I was able to recruit all my clubs. I tell my scouts and coaches what I want and then do my homework on their recommendations and watch them in action.
Over the years, the most noise in this area has come from other people within the club, but I have always insisted on being the final decision.
My Scouts and coaches know exactly what types of players I want at each position. I always saw good players, but I didn’t try to sign them because they didn’t fit the identity of the team I was selling at the time.
Fortunately, that kind of thinking is used in the driven model that is widely used today – where the profile of the signatures of the clubs and what the manager needs.
Bruntton, Brentford and Bournemouth are good examples where it has worked well, but there are a few more established Premier League clubs that have not used it successfully.
Wondering how they know the players, and it has access to this information that has made the Premier League a world league, where more than 65% of the players are foreigners.
However, any data as an incredible tool to discover new talent, which is another dinosaur always forces me to look at the player, and is sure to like them too.
If the player I sign doesn’t fit the bill, and there are many, then I’m more than happy to raise my hand and take full responsibility.
It doesn’t always turn out that way, though, and it stops me hearing that some of the players a club brings in aren’t with him yet.
Unless everything is covered, you will not be successful.
Today’s young managers often don’t know differently but when I talk to them about it, I always remind them that at the end of the day, it’s your team that’s on the line, then your job that’s on your line.
So you have to be strong and make sure that the players that come are better than what you got, based on the data or what you can see for yourself. If you can trust the person who signed them, happy days…if not, you’re in trouble!