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23
Aug 2013
09:54 Comments (65)
A Football Club's Structure - Rafa Benitez's view

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Rafa Benítez

I have always maintained that those of us who work in football are privileged. And that’s because we get paid for a job we love and are passionate about. And in my case, I have been lucky enough to have worked in different countries, to have observed different cultures and ways of working, to have benefited from those experiences and this gives me, I believe, some idea of being able to analyse things from a different perspective, from the outside.

When certain people talk about signings, and how to go about them, the market value of players, the reasons why you buy or sell a player, you can see that some of them don’t really know the true situation which can be very confusing for the fans. So in this article I will try to explain my point of view based on my experience.

Obviously I will try to focus on my area of responsibility in the club. That is the football, the playing direction given by the manager or the coach as the case may be.

Club Structure

What you first need to establish when you go to a new club are the aims of the club and the resources available to achieve them. So it is essential to analyse in depth the club organisation, its management structure and their different functions especially if you are in a foreign country.
The rules, the fixture list, the squad, the staff at the club and their roles, the situation regarding players contracts, the environment, the culture, the club tradition… knowledge of all these are essential to being able to take the right decisions. At least for those who are depending on you.

In Spain or Italy there is usually a ‘Director of Football’ or ‘Chief Scout’ who in theory is responsible for signing the Coach and putting the squad together. In the majority of cases, though not all, they usually consult the man in charge at the time, but in many other cases the President or owner, who is in charge of everything, has the last say.

Imagen

(The 2 diagrams are only examples as there are many different structures).

In England though, it is the Manager who, also in theory, is responsible for the football, and therefore has the authority to decide how to put the squad together.

Imagen

In practice, both types of structure depend on one premise: the money available for transfers and salaries. The ‘Manager’ on the one hand, or the Coach on the other, will have to consider the inescapable fact that they can sign only the three or four players on their list. That’s how it is. At least in the case of the ‘Manager’ he can choose the ones he wants.

Make-up of the Squad

As the man in charge of the technical side, you have to decide on the model of play, how you want the team to express itself on the pitch, or at least how you would like them to play. It is important to get to know your players, to talk to them so they can give you information on the composition of the squad and then you have to try to complement it with players who can enhance it and put in to practice what you want to do on the pitch. If you can’t do this, you will have to adapt and trust that they will give you support when you need it.

Then you have the rules governing contracts in each country, and they are also different for teams competing in International competitions. There are leagues where it is compulsory to play at least 5 players from that country, others where there is a limit on foreign signings, and others where there is an ‘A’ and ‘B’ list of players…In the end, each country, each league, has its own peculiarities and you have to know them thoroughly and above all digest them quickly before you put the squad together and / or tweak it.

This is where the plan, the football project, comes in to play, and with owners from the world of business coming in to football, you can only call it a Business Plan. Again I will refer to my own experience. When I went to Italy there was no ‘business plan’. I was only told about it on the last day of the transfer window, when they suddenly and surprisingly said that we were going to follow the ‘Financial Fair Play’ initiative. I will leave it there. In Spain, the continuous dialogue with club officials keeps you up to date on the economic constraints so you know where you are. Although once, I found myself with a surprise signing of a striker by the President on the last day in August because, as he was on loan, he was cheap.

In England, specifically at Liverpool during my first 3 seasons, the Chairman and the Chief Executive kept me informed of the restrictions and options that we had. Later on though, the club structure changed, and over time, ‘business plans’ became more and more important than any football project when it came to making decisions.

Something that should not be forgotten is the analysis of the Academy. Incorporating local players always gives more affinity with the club and sensibly reduces costs. In Italy and Spain the organisation depends on the ‘sporting director’ and the Coach has little input in to it. Nevertheless, in England it can be the case, as happened at Liverpool in my last year, that the Manager has control over the youth system and can follow a style of play in all age groups and with more continuity. Barcelona’s model is popular right now. There is no better or more evident example.

If there are no players at youth level in the club who have the requisite ability, you have to resort to the transfer market.

The ‘sporting director’ or the Manager has to manage a transfer Budget, and on top of that, take players’ wages in to account. A good scouting system is necessary and essential, although not infallible, and the money available in both cases will affect the market you can access. The income from selling and net spend are more important for the Manager than the Coach. The former tries to consider the future of the club and win at the same time. The latter, the way football is going, only tries to win and cost has less importance.

Rules and specific types of organisation

What also has to be considered are different International regulations. Usually the required list of available players is restricted to 25 for the first team and in some countries, like Spain, you can use youth players for up to 5 matches, after which the player has to be included in the first team squad.
In England, you can use the Reserves, which we used to try to develop youngsters by gaining experience so they could move up to the first team. Then you have the U18s. Some of these players, especially if they are coming from abroad, must have professional contracts or you run the risk of losing them to other clubs. This was what people often talked about when I was at Liverpool, either through ignorance or ‘bad faith’, that we signed a lot of players when in actual fact many of them were for the younger age groups and some of them I did not know. In Spain, these signings who join the second team or the youth teams are not considered signings for the first team. And it is the same in Italy.

Champions League Rules and Regulations

Another set of rules that, unfortunately, we always had to take in to account was the local players and home country players for Champions League list. This number has now reached 4 players brought through the club Academy and 4 players of the home country. If you have spent 3 years at the club before you reach 21, you are considered local.
Again there are differences. As Coach, if you can, you plan for your team and the sporting director plans for the squad. But as a Manager you have to plan for the future of the club. At Liverpool one of our priorities was to bring players from abroad and sign them 3 years before they reached 21, like Ayala, Pacheco or Insua. In that way, under the rules at the time, they would be considered local players, saving money in transfers and contracts, with the possibility of including them on the Champions League list. In Spain and Europe in general, as a coach, you are only involved in future planning if you keep winning and you are allowed to stay a few years. Few manage to do it.
As always, these are opinions emanating from my experience and they look to provide football fans and people who follow our website with views from a different perspective, another point of view which maybe they have not been aware of. Finally, a thought that keeps occurring to me is that although you hear something repeatedly, it is not necessarily the truth.

65 Comments Send us your opinions
09/01/12 at 18:23:43 #11
Eddie D
This is a great article. For some of us who follow football deeply but have never played professionally or been involved in club management (a great number of us), this provides a great behind-the-scenes view. Keep up the great work. And can't wait to see you back at LFC (in some management capacity or board-mamber).
10/01/12 at 00:10:30 #12
comebackRafa
Hi Rafa I think its really good you can share your knowledge to maybe make people understand more about the dynamics involved.I think a lot of fans are not educated enough in these matters and maybe this is why the media seem able to portray someone in the wrong light,unfortunately the media i feel can brainwash the public to a certain extent were it snowballs out of control to make it look as though someone does wrong all the time.I believe this happened to you and it made me so angry that the media portrayed you in the wrong light just to try and get headlines.I think the last sentence of your blog sums this up.
10/01/12 at 18:46:03 #13
Keir Howard
Hi Rafa, I have the utmost respect and admiration for your principles and techniques when it comes to running a football club. However, I've often encountered people who had a problem with how you ran the club with regards to youngsters. They would say that the young foreigners would limit the local youngsters opportunities.

Obviously the reserve league structure in this country is not perfect due to the few amount of games reserve teams can play. Man city countered this by being in two leagues. Academy players were beginning to have more opportunities at the enmd of your reign

What would you say to people who criticise your handling of young local players

Response:

Hello Keir, I said in the article, we were not producing players to the level of our team, so I couldn't deal with too many of them.
10/01/12 at 20:16:21 #14
Tim the Red
Rafa you are our Spanish Shankly!
Hope u can return to us soon,and preferably with a proper organisation of the Club being run as a football club and not a "sports venture".
Best wishes
Tim
11/01/12 at 11:24:08 #15
Lena Mistry
Great read Rafa! Miss you loads Still such a great fan YNWA x
11/01/12 at 12:23:10 #16
don the kop
i find it amusing that the press keeps ridiculing ur rotation policy .... when in effect most of the successful managers do it .... may be more than u do ... what can be going so wrong with torres .... not healthy and fitness? but is it the system .. under ur system he was world class, even our cash strapped team was fitting and creative .... give us a basic in sight on what u think is the best for liverpool fc ... not that we doubt king kenny but an inside perspective from the outside will be gr8!!!! 

Response:

Hello, thank you for your support. Hopefully the team will do well again and Liverpool can finish at the top of the table. Thanks.
11/01/12 at 15:32:46 #17
Vernon
Good Article.

Do you think that clubs in England are hindered by the differnce in the structure and rules as opposed to their conterparts on hte continet.?

Do you think that money makes a difference as when u look at a leauge in South Africa that is in the top 10 moneywise but see poor performances from their football both at club and international level?

Hope to see you back at the Reds and complete what you set out to accomplish.

Response:

Hello Vernon, the PL is a very good league, not worst than the others for sure.
Also money makes the difference but also the tradition and culture of football. Thanks.
11/01/12 at 17:17:55 #18
Will
Hi Rafa. Very insightful and explanatory article. I always felt that when "certain people" entered the club that your hands were very much tied.

It's sad that a lot of your alleged transfer targets are now in other clubs doing very well, so it's gutting that "certain non-footballing" people tried to get involved in transfer decisions.

Overall, I think the youth system is England is flawed but with the financial fair play maybe English clubs will finally put some emphasis on their youth.

Would you say, opinion wise, that Liverpool have one of the most promising youth academy around?

How many of the young players do you think can step up to become good players for the first team?

Why is the gap from youth to first team so big? (Taking Barca as an example, they produce a lot of players, also Madrid)

And finally, what takes a player form being a good "prospect" to actually achieving his potential and entering the first team?

Thank you Rafa,

Response:

Hello Will, the U-21 players in Spain can play in second division with the 'Reserve team'. They can compite against the others teams with senior players and it is a great experience for them. I was in charge of the B Team of Real Madrid for two seasons in the second division and they impoved a lot. That could be a difference. You will see these young players at a very competitive level and you can predict who will progress. Thanks.

11/01/12 at 17:26:06 #19
@AdamJohnFay
Good informative read.

We all know that the 'Director of Football' role is becoming increasingly popular thoughout the Premier League.

As a previous manager, do you see the introduction of this role as a benefit to the manager, giving you more time to coach and train your team? Or do you see it as a hindrance with you not having the control you maybe once had? I can only imagine having to persuade an extra colleague of your potential transfer plans & vision for the club could result in some disagreements.

It would be interesting to hear your point of view.

Good luck with the future.

Response:

The relationship between them and the vision of football has to be similar between the Director of Football and the Manager or it will be dificult for both. Thanks.
11/01/12 at 17:44:02 #20
Dean
Hello Rafa,

first I'd like to say thanks from many at LFc for your help with Hillsborough and the families.

What do you think was missing to go one step further and win the league in 2009?

What were the hardest aspects in running Liverpool?

I am doing my coaching badge , first level, and I coach young players U9-U15 any advice?

Thanks Rafa YNWA mate.

Response:

Hello Dean, we did really well this year but United did also well it will be difficult to say in a forum the reason why we couldn't win the title. 
We didn't have too much support the last season.
Be yourself, listen to other coaches and try to be inform. Also keep an eye on our website. Thanks.