Directors of football are a little-loved breed. Adam Powley looks at how the role is plainly failing at Spurs
The various billionaires now carving up the Premier League are not used to deferring power to their employees. Both Roman Abramovich and the new Abu Dhabi-based owners of Manchester City, coming from cultures that tend towards autocratic rule in commerce and politics, view an omnipotent manager of the British variety as a potential obstruction to the way they do business.
Why have a director of football as well as a head coach? Luke Chapman is not alone in wondering if the answer at Spurs is to provide an extra person to blame in a crisis, ahead of the club’s chairman
As divorces go, it was messy, underhand and undignified. Two months after Martin Jol’s position became untenable and hours before kick-off in the UEFA Cup tie against Getafe, mobiles buzzed with the news that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy had finally decided the union with his manager was over. With his players conspicuously failing to do it for their boss, Jol then had to sit on the bench and play the part of manager one last time, a sorry end in keeping with recent events at the Lane.
There's only one Steve McClaren, for now
The euphoria that followed England’s victories against Israel and Russia was perhaps understandable, especially in the context of what had gone before. The two 3-0 wins against opponents with half-decent records (however badly Israel played) came after a run of just two victories in nine matches – and those previous successes had been against Andorra and Estonia. And Steve McClaren had seen off a side coached by Guus Hiddink, a man widely tipped as a candidate for his job.
The menace of meddling chairmen
“The only crisis we have here is when we’ve run out of champagne in the boardroom,” said John Cobbold when Ipswich chairman. The Cobbolds, whose family brewery was one of the town’s main employers, are often held up to exemplify the attitude of the patrician dynasties who used to own many teams. They may have looked upon their clubs as heirlooms – one of the last of the breed, Peter Hill-Wood at Arsenal, has been magnificently disdainful of the rumoured interest in the club from US billionaire Stan Kroenke – but they also knew better than to interfere with the manager’s role.
We may never know the truth about what preceded Tottenham's vital clash with West Ham. But, as Luke Chapman reports, it left players and fans alike sick to the stomach in more ways than one
Is the Premier League run for the benefit of all their clubs or just a select few? Incensed Spurs fans will argue the latter, after what happened in their final game of the season.