Joan Laporta

[Birdy]

It's a colossal mistake by Laporta to not go out get the best, or close to the best, SD out there
in Overmars
in Edwards
in Ragnick

and resort to either granting Xavi more authority (terrible division of labor and expertise in any business)
OR making Jordi an SD (many many levels below the top atm in Europe)

 

[Birdy]

Imo, managers should have a say in transfers, especially managers that have a way of playing and are doing a rebuilding job with low money. It's not about picking the names themselves, but about making sure that we bring in players that can fit with his plans.

Who said they don't have a say?
The coach identifies weaknesses in personnel according to desired way of playing.
Then, he proposes primarily positions and characteristics he need to strengthen, and drops a couple of names as suggestions.
That's 'having a say', and is different from deciding yourself

Look at the model club of recent years, Liverpool.
Klopp always has a say on transfers, but he
i) does not decide the names himselves
ii) recognizes that other people have more expertise than him.

Well documented example:
He wanted Julian Brandt for instance, but Edwards, backed by stats from Liverpool's excellent analytics department,
showed him why Salah was a far better option on the market back then,
and Klopp accepted that

 

[serghei]

Who said they don't have a say?
The coach identifies weaknesses in personnel according to desired way of playing.
Then, he proposes primarily positions and characteristics he need to strengthen, and drops a couple of names as suggestions.
That's 'having a say', and is different from deciding yourself

Look at the model club of recent years, Liverpool.
Klopp always has a say on transfers, but he
i) does not decide the names himselves
ii) recognizes that other people have more expertise than him.

Well documented example:
He wanted Julian Brandt for instance, but Edwards, backed by stats from Liverpool's excellent analytics department,
showed him why Salah was a far better option on the market back then,
and Klopp accepted that

That's fine. But when Malcom was signed for example, EV didn't rate him or needed him. Situations like that are not good for anybody, nor the club, the player, or the manager.

 

[khaled_a_d]

That's fine. But when Malcom was signed for example, EV didn't rate him or needed him. Situations like that are not good for anybody, nor the club, the player, or the manager.

Abidal was a stubborn SD who weren't convinced with the coach and was trying to prove he is the "alpha" in a desperate way, denied EV request for LB which was essential, didn't try to bring a proper tactical replacement for Paulinho and forced the player he wanted on the coach (Vidal, Malcom, and maybe Griezmann) who were awful fit.
Such situation should be avoided.

Same happened with Koeman being stubborn with the signings he didn't get, like Pjanic. A situation that should also be avoided as Xavi has to respect the SD and his signings and be fair to all players.

Another awful situation to avoid was having coach who has all the say in the signings, like we did in summer 2015 and ended up with the Spanish Vidal and Arda.

And the last of awful situations we had is the board interfering with SD job, like Rossel board doing with Zubi.

A balance is needed, Xavi will never find the next Pedri or Araujo by himself, he and the SD should be cooperating together without board interference, last time this happened was in summer 2014, and before that it was under Txiki.

New SD being hired after coach is risky though, and one of the reasons I am disappointed with Planas departure, it is bad timing.

 

[serghei]

A situation that should also be avoided as Xavi has to respect the SD and his signings and be fair to all players.

And the SD has to bring the players the manager wants and needs in terms of profile. If Xavi asks for a player who ticks some boxes, and the SD comes up with names that don't match up well, it's a problem.

Another awful situation to avoid was having coach who has all the say in the signings, like we did in summer 2015 and ended up with the Spanish Vidal and Arda.

And the last of awful situations we had is the board interfering with SD job, like Rossel board doing with Zubi.

A balance is needed, Xavi will never find the next Pedri or Araujo by himself, he and the SD should be cooperating together without board interference, last time this happened was in summer 2014, and before that it was under Txiki.

New SD being hired after coach is risky though, and one of the reasons I am disappointed with his departure, it is bad timing.

There's a risk with every setup, but a manager should always have a say in transfers, but he should work closely with the SD to achieve a common ground. A sort of balance has to be achieved, I agree.

The worst situation is with the board or sporting directors not respecting the manager's plan (of course, you better make sure the manager has a plan, that goes without saying, hence the risk of hiring average managers with not much vision), and then building a team that does not satisfy the needs of that manager. That's the worst of the worst in my opinion.

New SD being hired after coach is risky though, and one of the reasons I am disappointed with his departure, it is bad timing.

You want a sporting director that is somehow similar in approach with the manager. Someone who understands the ideas of the manager, the type of football the manager wants to implement. At the same time, you need somebody with the personality and the independence to contradict the manager and provide alternatives when needed.

 

[Messigician]

Abidal was a stubborn SD who weren't convinced with the coach and was trying to prove he is the "alpha" in a desperate way, denied EV request for LB which was essential, didn't try to bring a proper tactical replacement for Paulinho and forced the player he wanted on the coach (Vidal, Malcom, and maybe Griezmann) who were awful fit.
Such situation should be avoided.

Same happened with Koeman being stubborn with the signings he didn't get, like Pjanic. A situation that should also be avoided as Xavi has to respect the SD and his signings and be fair to all players.

Another awful situation to avoid was having coach who has all the say in the signings, like we did in summer 2015 and ended up with the Spanish Vidal and Arda.

And the last of awful situations we had is the board interfering with SD job, like Rossel board doing with Zubi.

A balance is needed, Xavi will never find the next Pedri or Araujo by himself, he and the SD should be cooperating together without board interference, last time this happened was in summer 2014, and before that it was under Txiki.

New SD being hired after coach is risky though, and one of the reasons I am disappointed with Planas departure, it is bad timing.

This so much fucking this

 

[Mateka]

Who said they don't have a say?
The coach identifies weaknesses in personnel according to desired way of playing.
Then, he proposes primarily positions and characteristics he need to strengthen, and drops a couple of names as suggestions.
That's 'having a say', and is different from deciding yourself

Look at the model club of recent years, Liverpool.
Klopp always has a say on transfers, but he
i) does not decide the names himselves
ii) recognizes that other people have more expertise than him.

Well documented example:
He wanted Julian Brandt for instance, but Edwards, backed by stats from Liverpool's excellent analytics department,
showed him why Salah was a far better option on the market back then,
and Klopp accepted that

I am not up to speed with how Liverpool is run as a club today. But it appears Klopp has the final say.

When Edwards was appointed.
Klopp was quick to reaffirm that the final say will still come from him.
"From my point of view it's a very natural decision," he said at a media conference.
"When you have the right person in the club then you have to use this person in the right way. That's what we did since I'm here. Transfers are going always the same way.
"It's not allowed to be a one-man show. I know a lot of things but not everything. I like to have the best people around me.
"Whoever brings the player, if it's me or my assistant, then we have a lot of things to watch, to talk about and in the end I have the final say. That's the most important thing for you to know.
"If something is wrong with transfers it's my responsibility."
fotmob.com

 

[Sterlingfan2000]

Rakuten is gone and we have received Sponsorship bid of around 30M similar as Rakuten.

However , a Saudi Consortium is offering 100 Million

 

[Sterlingfan2000]

Rakuten is gone and we have received Sponsorship bid of around 55M similar as Rakuten.

However , a Saudi Consortium is offering 100 Million while Laporta was actually against such Sponsorship, the Money is too much to reject [ MD]

 

[Messi983]

Surely one of the reasons why Laporta didn't want to go to Qatar.

Although if he would be a good businessman he could just go and say to them "look, we've got a 100m sponsorship offer from Saudis, would you give us 150m?"

God knows what would happen after that but would have much more respect for him if he'd do that.

 

[TheStig]

Take it and run if it's true.

 

[Messigician]

Too many human rights violations

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

We are in desperate position to take any money.

 

[hardyboy]

After signing of Dani Alves i seriously think voting him to power was the biggest mistake Socios did... He is absolutely clueless and living in the past.

 

[Messigician]

Good start to his redemption arc.