Appointing a Director of Football (supported by a strong, broad scouting network) is absolutely vital to the medium and long-term prospects of the club.
This is the structure that allowed us to make affordable, intelligent signings from around the world by making use of a broad scouting network, such as Mulumbu, Yacob, Odemwingie, Olsson, Koren and others. Compare this with the kind of short-term it signings we've made in recent years - Barry, Lambert, Livermore, Mears, Hal Robson-Kanu, etc.
The difference is we used to recruit younger, well-scouted players with relatively affordable fees and wages with the potential for improvement high re-sale value. This is a sustainable model that allows the club to over-achieve. In recent years, we have regressed to signing overrated, overpaid, domestically-based players who are past their best. This has ultimately resulted in our relegation, and a situation where next year we will require a mass overhall of the squad, probably with limited money from outgoings due to our ageing squad and reliance on loans.
The other benefit of a director of football (and a large scouting network) is you get a continuity in the club's approach regardless of a change in the head coach. This is something that served us well in the Mowbray, Di Matteo, Roy Hodgson and Steve Clarke years - we had an overall direction as a club: the head coach would identify areas in the team in need of improvement, and the recruitment team would come back with a number of well-scouted potential signings who could play in that position. The final decision would then be made by the Head Coach. This allowed us to build year on year.
Realtedly, the Director of Football played a role in giving us a footballing identity, meaning we recruited head coaches consistent with the type of players we were trying to sign and the type of football we wanted to play. Compare this to what has happened since Ashworth's departure (appointing Pardew to play attacking football with a squad incapable of doing it, and signing good footballers like James Chester who Pulis had no intention of playing in his correct position). Crucially, this highlights the importance of hiring the right Director of Football - not just anyone (as Burton was a disaster in the role due to a lack of contemporary footballing knowledge).