deal pretty quick, on the terms that we wanted."

 

Edited July 28, 2020 by Villan4Life

[villa4europe]

2 hours ago, sne said:

Luis Campos at Lille (formerly Monaco) is also a interesting name.

when of Monaco?

Maybe interesting given that Monaco are once again having a fire sale and some of the players he took there would be available

[sne]

2 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

when of Monaco?

Maybe interesting given that Monaco are once again having a fire sale and some of the players he took there would be available

2013-2016

That first fire sale was due to changed tax rules and the divorce of the Russian owner who lost a couple billions.

He brought in  Radamel Falcao, João Moutinho, James Rodríguez, Fabinho, Anthony Martial, Ricardo Carvalho, Dimitar Berbatov, Bernardo Silva, Tiémoué Bakayoko, Geoffrey Kondogbia, and Thomas Lemar 

And M'bappé I think.

[Demitri_C]

Webber is a good shout. I think of not him whoever is running the show at brentford.  They seem to find gems all the time

[TrentVilla]

2 hours ago, Tommo_b said:

Ashworth won’t be leaving Brighton, they are a team that have an incredible infrastructure in place and I imagine will go on to become a top top side in the next few years.

Really? I'm currious, any links to anything on this re Brighton? I mean they are a well run club but I struggle to believe they've anything we couldn't replicate or better. I certainly don't see them going on to be a top side.

I've no idea if we could poach Ashworth or not but I'm struggling to view Brighton as being the club you describe above.

[TrentVilla]

2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Is there really a need for one?

I mean what are scouts for in the first place?

Absolutely yes.

The age of the dictatorial manager who controls everything are over, modern clubs or at least successful ones can't function that way.

A manager cannot oversea the team, contracts, negotiations, scouting etc it just isn't feasible and besides all that control shouldn't sit with just one person.

A club needs structure, it needs departments and a huge staff of people in recruitment, player development, scouting etc its just too much for one person. 

[Sulberto21]

Does anyone know how many analysts types we have at the club? The game seems to or already shifted towards that with all this xg stuff. I think we should try and get ahead of the game in that department. 

The sense I got from Suso was get in touch with some agents and hope it sticks. Maybe we can buy one of those companies who do these metrics?

[GENTLEMAN]

I believe the club is still committed to the philosophy of a sporting director.

[GENTLEMAN]

14 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

Absolutely yes.

The age of the dictatorial manager who controls everything are over, modern clubs or at least successful ones can't function that way.

A manager cannot oversea the team, contracts, negotiations, scouting etc it just isn't feasible and besides all that control shouldn't sit with just one person.

A club needs structure, it needs departments and a huge staff of people in recruitment, player development, scouting etc its just too much for one person. 

Exactly my sentiments. It also makes the position of head coach modular. A vitally important component, but a component nonetheless.  In this way, if a head coach or 'manager' departs it does not become a complete catastrophe for the club.

[Sulberto21]

13 minutes ago, GENTLEMAN said:

Exactly my sentiments. It also makes the position of head coach modular. A vitally important component, but a component nonetheless.  In this way, if a head coach or 'manager' departs it does not become a complete catastrophe for the club.

It also means that the general style of play stays just the manager/coach would just fit in.

[MrBlack]

1 hour ago, sne said:

But we've only known for a day or so which division we'd be playing in. I imagine this effects the caliber of person we'd be able to bring in.

But if they didn't learn anything from last season about preparing two plans what effing hope do we have.  They knew his contract was ending. They probably knew they weren't going to renew it. Its a simple task to look at two eventualities and come up with two lists of what they want depending on the league we're in.  Absolutely not saying they haven't done this,  I doubt they'd be where they are in business if they didn't know about planning ahead, but I really don't think this matters.

I expect to see a like for like replacement soon, or a change in direction if that's what their plan is.

Edited July 28, 2020 by MrBlack
typo

[TrentVilla]

29 minutes ago, GENTLEMAN said:

Exactly my sentiments. It also makes the position of head coach modular. A vitally important component, but a component nonetheless.  In this way, if a head coach or 'manager' departs it does not become a complete catastrophe for the club.

Absolutely agree

[thabucks]

Webber would have been at Liverpool same time as Purslow in 2009 and also Emelano from his time at Chelsea so cannot see past those two names. Would love Rangnick & Ashworth and basically that’s my sporting director knowledge over ...

Edited July 28, 2020 by thabucks