A USHL junior team in a town of 60,000 in Iowa became one of the best player-development pipelines to the NHL in American hockey.

The architect: Kalle Larsson.

A Swedish Division-III college player who built a pathway machine.

A thread on development done right. Larsson's @fightingsaints never had the biggest market or the brightest lights.
What they had was a system — a deliberate pathway that moved teenagers to Division I college, and on to the NHL.

The same truth this account preaches in football:

The pathway is the product.

Javier Mascherano on the challenges & realities of managing as a former player: "Playing has nothing to do with managing.
As a player, the decisions are yours.
Now I propose, but the player decides.
It is always more difficult to tell someone what to do than to do it yourself.
And that's where it all boils down."

Directors who do not embrace communication are destined to become an afterthought.

@OfficialBHAFC CEO Paul Barber on the importance of communication: "If I break down my job into small parts, the one consistent theme across those parts is communication & that can be 1-to-1 communication with the owner, 1-to-10 communication with my senior managers; one-to-300 communication with all of the staff or it could be one.."

There is always plenty of buzz around directors when they are first hired.

But success always boils down to acquiring the right talents.

Brian McDermott, newly appointed Director of Football for @HibernianFC understands this: “Everyone will have an opinion on what success looks like, for me – I want to be there for everyone.
I like to involve myself in every part of the football club because I love it.
I love a challenge, I love finding new players – that is a challenge I really relish."

“I never thought I’d be a coach, then I thought that would be all I do, but this is a great position.
It’s a great role, but it helps when you work with a good president like Alex Muzio, who is heavily involved on a daily basis, and a good CEO." “The vision is aligned across the board, which is the dream scenario.
Our budget is restricted and the challenge is we're playing as a top club but we don't have the same history yet."

Long term success requires a shared vision.

In one word: Alignment

Smart directors can use examples in other sports to gain insight.

@HoustonRockets GM Rafael Stone on what alignment means in their current process: "I think alignment is really important.
To a certain extent, maybe the single most important one is myself & Tilman.
But then it goes Tilman, me, Stephen, assistant coaches, players — and not just your starters, but all your players.
I think it’s really important."

2023 U23 Profile Watchlist for @SuperettanSE : Henry Offia @tffdirekt
Melker Widell @landskronabois
Nole Milleskog @oskfotboll
Isak Dahlqvist @OrgryteFotboll
Erik Ring @HelsingborgsIF
Kofi Fosuhene @landskronabois
Robin Dzabic @landskronabois
Linus Mattsson @AIKSkvde
Marcelo Palomino @afceskilstuna
Jaheem Burke @VSKFotboll

2023 U23 Profile Watchlist for @AllsvenskanSE : Alexander Jensen @bpfotboll
Oscar Uddenas @bkhackenofcl
Tashreeq Matthews @siriusfotboll
Luke Le Roux @VarbergsBoISFC
Oscar Pettersson @bpfotboll
Hugo Larsson @Malmo_FF
Hampus Finndell @DIF_Fotboll
Jeppe Okkels @IFElfsborg1904
Sebastian Nanasi @Malmo_FF
Mileta Rajovic @KalmarFF

2023 U23 Profile Watchlist for 21 @eliteserien : Akor Adams @LillestromSK
Filip Jorgensen @oddsbk
Emil Breivik @Molde_FK
Kevin Krygard @FKHaugesund
Hugo Vetlesen @Glimt
Christopher Bonsu Baah @Sarpsborg08
Ole Blomberg @skbrann
Joel Mvuka @Glimt
Albert Gronbaek @Glimt
David Wolfe @skbrann
Sivert Mannsverk @Molde_FK

"We have a different theme every day, so that the kids are constantly surprised.
We change the surface, the balls, the formations.
And we place a lot of responsibility on the players.
After all, they want to enter professional football." "When I have new parents of a talent with me for the first time, I show a video of Barcelona, from the good times. Then after ten minutes I ask how many formations they have seen.
They often say 2 or 3, but there are 13."

Paul Brandenburg • Academy Director • @AZJeugd

5 Italian managers to monitor ahead of the summer: Vincenzo Italiano @ACFFiorentinaEN
Alberto Gilardino @GenoaCFC
Fabio Grosso @Frosinone1928
Fabio Pecchia @1913parmacalcio
Filipo Inzaghi @Reggina_1914

Decision making.

Being a smart director is about consistently making good decisions.

@Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on the essence of his role in American football that parallels directors of football & sporting directors in world football: “When you think about this job, the job is about making decisions, building consensus in the building, combining different sources of information into one answer & having everybody behind it.
Along those lines, I don’t think there’s many people more qualified than I am."

Mykhaylo Mudryk was sold in the last transfer window to Chelsea.

But @FCShakhtar_eng still have 14 players from their youth setup in their 1st team: @FCShakhtar_eng •Dmytro Topalov
•Andriy Boryachuk
•Oleg Ocheretko
•Andriy Totovytskyi
•Dmytro Kryskiv
•Danylo Sikan
•Viktor Kornienko
•Oleksandr Zubkov
•Yaroslav Rakitskyi
•Artem Bondarenko
•Yukhym Konoplya
•Valeriy Bondar
•Georgiy Sudakov
•Anatoliy Trubin
•Mykola Matvienko

Shakhtar Donetsk grabs deservedly grabs a lot of headlines for player development.

But @dynamokyiven deserves credit too.

Here are 17 players developed in their youth setup that are in their 1st team: @dynamokyiven Nazar Voloshyn
Bogdan Lednev
Georgiy Tsitaishvili
Kostyantyn Vivcharenko
Oleksandr Andriyevskyi
Denys Boyko
Ruslan Neshchere
Denys Garmash
Vladyslav Dubinchak

Youth development in football is not for the faint of heart. There is no instant gratification usually.

But the clubs that stick to their beliefs long term have such an advantage.

Roland Breugelmans, @KRCGenkofficial Academy Manager, details the club's humble focus on youth: “We had two sites until 2002.
We didn't see each other, we didn't even have offices.
I started with provincial schools.
They were 38 & Paul Heylen didn't want to get rid of anyone.
I ended the year with 28 players.
Now, a nucleus only has 18 or 19."

Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward.

Ruben Jongkind left Ajax in 2015 over concern implementing the Cruyff Plan, Johan Cruyff's vision of youth development.

Jongkind landed at @fcvolendam with manager Wim Jonk.

Here's the vision at Volendam: "Wim & I were like magnets & became close.
We began to develop these ideas about taking an individual approach to coaching young players.
We spoke about these coaches who only wanted to win the match at the cost of everything else when it came to youth development."

Leadership is about more than good recruitment, analytics & winning trophies.

It's about leading people.

Sporting Directors in football can always learn from other sports.

Here is Toto Wolff, @MercedesAMGF1 Principal in @F1 on leadership: 1 • Set the Highest Standards

Details matter. From top to bottom.

"When I walked into the garage 10 years ago, it was messy.“
Now we’re cleaning the floor every time the car has been in there."

9 managers in France to add to your shadow list: Romain Revelli @usldunkerque
Hervé Della Maggiore @FCVB_officiel
Damien Ott @USAvrMSM_Off
Habib Bèye @RedStarFC
Stéphane Le Mignan @USConcarneau
Cris @FCVersailles78
Olivier Guégan @FCSM_officiel
Philippe Hinschberger @AmiensSC
Franck Haise @RCLens

4 managers in Portugal to add to your shadow list: Filipe Martins @casapiaac
Paulo Alves @MoreirenseFC
Ricardo Sousa
Luís Castro @slbenfica_en

6 profiles in the Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnokság II. to keep an eye on:

• Kristóf Tóth-Gábor • CF • [Pécsi MFC]
• Rajmund Molnár • CF • [Haladás]
• Yasin Hamed • RW • [Békéscsabar] • Mátyás Kovács • AM • [MTK Budapest]
• Mario Simut • RB• [Haladás]
• Ágoston Bényei • CM • [Diósgyőr]

The @undervalu Sporting Director's Manual: Decision Making

https://twitter.com/undervalu/status/1582990626961838080?s=20&t=8JSc49n4k9g9zqBncwLXBw