Interesting article on technical/footballing directors…. by unstableblue 5 Dec 2021 14:48
Well worth a read

https://thefootballfaithful.com/technical-directors-of-football-what-exactly-do-they-do-does-anybody-really-know/

The below extract is key, and Brighton’s success is there for us all to see and it’s the former Norwich playing a key supporting Potter

We do not have this role or structure yet, and yet we’re talking about getting a Head Coach and not a manager. If Ashton is perceiving that he and Rolls can provide this role.. then I say there is major risk to the project!



A Role Defining Technical Director

Just as Liverpool’s Michael Edwards, Man City’s Txiki Begiristain and Everton’s Marcel Brands are lauded as some of the best directors of football in the game, Brighton’s Dan Ashworth continues to define what it is to be a top rate technical director.

There’s a real buzz on the terraces at the Amex these days, with the south coasters playing some of the most attractive football in the division. Having built a competitive team, a beautiful stadium and an ultra-impressive training centre — all on a modest budget — The Seagulls are, in many ways, a model for any up and coming English club.

Ashworth, who joined the club in 2018, has been key to Brighton’s stabilisation in the top flight.

His role is an all-encompassing “proper technical directors job”, with the former Norwich City defender casting his eye over the men’s and women’s first teams, player recruitment, the academy, the medical and sports science departments and player loans. As Ashworth puts it,“I stand in the middle of a wheel and my job is to bring together seven departments, connecting those spokes.”

During his time as the English FA’s technical director, where he made a telling and lasting contribution, Ashworth wrote and delivered a course about the technical director role. Last year, in an insightful interview, he outlined his current take on the position.

“The principle for a technical director, in my opinion, is to look after the medium to long term interests of the football club. It’s not about short-term ‘get a result tomorrow’, it’s to try and make sure our club is set up in a way that other departments supplement and help Hope [Powell] and Graham [Potter].”