He'll be right too. The club's structure is the worst in the league. It might have worked under Ashworth who was actually good at his job but otherwise its a disaster, everything about it is wrong.
The funniest thing about the clubs structure is it was bought in supposedly to make the club more stable, yet the overturn we've had in players, head coaches and back room staff since Ashworth left makes us the most unstable club in the league.
It's pretty clear Irvine didn't want many of these players, whatever you think of him, no manager is going to be successful if you buy players you think they should want rather than ones they actually want. We saw this problem under Clarke too. Sure we might make one or two concessions but its woeful business and football sense.
The club needs to get back to basics and get rid of this pretentious head coach nonsense. Maybe managers shouldn't have all the power, but we've gone too far the other way and give them no tools to work with. It's the reason we end up taking 6 weeks to get managers nobody particularly wanted anyway.
Every manager we've had has moaned about this system apart from Hodgson who funnily enough was the one we gave the most concessions too, allowed him to sign HIS players, and basically let him do his job.
I'd agree that some of the structure needs looking at- I think head coaches/managers should be able to bring a couple of backroom staff in with them for support, and that Kiely and Downing should lose their "unsackable" status.
I also think, regardless of title, when looking for prospective head coaches/managers, we need to be considering candidates with managerial qualities. Simply being a good coach isn't sufficient, because whatever the job title is, the job itself requires qualities such as leadership, motivation, discipline, and qualities on matchday such as tactical knowledge and effective substitutions. Bewilderingly, its as if the title of "Head Coach" has made Peace think these managerial qualities don't need to apply.
I'd also point to the quality of those people in the structure being as important as the structure itself. For example, the structure worked very well with Ashworth and Hodgson, as Hodgson was a "manager" in all but his title, and Ashworth really knew his football and was a good diplomat. Clearly, Burton and Irvine don't possess the necessary qualities regardless of the structure.
So personally, although the above aspects need changing, I wouldn't agree that a fundamental change in the structure is needed. With the right personnel it could work. However, it will never work as long as Kiely and Downing are unsackable, and as long as we keep appointing cheap "coaches" rather than proper managers.
