Directors of football are the norm in Europe and are as much a part of the game as the manager. However, in the Premier League it simply doesn't work.
Directors of football aren't in the Premier League thought process, and the thought 'oh he would make a great Director of Football', would never cross any Premier League fans' mind.
The most recent example is ex-England General Manager Franco Baldini at Spurs. Following the sale of Gareth Bale, Baldini got the cheque book and went on a one man crusade across Europe purchasing some of the best young talent Europe had to offer, spending £104 million of Daniel Levy's Bale money.
Despite being one of the hardest men to like in football, Andre Villas-Boas was dealt a difficult hand by Baldini. Replacing Bale was never going to be easy, but imagine being a manager with all that money and having someone else spend it for you.
AVB reportedly wanted David Villa amongst others, but instead found himself with Erik Lamela, Nacer Chadli, Vlad Chiriches and Christian Eriksen. Admittedly not a bad haul, but none of them have reached their potential and that has cost AVB his job.
When you start playing the blame game it gets difficult. Is it Baldini's fault for buying them? AVB for not getting the best out of them? Or did the players need more time to adapt to the demands of the Premier League?
This problem could easily be sorted out by not letting someone else buy a club's players. Then the blame and recognition can only sit with one person - the manager.
As for the fans, blame is sometimes something you need. When things are going wrong you want to know who is to blame. It's natural really. As a fan, knowing that the man managing your club is also in charge of what players he buys makes a difference.
The manager knows the team and knows its strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, the man sitting in an office probably doesn't have as strong an insight and, therefore, is less informed in the decision making process.
Having another person making those decisions for you might feel as if they are standing on your toes, especially if you're not used to it. I couldn't imagine anyone walking up to Sir Alex Ferguson to tell him that his transfer targets were great, but the director of football thought someone else would be better.
All things considered, it is generally hard to find a place for them in the Premier League. From a managers point of view they can be very disruptive, and like it or not they play a major part in their career at that club with the relationship between the two probably having a massive effect of how the season pans out.
From a fans point of view it makes it very difficult to tell who is making the decisions regarding transfers and who is to blame. Whenever the topic of directors of football comes up, the phrase 'too many chiefs and not enough Indians' springs to mind and probably sums up the issue perfectly.
If you want to read more articles by Blair Ferguson visit www.ftbpro.com