Llambias ”talar ut” – Del 4: Upplägget
Då var det dags att runda av artikelserien om Llambias uttalanden. Den här gången ligger fokus på det kontinentala upplägget klubben har som fått utstå stor kritik.
Director of Football. Frågar man engelska fotbollssupportrar som haft en sådan i sin klubb vad de anser vara det värsta som drabbat deras klubb kommer nog en stor andel av dem svara just Director of Football. Upplägget med en sådan post går ut på att denne direktör ska lägga all sin kraft och energi på att scouta fram nya spelare medan managern koncentrerar sig på att leda laget. Upplägget har prövats i ett flertal klubbar och konsekvensen har ofta blivit att det uppstått konflikter mellan just managern och direktören. För vår egen del var det just konflikten mellan Dennis Wise och Kevin Keegan som fått fansen att vända sig emot vår egen ledning.
Trots den kontroversiella utgången från den konflikten, som ledde till att KK avgick tidigare denna säsong, har klubben valt att behålla strukturen. Det har upprört många av klubbens mest hängivna fans som fått stöd av så väl medier som andra managers i landet i sina teorier om att denna post förstör mer än vad den förgyller.
Nu har Llambias förklarat lite mer i detalj hur arbetsuppgifterna är fördelade och lite om varför man valt att fortsätta med detta tillvägagångssätt:
“This Continental-style of football management was where we wanted to be and where we are now. It’s been torn up at Tottenham and they’ve dismissed it to go back to the old-fashioned style, but for us we still think it works.
“The realistic side of football management is that it’s changing. You need to have the control of being more structured and knowing where you are going as far as picking players and picking youth is concerned. We felt that it worked for us.
“It broke down between two of our main characters. But it’s working well with Joe (Kinnear) and, hopefully, it will continue to do so. The manager still calls the shots. Nobody will come into this club that Joe doesn’t want. That’s been made quite clear.
“Dennis is our director of football. He is out there looking for players.
“He wants young talent and experienced players. In this particular window, Joe gave him a list of players to go out and look at.
“He is still part of our management structure. He will remain part of our management structure. When we pinpoint a player, Dennis will go in there as part of the negotiating team with our football secretary. Myself and Mike will be on the phone and pressing the buttons as far as how far we can go financially.”
Citaten är hämtade från dagens upplaga av lokaltidningen the Journal. De rapporterar också om Llambias erkännande där det kommer fram att ledningen medger att de begått misstag men förklarar samtidigt också varför man arbetat med den metod man har. Så här uppges han ha sagt:
“We freely admit we have made mistakes and we put our hands up. But now we’re in a position where Mike is back on board and we’re not selling the club. We apologise and I personally apologise for the miscommunication. We did not deliberately offend anyone.”
“We inherited a bucket full of holes in it and we have had to repair those holes before anything else,
“Our intention is to go back on the track we were on before with our business plan. We are trying to get away from dating (payments) so that we don’t have huge amounts of money going out. We are trying to pay up front. People like (Fabricio) Coloccini, Xisco and (Jonás) Gutiérrez, we own those players, but that wasn’t the case before we got here.
“It’s like buying a car on hire purchase, but then it gets written off, but you still have to pay for it. That’s how the business was being run, they ran it on credit.
“It’s not a case of throwing hundreds of millions at it. We aren’t trillionaires. Man City will throw whatever they need to throw at it but how long will it take them? And how much will they spend?
“They will have to spend what, £600m, maybe more, the way they are going. We haven’t got that, nobody has got that money, even Chelsea are struggling. We want to be up there, of course we do, but it will take time. That’s why it will take time to invest heavily in the future with young players.
“This summer we spent £2m on kids – that (is what) we feel we should be doing for the future. Obviously we have to support our first team, but three or four years down the road . . . some of the talent we have got in is fantastic. We’ve spent money on the backroom staff of £1m. That will increase with the foundation and the centre of excellences as we grow. We see our future with bringing in both home-grown and international players.”
Derek avslutade allting med en vädjan till fansen som löd på följande vis:
“Stay with us,”
“Be strong, this is an incredible club and we need you to be behind us. We’re putting our money up front and we need you to support us. You can’t have it overnight, stay with your team.
“You’ve seen uglier football, stick with the team. We will get there.”
