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Director of Football

Lazy Nov 9, 2020 Last modified: 17 Oct 83,579 views

An in-depth guide for the Director of Football role in Football Manager.

The position of Director of Football in Football Manager is a difficult one to really see the benefit of if you have never used one before. After reading this guide you will know more about this role and the responsibilities that he has in Football Manager.

What is a Director of Football?

As the name already states; he is the director of football at a club. That means he is the ‘director’ of everyone who is involved with football.

His responsibilities have changed over the years, also with the addition of the Technical Director. The Director of Football is now only responsible for matters that involve the first team.

Essential Attributes for a Director of Football

The standard essential attributes needed for the role of Director of Football are:

  • Judging Player Ability
  • Judging Player Potential
  • Negotiating

Important attributes

Next to the essential attributes there are also some important ones

  • Adaptability
  • Determination
  • World Knowlegde (or at least knowledge of the league you play in)

Possible attributes

And finally there are some attributes he could be needing, based on the plans you have for him.

  • People Management
  • Judging Staff Ability
  • Working with Youngsters

His role in Football Manager

The role of Director of Football is not an essential one in Football Manager. You could easily do your job successfully without him.

However, if you are looking to delegate some of your own responsibilities, the Director of Football could be a very useful member of the backroom staff.

The Director of Football will only perform the responsibilities that have been assigned to him. That could make him unnecessary at your club. Ever responsibility you can give to your Director of Football could also be given to someone else. meaning it could lead to him not having any responsibilities at all, apart from extending your contract.

Still very handy

Despite him not being essential, he could make your life much easier.

And you should also keep in mind that not signing a Director of Football and not delegating responsibilities to him will result in those responsibilities being assigned to one of the board members, for whom you will not be able to view their attributes and profiles. They could even be doing a worse job!

Responsibilities of a Director of Football

In the responsibilities tab on the staff screen, you can see all the different responsibilities you can assign to a certain staff member, including yourself. When you enter the responsibilities tab for the first time, most of them will be automatically assigned to you.

Below we will show you all the responsibilities a Director of Football can perform in Football Manager.

Staff recruitment

If you are not to fund of searching for staff members or renewing their contracts every season, you could ask your Director of Football to do this for you.

Director of Football can hire or fire:

  • Head of Youth development
  • Chief scout
  • All other staff

From Football Manager 2020 and onward you could also use the Technical Director for staff recruitment.

Transfer responsibilities

A Director of Football can assist you on the transfer market. To perform these tasks with the best results, he will need high ratings on both Judging Player Ability and Judging Player Potential.

Transfers Incoming

These responsibilities could apply for all teams at your club.

  • Finds and sign for players
  • Negotiating player signings
  • Finalising Player Signings

Transfers Outgoing

These responsibilities could apply for all teams at your club.

  • Initiating Player Sales
  • Negotiating Player Sales
  • Finalising Player Sales
  • Finding Development Loans for young players

Offer to clubs

You can ask the Director of Football to offer out players for you that you have marked. He will then follow certrain instructions:

  • Alert clubs the player is available for a X percentage of his value (from 0% to 200%)
  • Transfer list player and set as 'Surplus to Requirements'

For loans

The Director of Football can also offer out players for loan (ideally done by the Loan Manager). He will offer out players for you based on a set of instructions which you can edit.

Contract renewals

The Director of Football could assist you with negotiating and renewing contracts for players and staff members at your club.

Essential attributes

  • Judging Player Ability
  • Judging Player Potential
  • Judging Staff Ability
  • Negotiating

The Director of Football could decide on contracts and handles negotiations for:

  • First Team players
  • Youth players
  • Backroom Staff members

Scouting

The Director of Football could also be used to instruct and assist the scouting team in many ways. However, we would give you the advice to hand these responsibilities to your Chief Scout.

The Director of Football:

  • Sets assignments for the scouting team
  • Updates you on the players your scouts have found

Youth Development

The Director of Football will also be able to assist you with youth recruitment. If you don’t have a Head of Youth on your team, it is advisable to assign this task to the Director of Football.

Essential attributes

  • Judging Player Potential
  • Working with Youngsters

Also look for a Director of Football with a positive personality and matching tactical preferences as yourself to get the best results.

The Director of Football:

  • Brings youth players into the club, and informs you of their development

How I use the Director of Football

To be honest; I never appointed a Director of Football as I always thought he would just take up space on the wage budget. But now I feel completely different as this is a position I always try to fill as one of the first key positions in my backroom staff.

To finalise deals

Simply because this man can make your life much easier and less annoying. One of the things I like the most in FM is signing new players. What I don’t like is pressing the confirm button when completing a signing. Therefore I make him responsible for ‘Finalises first team signings’ and ‘Finalises signings for young players for the future’. This will allow you to make offers and negotiate contract terms, while he will be there for the confirmation and finalisation of the transfer. That are at least 10 to 15 clicks less each season…

Unwanted players

Another area I will leave in control of my Director of Football is the Unwanted list. After each season I will make an assessment of my players and I will try to remove any deadwood from the team. Instead of the frustration of offering out players time after time, I instruct my Director of Football to do this for me.

It is very easy to use and it has made my life as a manager much easier. You tell him the transfer fee you would like to receive for a player, instruct him which type of clubs to look for or exclude and let him do all the work for you. By being in control about the transfer fees and possible destination, I will prevent that a player will be sold to a rival team for a ridiculously low fee.

To conclude

Since I have signed a director of football in Football Manager, my life as a virtual manager has become much easier! I recommend every player to sign one!

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