We’ve moved through the age of the player and manager into the age of the sporting director. The role is about shaping the club for the here and now but also into the future, looking after player and coach contracts, transfers, and helping to define and shape the playing style and progress of a club. A good sporting director will be the perfect bridge between ownership and manager/head coach.
In recent years there has been more focus on sporting directors and how successful transfer windows have been than on players and coaches at some clubs. Think of how high profile Edu was at Arsenal and then unsuccessful at Nottingham Forest, or Richard Hughes having success at Bournemouth but a mixed bag of results at Liverpool.
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