Wise still busy scouting

[OzzieMandias]

It sez here...

 

Dennis Wise finally ventured north of Watford on Tuesday night when he returned to St James' Park for the first time since Kevin Keegan's acrimonious departure. Newcastle United's reviled executive director (football) was an almost unnoticed figure in the directors box from where he watched Newcastle's reserves draw 1-1 with Hull City's second string.

 

Wise had not visited St James' since August but there were rumours that the former Leeds United and Millwall manager was contemplating attending Monday night's first-team match against Aston Villa, which they won 2-0. Though he eventually decided not to, Wise, blamed for provoking Keegan's departure by many Newcastle supporters, was spotted deep in discussion with Derek Llambias, the club's managing director, on Tuesday.

 

The previous week he had met Joe Kinnear, the team's interim manager, at the north London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham and the pair are later understood to have discussed potential targets for the January transfer window.

 

With Keith Harris, the investment banker tasked with selling Newcastle, admitting that neither of the two "seriously interested" parties considering purchasing the club from Mike Ashley have yet embarked on due diligence, it is increasingly likely that Wise and Kinnear will still be around in the new year.

 

Although Ashley has insisted he will not "spend a penny" on new players during the next transfer window, Newcastle's squad remains thin and reinforcements could not only stave off a possible relegation but make the club more attractive to purchasers. Kinnear says the squad requires "five new players" in January and it appears Wise has been busy scouting rather than taking it easy since his self-imposed exile from Tyneside.

 

Indeed it seems he has done more than merely telephone Sir Bobby Robson to protest at the latter's newspaper column suggesting he should base himself in Newcastle. A regular visitor to Vicarage Road, Wise is understood to be a strong admirer of the Watford and Republic of Ireland Under-21 international John-Joe O'Toole. Wise has also had a £1m bid for the 18-year-old Leeds United midfielder, Fabian Delph rejected by Ken Bates.

 

A frequent traveller overseas, he has recently been in France watching Metz and is also closely monitoring Ashkan Dejagah, Wolfsburg's Germany Under-21 striker. Born in Tehran, Dejagah could now be Tyneside bound. It is thought Wise regards him as a potentially ideal replacement for Michael Owen, should the England forward leave in January or next summer.

 

http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?action=post;board=14.0

[Skirge]

Will the Wise man be out at Christmas?

 

Nov 6 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

 

The departure of Damien Comolli from Tottenham was a mortal blow for the role of director of football in the English game. Mark Douglas considers the demise of an unlamented position

 

PUBLIC appearances by Dennis Wise at St James’s Park are notoriously rare these days, so it’s not surprising that he chose low-profile settings in which to make his return to the club where he wields such considerable influence.

 

Wise was back on Tyneside to take in a reserve game on Tuesday, braving the elements to watch a youthful United second string continue their strong progression under Richard Money.

 

If he felt lonely as one of the 310 sitting in the cavernous surroundings of St James’s Park, he had every reason to. He belongs to that most endangered of species – a director of football in the Premier League.

 

The departure of Damien Comolli from Tottenham last month – as the north London club appointed a traditional, old-school team manager in Harry Redknapp – leaves Wise standing alone as the last high-profile figure occupying that controversial management role squeezed in between the pitch and the boardroom.

 

When Newcastle finally change hands, his position is almost certain to disappear in the shake-up that will follow.

 

For most within English football, the demise can’t come a minute too soon. The position is largely unloved among managers and supporters and it’s departure will be unlamented – hopefully signaling the end of the unseemly rows which heralded the removals of Alan Curbishley and Kevin Keegan in the space of few days earlier this season.

 

Certainly, the catastrophic implosion of Keegan and Wise’s relationship set the cause of the director of football role back years – the latest in a string of high-profile rows between managers and the directors of football that they couldn’t work under.

 

It is worth remembering, however, that the reason Newcastle found themselves in so much trouble was not structural – it was down to personality clashes.

 

On the continent, it works seamlessly. Just ask Sir Bobby Robson, who worked with Frank Arnesen at PSV Eindhoven and found it liberating to be able to concentrate on coaching matters while another person took care of football administration.

 

In Europe, the system is seen as a way of ensuring a club’s long-term planning is not put in peril by a manager’s departure.

 

Pivotal issues like youth development, scouting and player recruitment are handled above the manager, who is generally given limited authority over transfers alongside his major responsibility – coaching the team.

 

It works well at clubs like PSV, who have had just three sporting directors to in the last 45 years, and Real Madrid. But in England, the role of manager is still considered sacred, and the director of football role is seen as a threat to his authority.

 

On the Continent it is widely accepted that managers will rarely be given longer than two seasons in a role. In English football, there is still blind faith behind every appointment that the man being brought in will establish a dynasty like Sir Alex Ferguson has done at Manchester United, or Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.

 

It is rarely the case, but that belief – still widely expressed whenever a vacancy is filled – undermines the case for the wide-scale recruitment of directors of football, whose very role is to protect clubs against the high turnover of managers.

 

The other problem is English football does not appear to have fully understood the way the role should work. Domestic managers, used to being given unfettered authority over their clubs, have been asked to work alongside directors of football without clear guidance and that has often been a cause of conflict.

 

At St James’s Park, the eventual divorce of Keegan from Mike Ashley looked pre-ordained from the minute that Wise was asked to step in as director of football.

 

Keegan had never worked with a director of football before but, despite initial reservations, made it clear in public that he was prepared to give the system a chance if it was part of Ashley’s grand plan to turn Newcastle United into the ‘Arsenal of the North’.

 

It didn’t take long for the cracks to start appearing. Wise, himself fresh out of a demanding managerial hot seat at Leeds, was given far-reaching powers that impinged on an area that Keegan thought belonged to a manager and a manager alone – transfers.

 

While Keegan was happy to leave youth development and continental scouting to Wise and executive director (recruitment) Tony Jimenez, it was with the implicit understanding that the final say on transfers would rest with him.

 

But that was never the case and when Keegan had the unheralded Spanish pair Xisco and Nacho Gonzalez thrust on him at the close of the transfer window in August, the illusion of unity was shattered.

 

It is a cautionary tale for any English club prepared to follow the same route. The power lines must be clearly defined, not made up as they go along, as appears the case at St James’s Park.

 

The chemistry between manager and director of football must be better than it was at Newcastle, where Keegan found it difficult to work alongside a man whose post-playing career had been entirely in the field of first team management.

 

The age of the English director of football appears to be dead, and it will take a wholesale rethink of attitudes to resurrect the failed experiment.

 

Given the deeply entrenched conservatism of those who hold power in our national game, that day is unlikely to come any time soon.

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2008/11/06/will-the-wise-man-be-out-at-christmas-61634-22193930/

[Newcastle Fan]

If he's getting us that O'Toole guy than he's more than welcome to keep on what he's doing.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

As long as he's employed he should continue to do his job, don't see a problem with that at all.

[Thespence]

Can we sign players? If so it seems strange the club can spunk cash on signings but they wont sort a deal out for a permanent manager or do contract renewals for exsisting players.

 

[Guest CaPiTaL cHaP]

I'm going to guess that when Ashley says 'i'm not spending another penny of my own money' he means that the club can operate within it's means but he won't top up in anyway. That's fine, neither did the previous board. However, the previous Board did allow the Club to flex it's muscle in the transfer market and it seems Ashley isn't, either because we haven't got much left or he wants to make the club more attractive by not spending (debatable tactic).

 

If the club can pick up some more 'potential' for a decent price then it should still be looking to do so. it's the under investment in the 1st team that's been the crux of our problems.

 

Of course, Wise may be scouting to get a list of potential targets for his next job 

[Guest]

There was a snippet in The Sun (yes, I know), saying it was he who blocked Krul leaving the club in the summer, because Harper's contract won't be re-newed, and he wants Krul to push Given for the number 1 shirt next season.

[Guest shaun11177]

All this Director of Football thing comes from oh the Spanish/Italians are way ahead of us in football, if they have one we must follow.

Clubs have tried it because they thought it might give them an advantage-Spurs-other clubs because they seem to take all their advice from people associated with Spurs.

Real Madrid-Schuster and Mijatovic cant stand each other-Madrid are successfull but not because they have a Director of Football.

[Willow]

Any player thinking of joining us at the moment would be mad, imo. Other than for the money, what player would join a managerless, effectively ownerless team that has no direction?

 

I can't wait until we get a new manager/owner in because I believe we have a good team that needs squad investment. Until then, we're like a ghost ship...

 

As for Wise, well I see no harm in scouting young players, thats an area we really need improvement in and so far, hes done a good job...all shall be revealed in a few months I'm sure...

[Benwell Lad]

There was a snippet in The Sun (yes, I know), saying it was he who blocked Krul leaving the club in the summer, because Harper's contract won't be re-newed, and he wants Krul to push Given for the number 1 shirt next season.

 

I think natural evolution will have to take place in our goalkeeper pecking order.

Both Foster and Krul have made excellent progress and must be given a chance at some stage.

We have been lucky to have keepers like Given and Harper in the club, but considering ages, salaries and transfer values it may well be time for one of them to go and one of the younger kids to become second choice.