By Jake Schuster, founder, Gemini Sports
Norwich and Southampton both did what ambitious Sporting Directors are supposed to do: make their mark with a bold managerial appointment.
At Norwich, Ben Knapper (formerly of Arsenal) brought in Liam Manning, a young progressive coach with a clear philosophy. At Southampton, their new Sporting Director hired Will Still, another rising star in the coaching world with modern ideas and continental principles.
Both looked like smart hires on paper. Both failed miserably.
Norwich and Southampton flirted with relegation while their progressive young coaches struggled to make their systems work. The appointments that were supposed to define these Sporting Directors’ tenures instead threatened to end them.
Then they changed managers. Norwich brought in Philippe Clement. Southampton appointed Tonda Eckert. Different approaches. Different philosophies. Suddenly both clubs are pushing for the playoffs, with Southampton now sitting in automatic promotion positions looking likely to return to the Premier League.
So what actually matters more: getting the manager right, or getting the recruitment right?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth the football world doesn’t want to hear: the manager gets too much credit when things go well and too much blame when they don’t.
The real difference is almost always the recruitment.
A brilliant manager with the wrong players will struggle. An average manager with the right players will compete. This isn’t theory. It’s what we’re watching at Norwich and Southampton right now.
The progressive coaches didn’t suddenly forget how to coach. The tactical ideas didn’t stop working. What changed was either the players finally fit the system, or the new managers adapted the system to fit the players that were already there.
Either way, it’s about the players. It always is.
This is why clubs that obsess over finding the perfect manager while treating recruitment as secondary keep making expensive mistakes. They fire the coach, hire a new one with a new philosophy, then realize half the squad doesn’t fit that philosophy either. Rinse and repeat every 18 months.
The clubs that consistently succeed do the opposite.
They build recruitment infrastructure first. They define what kind of players fit their long-term model. Then they hire managers who can work with those players—or they give managers enough time to shape the squad properly.
Brighton didn’t succeed because of Graham Potter.
They succeeded because they’d built a recruitment system that consistently identified undervalued talent that fit their playing style. When Potter left, they promoted Roberto De Zerbi. Different personality, similar success. Because the players were right.
They had their house in order.
The question isn’t whether you have a brilliant manager or brilliant recruitment. It’s whether your recruitment enables any competent manager to succeed, or whether you’re dependent on finding the one genius who can make your flawed squad work.
Most clubs are stuck in the latter. Chasing the managerial savior while ignoring the fact their recruitment process is still broken.
Get the recruitment right and you can survive managerial changes. Get the recruitment wrong and no manager will save you.
No matter how progressive their ideas sound in the interview.
