You could excuse managers feeling undermined when their club hires a sporting director.
The general feeling is that a lack of trust in a manager exists when a board feels the need to put a middleman in place but Valencia boss Gary Neville is not of that opinion.
Neville, who is still awaiting a league win in La Liga, believes that the fact that his new club have appointed Jesús García Pitarch as sporting director, often referred to as a ‘director of football’ in England, is a positive thing.
“It’s an appointment that the club has been considering and needed for a while,” Neville said after Valencia beat Granada 3-0 in the Copa del Rey on Thursday night, rounding out a 7-0 aggregate victory.
“I met with him last week, I’m happy because when they ask me in press conferences about transfers I can tell them to ask him!
“It’s a good appointment because he can help me a lot, he knows Valencia and knows the Spanish league.
“Today we were together and we have a good working relationship. He’s introduced himself to the players.
“The best thing is that he’s got a great understanding of this club, it’s good to have someone who knows well what the league is.”
