Germany has long understood the role of the sporting director but in England it is still seen differently. Is it time for more accountability? Adam Bate speaks to those in the role at home and abroad to find out more about the challenges and what has to change...
Tuesday 10 September 2024 11:47, UK
Speak to sporting directors in Germany and they are still bemused by the use of the term 'manager' to describe the person coaching the team. "This is a little bit of a conflict in the United Kingdom," Markus Krosche tells Sky Sports. "They are different jobs."
Krosche is the sporting director of Eintracht Frankfurt and highlights the different mentality required in his role. "Coaches have to think short term and bring results. My job is long term. This can be difficult because there is a conflict of interest," he explains.
"On the one hand, as a coach, you want to be successful now and you do not care what is happening the day after tomorrow. But as the sporting director, of course the focus has to be long term. This is the reason why I think it is good when you split this job."
English football has just about grasped this now. Every Premier League club has someone performing the sporting director function to some degree - and that someone is not the head coach. But the cult of the manager prevails and that has implications.
Simon Rolfes is the sporting director of Bayer Leverkusen, the Bundesliga champions. Speaking to him about this, he highlights another key difference. "In the UK, the manager is everything and sporting directors are more behind the scenes," says Rolfes.
"The expectation in Germany is different. You are also the first spokesman for the clubs, the strategy and all things. I think that is important in building the brand of the club as well, so that people get to know the vision, the strategy of the club and the culture."
It makes sense. In Germany, sporting directors even pop up in mixed zones. They are the people to ask. The spending plans for the January transfer window? The situation with that new signing that the club is trying to get over the line? These are questions for them.
English football is beginning to make this adjustment. Paul Mitchell has sought to explain Newcastle's awkward summer, while Dan Ashworth provided journalists with a media briefing about his plans to implement change at Manchester United.
But there is still a tension there. That is something David Flitcroft experienced when he was sporting director at Port Vale. Following the departure of head coach Andy Crosby in February, some were frustrated that Flitcroft, a former manager, did not step in.
"When I was a manager, I was always accountable," Flitcroft tells Sky Sports. "But I do not think some clubs actually are set up to have a sporting director. They want to see that manager come out, and if the team have played badly, they want to dissect it.
"We found that out with Andy as a head coach. It was not right for Port Vale. They wanted a manager to be able to explain it. The supporters wanted accountability. They wanted the manager to stand there and tell them why it was going wrong.
"I found that difficult as a sporting director to hide in the shadows but it was my choice." As Flitcroft saw it, despite, or perhaps because of, his past as a manager at Barnsley, Bury, Swindon and Mansfield, he felt it was important to maintain some distance.
"That was important to me from the outset." Flitcroft made a point of not travelling with the squad. "The team bus is sacred. That is the manager's space with their players. It is for them to coach and create the environment that they need to create," he explains.
"I have seen sporting directors who have stepped into the manager's role and I question whether they really supported their managers when they were the sporting director. Once you have stepped over to that side, even in an interim period, you are trapped.
"People will look at it and say that the sporting director wants to be the manager here, he is after the job. Let's just say I had won six games on the bounce and got the job. I did not go to Port Vale to get the manager's job, I went to Port Vale to support the manager."
Maybe that is an advantage for figures such as Ashworth - who had a modest playing career and never did become a manager. But there is still a feeling that, ideally, it helps to have that empathy. Both Krosche and Rolfes are former players in Germany.
"For sure, it is helpful to know what players are feeling in different situations, in good and bad moments," says Rolfes. "I lived it for 15 years in the locker room. I always saw it as an advantage to have that understanding compared to competitors for this position."
He adds: "But I also say that when I was in the locker room, other guys were at university or in other jobs learning different things. Players think they know everything, but that is not true. That is why I did my MBA studies, to improve this, because it is important."
Flitcroft cites the example of former Premier League striker Dougie Freedman who is now highly regarded as a sporting director at Crystal Palace. "He is doing a brilliant job, although he also ran businesses before. But there are not many former managers."
He regards it as an advantage for someone in the role. "It gives you that understanding of what a manager is going through in those lonely moments. I call it the 10 per cent club. Your staff, even your assistant manager, they never know about that 10 per cent."
Flitcroft continues: "I had this relationship with Darrell Clarke where I would let him ring me after a game but I would never ring him. I have been there with sporting directors calling me. Not an aggressive call but certainly one based on emotion after a result.
"Leave the manager alone, let him gather his thoughts. On a Monday, you can have a really good conversation focused on performance, dissecting the game, analysing it. You can ask questions, try to stimulate ideas, understand what the manager is seeing."
For Flitcroft, the sporting director is there to lighten the load not to add the pressure. Again, it is a view informed by his own memories of management. He recalls his time at Barnsley and being drawn into discussions about John Stones' future at the club.
"I had a call from the chairman telling me not to play him against Burnley." There were concerns about him being cup-tied. "The owner put a lot of pressure on me. It was a morning call and I remember going out to training and my brain was scrambled."
Flitcroft was able to lean on his coaching staff, although a conversation with a managerial great also clarified things. "I remember phoning Sir Alex Ferguson a few weeks later and telling him the story. He just said, 'Flit, concentrate on the grass.'"
For some managers, that remains a luxury. "There is too much to cope with now. I know a manager who took charge of his own game, travelled to Scarborough on his day off to do a scouting report, and was back in training to prepare for the game the next day."
Flitcroft takes pride in the fact that he was able to handle much of that at Port Vale - even if the work went unseen. "There were no systems in place there three years ago. The GPS was as bad as I had seen it. No medical systems, no training availability data."
The costs had to be brought down and a plan put in place for "phenomenal talent" Baylee Dipepa, now 17 years old. "Two years ago, he was not near the first-team picture, but the bigger picture was that we had to make sure the pathway was there," he says.
"Youngsters make mistakes but they develop. In that situation, you need a manager who will play them." Dipepa was given his minutes and subsequently sold to Southampton for what manager Darren Moore described as an offer that was "fantastic for the club".
Flitcroft explains: "You are shaping a club as well as a team. A sporting director needs that holistic view, looking at the bigger picture, the academy's needs, the board's expectations. League One and League Two are still catching up but they will catch up."
Perhaps it needs a high-profile success story in the shape of Manchester United's new structure to accelerate that process. "Dan Ashworth is a trailblazer. That could lead to a new era for sporting directors, really put it at the forefront," suggests Flitcroft.
"Sir Alex was in control of everything at Manchester United and when he left, along with David Gill, that left a hole. Hopefully, Dan and Jason Wilcox can fill that hole. I think with the disorganisation at that club, the supporters are welcoming the change.
"If United can help tell the story of how to do it right, and that means communication with the supporters, explaining the recruitment strategy, I think that could cascade down the divisions in much the same way that Pep Guardiola's playing style has done."
The era of the sporting director is upon us.
