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A new board is not a sporting plan. The week a board resets, someone has to own the sporting decisions that can't wait for the new strategy. Sogndal Fotball is the worked example. An extraordinary meeting unanimously elected an entirely new board to serve until the March 2027 AGM, led by chair Egil Mundal. NRK noted the previous board stepped aside in the wake of unrest around former head coach Luis Pimenta. Mundal described a very difficult situation, sporting, economic and reputational. Short-term aim: secure the OBOS-ligaen place. Toward March: a new strategic direction. "The goal is to rebuild trust, rebuild the foundation and gradually take Sogndal Fotball back to the position the club deserves" (my translation). CEO Ingrid Narum stays and keeps following up staff. Interim coach Eirik Bakke was already confirmed through the end of the season. The vote named no sportssjef and no permanent coach beyond 2026. When this applies: any caretaker board, ownership change or post-crisis reset. Between the election and the strategy date sit a run-in, a transfer window and a coach whose mandate has an end date. Those decisions don't wait. Watch out for: - Survival named as the goal with no owner for the decisions that deliver it. - The CEO's staff-care role quietly becoming the whole sporting desk. - Board skills in law, finance and communication mistaken for a sporting mandate. Interim sporting mandate, one page: 1. Who decides on the coach after the interim's last game? 2. Who runs the next window? 3. Who protects the academy pathway? 4. Who signs off, and by when? 5. When does the board review it? Strategy can wait for the AGM. Ownership can't. If your board changed tomorrow, who would own the next coach call?

When a sporting director leaves, assume the recruitment network can leave too. Retention work starts before the last day, not after the first no. Tromsø IL shows the sequence. Sportssjef Lars Petter Kræmer-Andressen left to become Vålerenga's sportsdirektør from 1 October 2026. Thomas Hafstad was named new sportssjef on 6 October, with overall sporting responsibility for the first team and academy. On 15 October CEO William Frantzen confirmed to NRK that scout Endre Nash had declined the club's contract offer. Frantzen: "He received an offer from us and declined it… We worked thoroughly with him to find the way forward. He has now said no. We respect that" (my translation). He framed it as a chance to look for the right competence. Press reports link Nash to a similar role at Vålerenga. Nash told NRK he is in dialogue with another club, nothing is finished, and he had no comment on Vålerenga. That destination is unconfirmed. When this applies: any SD exit, especially to a peer club. Scouts, target lists, travel relationships and trust sit closer to the SD than the org chart admits. Watch out for: - Treating scout retention as aftercare once the new SD arrives. - A live shortlist that lives in one person's head or a shared folder. - Reading press links as fact. Separate the confirmed exit from the unconfirmed destination. Recruitment continuity checklist: 1. Name the key scouts at risk the day the SD resigns. 2. Make retention offers before the SD's last day. 3. Name an owner for the live target list and travel calendar. 4. Budget recruitment succession beside the SD hire. 5. Hand the new SD a continuity brief on day one. Tromsø respected the no. The lesson is timing, not courtesy. If your SD resigned today, who would own your shortlist next month?

Match the intervention to the calendar you actually have. Four games is not a project. It's a run-in. Kristianstad FC is the worked example. With four league rounds left in Ettan Södra, the club relieved head coach Adam Larsson of duties for the rest of the season. He remains under contract through 2027. Former KFC coach Mladen Blagojevic stepped in with the existing staff for the last four games and any playoff, while staying head coach of Vittsjö GIK in the Damallsvenskan and attending some training sessions each week. The club's own table had Kristianstad 13th of 16 after 26 games, in the relegation playoff zone. Vittsjö, through chair Jakob Wikenstål, said yes: "Of course we help each other here in north-east Skåne" ). The board called it not an easy decision, but the right step to give the team the best conditions in the fight to stay up. A full evaluation and the long-term plan for 2027 wait until after the final round. When this applies: late-season crises, short stretches before a decisive fixture, and any moment when a long contract makes a payoff expensive. Watch out for: - A three-year hire to solve a four-game problem. - Park-and-review with no review date or criteria. That's a shrug. - A part-time coach with no clear split of who leads which days. - Declaring the rescue before the table does. Run-in intervention checklist: 1. Count the games and training days left. 2. Pick the lightest option that fits: interim, borrow or staff reshuffle. 3. Write what the incoming coach owns: matchdays, which sessions, who leads the rest. 4. Set the post-season review date and its criteria now. 5. Name what can realistically change: organisation, selection clarity, calm. Relationship capital is a sporting asset, and you can't build it the week you need it. Which neighbour would take your call tomorrow?

Plan first, protest second. A public fight with a funder is a negotiating move, not a budget. SK Sturm Graz is the worked example. The players walked out for a Europa League game at Bournemouth with "Graz" taped over in the crest on their training jackets. They lost 0:3. The protest was against Holding Graz, the city's holding company, ending sponsorship of Sturm, GAK and the Graz99ers from 2027. Sturm's statement, as carried by ORF: "No sport sponsorship, no respect, no appreciation" (my translation). President Christian Jauk said the club had been left in the lurch by its home city, per Kurier and Ligaportal. The detail to read twice: Kurier reported that a federal Court of Audit review says Graz must rethink what it pays for, including stadium rent at Liebenau. Per the city, Sturm and GAK each pay €15,000 per game; Kurier reported the rent would need to be €35,000 to cover costs. The sponsor you protest against can also be your landlord. Sturm's business side saw it coming. In May, ORF Steiermark reported managing director Thomas Tebbich feared further cuts. When this applies: any dispute with a city, a state-linked sponsor, a stadium owner or a league body. Watch out for: - A protest covering a budget hole the other side will spot. - Asking for "respect". Nobody signs that at a summit. - Forgetting the counterparty's other levers. Before you go public: 1. Does next year's budget work at zero? 2. What is the specific ask: amount, timeline, phase-out or ring-fence? 3. List every line of public money and who controls it. 4. Keep your own exit inside the coalition. 5. The sporting side owns the numbers; the president runs the politics. Protest can win attention. Only a plan wins the meeting. What would your club's ask be?

When the reason for a departure is contested, separate what's confirmed from what's claimed, and weigh the channel as much as the words. Hammarby is the worked example. The club confirmed technical chief Adrian Båge von Heijne had resigned and would work his notice. Expressen had reported he was leaving partly because he lacked the say he wanted on player and coach decisions. Hours later the club published an interview with him on its own site; he wasn't speaking to outside media. Per Fotbollskanalen's transcription, he called the reporting absurd and said the big decisions were made united with sporting director Mikael Hjelmberg and CEO Richard von Yxkull. "That disagreements would be the basis for me choosing to leave Hammarby now isn't true, and it makes me a bit sad". His reason: he wants to keep working in football but maybe do somewhat different things. Confirmed: resignation, notice period, his denial. Claimed: the reasons Expressen gave and a reported move to Sirius, confirmed by neither Hammarby nor Sirius. The format backed the people who stay and kept the club in control. That control is also the limit: nobody pressed him on the specific names. When this applies: any leaked exit, yours or a rival's. Watch out for: - Treating unnamed-source reporting as proof. - Treating a club-produced interview during a notice period as independent. Contested-exit checklist: 1. List what's confirmed and what's claimed. 2. Note who produced each account, and when. 3. Ask which questions weren't asked. 4. Give a departing leader one clear on-record channel. 5. Watch the next job title. Controlled formats answer the questions you choose. Do you know which ones people noticed you skipped?

The Saints are 1-4. The owner didn't fire anyone. She said who owns what, in four sentences. On 13 Oct 2026, at the Greater New Orleans Quarterback Club, Saints owner Gayle Benson addressed a 1-4 start, the second year running. Per NFL.com, she announced no changes. "I will not make excuses, and I will not accept this level of performance as our standard." Then the part every future director should study: "Kellen Moore and his coaches are responsible for preparing our players to perform. Mickey Loomis and our football staff are responsible for building a roster capable of sustained success. Our players are responsible for their preparation and execution. I am responsible for holding this organization accountable." Context from NFL.com: three straight defeats, last in the NFC South, defence 31st in points allowed. Why I like it: - It separates preparation from recruitment. In football terms, that's the line between head coach and sporting director. - It puts the players on the list. Said alongside everyone else's job, it isn't blame-shifting. - It names the owner's own job: not picking players or calling plays, but judging the people who do. That's governance. - It makes the next decision explainable. If changes come, everyone knows which standard was missed. The test for a sporting director: could you write those four sentences for your club today? Coach, recruitment, players, board. If you can't, a losing run will show you everyone has a different version. The coach thinks the squad is short, the board blames the coach, recruitment says the coach isn't using their signings.

Promoting the interim during a legal review buys you calm on the pitch. It doesn't fix the building the next hire walks into. Hertha Wels did both inside two weeks. On 21 Sep coach Christian Heinle and manager Peter Huliak left. On 2 Oct the club said that, after changes in board, management and coaching staff, it had brought in the law firm Ecker Pindeus Vogl and a new tax adviser so that "the past is thoroughly worked through" (my translation from German). By 9 Oct the club's matchday guide presented Markus Lackner as the new head coach, not as interim. His first game was a 1-0 win over SW Bregenz, the club's first home win of the season. What I couldn't find: any named successor to Huliak's manager seat. Here's the director lesson. Promoting the assistant keeps continuity while the board deals with governance. That's a reasonable call. But it means the next permanent sporting hire, the manager's seat, will be made into an organisation that is still under review. If I were offered that job, I'd ask what the review covers before I signed anything. What I take from it: 1. Governance first, permanent sporting hires second. Or at least disclose the review's scope to candidates. 2. Internal promotion buys time. It doesn't replace a written sporting brief. 3. Ask what the lawyers' mandate covers: contracts, agent deals, wage arrears, owner loans. 4. An empty manager seat isn't neutral. Without one, the coach and the board negotiate directly. A 1-0 home win is a good start for Lackner. It doesn't answer who runs the sporting side. Would you take a sporting job at a club while its past is still being reviewed by lawyers?

Where your scouts work tells you more about an academy strategy than any mission statement. Schalke just said they're moving theirs. In a Bild interview published around 13-14 Oct 2026, Sportvorstand Frank Baumann talked through the plan for the Knappenschmiede, Schalke's academy, after Ayhan Tumani started as its sporting lead on 1 October. Baumann called Tumani "an absolute expert and our first-choice candidate", and set the investment line: "We want to invest more, in infrastructure, specialists and coaches, but also in players." Then the detail I care about. Bild reports that Schalke used to have more scouts for the first team than for the academy, and that the ratio is now meant to change. Baumann: "We've seen there are one or two spots where we're less well set up." Tumani was blunter: "Other clubs have caught up and in some cases overtaken us. Freiburg, Stuttgart, Hoffenheim or Mainz, for example." Why this matters for a director: academy strategies fail when they stay inside the academy budget. Moving scouts is a first-team resource decision. That's a Sportvorstand call, not something an academy head can wish into existence. And naming four clubs that passed you is a public benchmark. People can now hold Schalke to it. What I take from it: 1. Own the scouting pool above the academy head. Ratio shifts are decided at board level. 2. Say the benchmark out loud. It creates a test you can be judged on. 3. Don't announce investment without a review date. Ask for headcounts and a six-month check. 4. Pair the hire with the resource. Tumani's start only matters if the scouts actually move. Would your club move scouts away from the first team to back its academy?

When an academy coach fails his duty of care, the exit is the easy part. The real job is making sure the next coach can't repeat it. On 11 Oct 2026 Union Berlin announced that U19 head coach Jens Härtel had stepped down. The DFB's disciplinary committee had sought a multi-week ban over "discriminatory remarks in training". Härtel didn't hide: "I made mistakes and didn't live up to my role-model duty in youth football." Lutz Munack, Union's managing director for youth and amateur football: "Jens Härtel behaved wrongly and was sanctioned by us for it." So the club acted internally before the DFB did. Then the part I'd copy. Independently of the case, Union said measures to prevent discriminatory behaviour will become a compulsory part of coach further training at the club. The DFB later made a twelve-week coaching ban final, which Härtel accepted. That's the sequence that matters for an academy director: sanction the person, then change the system. One exit without a training rule leaves the next coach, and the next players, unprotected. What I take from it as a director: 1. Sanction first, then systematise. Write prevention into coach education, and make it compulsory, not optional. 2. Keep player reporting channels open and visible. Union said no personal complaints had reached its points of contact. 3. Fill the pathway seat on a clock. As of midweek the U19 job was still empty. An empty bench in the age group closest to the first team has its own development cost. The case is about one coach. The policy is about every coach who comes after him. Does your academy have a compulsory standard here, or does it rely on good people?

When the coach and the sporting lead leave on the same day, ask one question: who picks the next coach? At ETB Schwarz-Weiß Essen, the answer right now is the board. On 11 Oct 2026 FuPa reported that the Oberliga Niederrhein club, 15th with six points from nine games, had "decided unanimously" to release coach Björn Matzel. On the same Sunday the club said its Sportlicher Leiter, Jürgen Lucas, "will no longer hold his post". No reasons were given for Lucas. Martin Hasenpflug took over as coach. Academy coach Frederik Lach stepped in as interim fitness coach. Why it matters for a director: the sporting lead is often the only structural check on the coach. Take that seat out at the same moment and the board owns the coaching hire directly. That can be fine as a short bridge. It's a problem if nobody decides whether it's temporary or the new model. At this level, merged or empty sporting seats are common. Sometimes by design, often by accident. The thing I'll watch is whether ETB name a new Sportlicher Leiter or let Hasenpflug work without one. What I take from it as a director: 1. Dual exits are one board decision, not two separate HR cases. Explain them that way, in one statement. 2. Decide if the sporting seat comes back. An empty chair changes who owns recruitment. 3. Write a temporary decision map. Who shortlists coaches, and who signs players, until a sporting lead is named? 4. Know whether your club merges seats by design or by accident. If you can't say which, it's the second. If you joined ETB tomorrow as sporting lead, you'd inherit a coach you didn't choose. Would you take that job?

Most coaching deadlines are set by boards in private or by the press in public. At Cherno More, the coach set his own. On 12 Oct 2026 Bulgarian National Radio reported that Cherno More coach Ilian Iliev said he would leave within two months if there was no change in the team's performances. BNR's headline framing: he leaves after two months if there is no turnaround. This is the coach speaking on the record about his own seat, not a board leak. That's rare, and it puts the sporting director in an awkward spot. If you say nothing, you've accepted his clock. The dressing room and the local press now judge everything against two months and his idea of a turnaround, not your review criteria. So the director has three honest options, ideally within 48 hours: - Accept it, and say what "change" means in measurable terms. - Rewrite it, with your own review points and timeline. - Reject deadline football entirely, and explain how the club does evaluate its coach. Any of the three is defensible. Silence isn't, because it hands the framing to someone else. What I take from it as a director: 1. Agree the review measures with the coach before the next bad result. Otherwise his clock becomes the only public one. 2. Decide who owns the message: the director, the board, the press, or the coach. Pick one on purpose. 3. Don't let a coach negotiate his own exit in public. Whether he stays or goes is still a club decision. 4. Respect the honesty. A coach who sets himself a standard is giving you something to work with. If your coach announced his own deadline tomorrow, which of the three answers would you give?

Örebro's board sacked the coach. The sportchef delivered the news. Then he said publicly it wasn't his decision. Who owns the coach call at your club? On 14 Oct 2026 Örebro SK relieved Rikard Norling of his duties, with four Superettan games left. Assistant Patrik Haginge takes over for the rest of the season (club). ÖSK are second from bottom, one point from the playoff place and two from safety (Fotbolltransfers). Chair Lars Larsen: "Det här är inget beslut som bygger på en enskild match, utan på den sportsliga utvecklingen över tid" — not a decision based on one match, but on the sporting development over time. A unanimous board. Sportchef Enes Ahmetovic phoned Norling on Tuesday evening, and told NA he didn't see it coming after the Ljungskile draw. To Fotbollskanalen: "det alltid är styrelsen som bestämmer … Här har jag fått frågan, men beslutet är klubbens och styrelsens." The board always decides; he was asked, but the decision is the club's. He backs it, takes his share of blame, and says walking away mid-crisis would be "det fegaste man kan göra" — the most cowardly thing you could do. Norling joined for 2026 on a two-year deal. Fotbolltransfers credits him with three Swedish titles. Haginge was interim in 2025, when ÖSK survived via the playoff. Board-owned coach decisions are a legitimate model. The problem is when it only becomes clear in crisis week. And Ahmetovic himself calls the trend negative "i över sju år", over seven years. One decorated coach on a two-year deal doesn't reverse that alone. Director lessons: • Write down who owns the coach call before you hire the coach. • If it's the board, say so from day one. • Keep a ready interim. • Don't mistake a famous CV for a strategy. • Too early to judge: four games remain.

"Herr im eigenen Haus." Master in your own house. Before Friday's Westderby, Austria Salzburg's president put the trade-off between member control and outside money in one interview. Speaking to the Krone on 14 Oct 2026, Obmann David Rettenbacher said Austria Salzburg and Wacker Innsbruck share pull, a big fan scene and local roots, but their direction now clearly separates them. His club focuses on "Mitgliederbestimmung" (members deciding) and "wenig Einflussnahme von Externen" (little outside influence). Then: "Zugespitzt könnte man meinen, dass bei uns knapp 2.000 Vereinsmitglieder die großen Entscheidungen treffen, bei Wacker der reiche Onkel aus Amerika." Put bluntly: at our club almost 2,000 members make the big decisions, at Wacker it's the rich uncle from America. He doesn't call that wrong. It's "durchaus legitim", entirely legitimate, and it's why Wacker have around four times the squad budget, by his estimate. "Dennoch sind wir gern Herr im eigenen Haus und geben unser Schicksal ungern in fremde Hände." Even so, we like being masters in our own house and don't like putting our fate in someone else's hands. Why a director should care: the ownership model decides almost everything about your job. Who you answer to. How much money you have. How long you get. What happens after a bad run. Rettenbacher states the price of independence plainly: a much smaller squad budget (his estimate, not a published figure). Neither model is automatically right. What matters is that the model and the sporting ambition match. A member-run club with a quarter of the budget can't promise the same results. Director lessons: • Before you take a job, find out who makes the "big decisions". • Match the sporting brief to the model. • Say the trade-off out loud before a bad run, not after. • Build around what money can't buy: fans, roots, pull.

One body publicly backs the coach. Another reportedly sets him a private deadline. That's the trap a sporting lead has to spot early. Erzgebirge Aue are eighth in the Regionalliga Nordost, 21 points from 12 games, after a 1-0 loss at Greifswald (Tag24, 13 Oct 2026). The members' meeting is on 13 Nov. President Thomas Schlesinger, on the record to Tag24: "Es bedarf in den nächsten drei, vier Spieltagen Punkte" — we need points in the next three or four matchdays. But no ultimatum: "Jetzt mit Blick auf eine harmonische Mitgliederversammlung eine Punktvorgabe zu machen, halte ich nicht für zielführend." Setting a points target now, with a harmonious members' meeting in mind, isn't helpful. He backed coach Khvicha Shubitidze's selection but rejected his excuse about deep-sitting opponents: "Dafür gibt es das Training und die Videoanalyse." That's what training and video analysis are for. Now the other clock. Tag24 reports, confirmed from inside the club, that some supervisory board members have set their own internal points targets for Greifswald, Halle, Zwickau and Jena. The same report says some are unhappy with signings, naming centre-back Daniel Fišl. That's reported, not confirmed on the record. If it's right, the coach is being judged on two timelines, and only one is public. And criticism of signings isn't just aimed at the coach. It's aimed at whoever signs players. Compare Fortuna Düsseldorf this week: Bild reported a two-game deadline for coach Ende that the club hasn't confirmed. One deadline from the press, one reportedly private. Neither is owned in public by the people who'll make the call. Director lessons: • Know exactly who judges you, and on what timeline. Ask both bodies. • Push for one agreed evaluation timetable for the coach. • Have the reasoning for every signing ready before a members' meeting. • If there's a target, it should be owned openly.

Raufoss lost its board chair and its first-team sporting lead on the same day. The club is bottom of OBOS-ligaen and still fighting to avoid bankruptcy. On 12 Oct 2026 Raufoss Toppfotball said on its own site that chair Mathias Engebakken was stepping down with immediate effect for health reasons. Deputy chair Thomas Danbolt and the rest of the board put their seats at the disposal of an extraordinary AGM. The same statement said the organisation had been further weakened because Rickard Claesson, sporting lead for the A-team, had also resigned for health reasons. The AGM is set for Thursday 12 November. That sits on top of an unfinished rescue. Earlier in the autumn the club warned it needed fresh cash, and general partner Nammo declined a new rescue round. The club says the work now is to avoid bankruptcy, secure the licence and keep its place in OBOS. I'm not judging the people. For a future director the structural point is blunt. In one day the club lost the two seats that negotiate with creditors, deal with the licence and run the window. The question I'd ask first: who can sign a contract tomorrow morning? If the honest answer is "the AGM in November", you don't have a working sporting department yet. What I take from it as a director: 1. Separate the rescue from the football plan. Don't hire a coach or open a window while budget sign-off has no named owner. 2. Treat health exits in a crisis as governance events. Document handovers, and don't leave the licence file in one person's head. 3. An interim board buys time, not strategy. Give it a 30-day operating brief: wages, licence evidence, matchday spend. When cash and licence are unresolved, sporting decisions wait until someone owns the budget again.

Remind Him What He Told You He Wants to Be: Rafael Stone and Jordan Ott on holding young players to their own standard. Houston GM Rafael Stone (Hoop Collective, media day in Macao; automated transcript may contain errors), on Alperen Şengün: "he tells me what he wants to be. And I'm like, cool. Let's go… when he falls off that, which… everybody does. Nobody's perfect… it's my job to remind him of what he told me he wants to be and what's going to be required to get there." Rockets Wire: "We hold all our players to a high standard, and especially the young ones…" On building with Durant: going all-in with veterans "isn't like that has a great track record of success… the teams that have had more success have built more organically." Phoenix coach Jordan Ott on rookie Koa Peat (30th pick, 12 players back, minutes scarce): "we all got to put our hands around Koa… he's never not played, and that's probably what's gonna happen right off the bat. Just working through that… telling him and helping him. I hope that what our group does is like, 'It's going to work out; you keep working… you'll get your opportunity.'" The best standard is the player's own—when he drifts, the conversation is about his words. Relationships are built with promises kept (Stone told Şengün he'd visit, and did). Not playing is a development stage that needs managing. Club strategy shapes the pathway: organic build keeps minutes; a returning roster means managing expectations. In every young player's first review, write down what he says he wants to be. Keep the small promises. Plan the "not playing" phase: who talks to him, how often, what he's working on. Make mentoring by seniors explicit.

Two teenagers. Same club. A year apart. One leaves for shared compensation, the other for an Irish record fee. The difference wasn't talent. It was the contract. Sam Curtis, January 2024: youngest player in St Pat's history, 60 appearances, U21 international. He joined Sheffield United "after the expiration of his contract", the Irish Times reported. No fee. St Pat's got training compensation, shared with his earlier clubs. Amount undisclosed. Mason Melia, February 2025: on a three-year contract signed in Nov 2023. St Pat's sold him to Spurs for a reported €1.7m–€1.9m initial (sources differ), plus add-ons and a reported 20% sell-on. Out of contract, the buyer doesn't need your permission and a formula sets the money. Under contract, you set the price, the add-ons, the sell-on and the date he leaves. A contract can also cap your price. Sligo sold Aidan Keena to Cheltenham for about €85k through a release clause that applied only to English and Scottish clubs. Every clause is a pricing decision made years in advance. The lesson: 1. Decide on professional terms by 16, on purpose. 2. Track every expiry date like a fixture list. 3. If you don't offer, write down the cost: expected compensation vs expected fee. 4. Treat every clause as a price. 5. Negotiate the tail: add-ons and sell-ons. 6. Keep the registration history clean. 7. Name one owner for academy contracts. Brexit gave Irish clubs two extra years with their best teenagers. They're only worth something if the contract is in place.

Georgia produced Kvaratskhelia and Mamardashvili. Georgian clubs captured a small share of their value. Kvaratskhelia left Dinamo Tbilisi at 17 after a contract dispute, free to Rustavi per Wikipedia (one data site lists ~€180k). Napoli later paid a reported €10m–€13.3m; PSG paid Napoli €70m plus a reported €10m in bonuses. Mamardashvili went from Dinamo to Valencia on loan, then permanently in January 2022. Transfermarkt says €3.85m; Sporting News reported €850k. Sources conflict. Valencia sold him to Liverpool for a reported €30m. I found no public sell-on clause. The pattern across Dinamo's exits: domestic fees of about €180k to €3.85m, onward fees of €30m–€80m for the stars. What's changed since 2022: • Debuts at 15–17 at Dinamo. • First moves now run west, often as loans with options, instead of to Russia or Ukraine. • Bigger clubs buy direct and early: Newcastle agreed Vakhtang Salia's move in Oct 2024 for a reported ~£890k; he joined at 18. A hint, with a warning: two players with 85+ domestic games before leaving moved up cleanly and earned their clubs more. That's two players, not a rule. Licensing requires five club-trained players in the first squad. It's a floor, not a pathway. The lesson: 1. Long professional contracts, as early as allowed. 2. A sell-on in every sale, even at a slightly lower fee. 3. Price loan options for what the player might become. 4. Track every player to 23 for solidarity. 5. Partner with the federation's elite academy. 6. Name the football jobs.

By mid-June, Georgia's 10-club top flight had made five head-coach changes. Dila Gori used three coaches in six weeks. Iberia 1999 changed coach while top of the table. Turnover isn't unusual. But for most Erovnuli Liga clubs I couldn't find a named sporting director, head of recruitment or academy head in the public record. The coach was the only football role I could fill for every club. That doesn't prove the jobs don't exist. It does mean that when the coach is the only visible football decision-maker, changing the coach resets recruitment, style and youth minutes all at once. Dinamo Tbilisi changed coach in 8th place on 22 April and were 1st by October. The same-day appointment suggests a plan. I don't know who decided or on what criteria. For a development club, that's the cost: a young player in the team under one coach can be out under the next, just when buyers are watching. The lesson: 1. Write the club's football identity down before the next hire. The coach adapts to it. 2. Keep a standing shortlist, so a change is a decision, not a scramble. 3. Set a U21 minutes target owned by the SD, not the coach. 4. Publish the names of the SD, recruitment head and academy head. 5. Use the federation's academy system as a stable backbone. 6. Record the real reason each coach left. "Mutual consent" covers everything. 7. Be able to explain every change in terms of the plan, not the table. Five changes by June isn't a scandal. It's a sign the sporting director job is still mostly unfilled. That's an opportunity.

On 5 October José Antonio Prieto ("Cata"), in his first interview as Osasuna's permanent director deportivo, said that if there is belief in a coach you carry on — and that friendship is no excuse for avoiding a professional decision. A week later he made the call. On 12 October Osasuna dismissed Luis Miguel Ramis. Club statement: "The decision was taken this morning in a board meeting in which the sporting directorate's criterion was endorsed." His staff left with him. Same day: Jagoba Arrasate hired through 30 June 2029 — "the remainder of this season and two more." Arrasate has the second-most matches in club history (256). Bittor Alkiza returns as assistant. Cata had already written the theory. On belief (Noticias de Navarra, 5 Oct): "All our coaches have had difficult moments and they continued because we believed in them. And if there is belief, you have to carry on." On closeness: separate a good personal relationship from professional situations so what is best for the club comes first. An internal promotion still has to own the hardest call. Cata replaced Braulio Vázquez in September after nine years as number two. Weeks later he ends one coach's spell and brings back a club figure with a three-year horizon. Before the coaching change, his first first-team contract move was Iñigo Arguibide's renewal to June 2030 (Marca, 2 Oct; €15m release clause reported). Small signal, clear ownership of the squad file. Get the board to endorse your criterion in public. Osasuna's first sentence protects the director and tells the dressing room who decided. A long contract is not patience by itself. Patience is the criteria you agreed before the next bad run.