Who is the best or next coach for a club? This roundtable discussion with a panel of seasoned sporting directors gives us their expert takes on the subject.
Across the world of elite football there is an increased emphasis on the importance of effective succession planning within the managerial recruitment process, with a key focus on a more proactive than reactive approach.
Through our long-standing relationship with the Association of Sporting Directors (ASD), this roundtable discussion seeks to understand the global question of who is the next or best head coach for a football club. This is regularly a question that sporting directors, CEOs and owners face.
The roundtable features the following speakers:
- Stephen Ward: Director of Football at Solihull Moors FC
- Paul Jenkins: Director of Football Development at Burnley FC
- Khalid El-Ahmad: Sporting Director and Chief Soccer Officer at Minnesota United
Read on for a summary of each section of discussion, before viewing the full-length recording to take in all of the insights.
“Clubs spend so much money on recruitment departments for players. And yet one of the most significant appointments we're all going to make is the Head Coach”
Paul Jenkins: Director of Football Development, Burnley FC
Why succession planning recruitment is important?
Selecting a new Head Coach is a huge decision to make and can be fraught with danger leading to relegation, fan negativity, player unrest, reduced turnover from compensation payouts and cost of replacement of support staff, to name just a few possible negative outcomes from making the wrong appointment.
In contrast to player scouting, coaches have predominantly been recruited with little or no evidence, mainly this is done through conversations with a trusted network of contacts. However, this approach can be flawed with human cognitive biases, which poses a risk, especially when there are more modern and efficient methods of scouting and recruitment than can be integrated with data and technology.
Game model and KPI’s
Clubs spend so much money on recruitment departments for players and yet one of the most significant appointments a club will make is the Head Coach. So allocating sufficient internal resources to ensure succession planning through scouting, shortlisting and monitoring potential candidates is crucial. This scouting and monitoring process must be benchmarked against a clear set of defined KPI’s based on a club’s game model.
Using an external data analysis tool to assess and build profiles on Head Coaches based on the game model they are implementing is crucial in the role of succession planning. Whether that game model is the model you are currently using, or if it's a model you aspire to use in the future - the latter point is especially true in the case of an incoming or predicted change in level within the league structure due to promotion or relegation.
A strong and defined set of KPIs allows for a more refined filtering process of eligible Head Coaches who are being monitored. It is crucial that these KPI’s are agreed upon across all internal stakeholders, from the boardroom, to the staff who manage data analytics and technical committees.
List Creation
The average tenure of a Head Coach is around 13 months. EFL Championship clubs tend to make around 15 to 20 managerial changes per season, in League One and League Two this is around 12 to 18.
In terms of player recruitment, clubs are constantly watching games and constantly watching players develop, so it has to be the same in terms of the Head Coach role.
Listing the correct Head Coach candidates requires the candidates to fit the strategic needs of the club in a way that is measurable. An external data provider is a key supporter in populating the shortlist of candidates based on an agreed set of KPIs.
Shortlist and monitoring
How often should a managerial shortlist be reviewed as part of the thought process behind long term succession planning? It's easy to check in on that list when you need to because there's speculation about the incumbent Head Coach maybe being courted by a rival, or if results aren't going well. But even when things are going well, how often should a club review their shortlist?
A shortlist must be ongoing throughout the duration of the Head Coach’s tenure, because there are going to have candidates on your list who are signed up to other clubs. There's also going to be other candidates that emerge and will be added to the list - consistent monitoring is required to ensure this shortlisting process is efficient.
Decision and negotiation
When the time comes to make a managerial change, Interview processes, selling the club to candidates and resolving differences in opinion between club decision makers are some of the key factors at play.
There is the potential for tension in terms of different opinions of internal staff who have interviewed a particular candidate. How does a club deal with the challenge of these tensions and effectively arrive at a decision?
When it comes to succession planning, how can a club work transparently through the process to showcase the rationale, the data, the methodology and the findings, before presenting that to the decision makers.
Click here to watch the full recording of the roundtable discussion with the Association of Sporting Directors
