The messy 'chess pieces'
On the morning of December 24, the Vietnamese football world witnessed two notable changes in V-League teams. Hanoi Police Club (CAHN) temporarily suspended coach Gong Oh-kyun, not allowing this strategist to take charge of the match between CAHN Club and Binh Duong Club in round 8 of V-League 2023 - 2024, taking place at 7:15 p.m. on December 26. Mr. Gong's Korean assistants were also not allowed to continue working.
The right to lead the team in this match has not been assigned to any individual. But according to many speculations, Technical Director Tran Tien Dai will return to the coaching chair to take charge of the team. Mr. Dai has led CAHN Club for 4 matches since the 2023 season until now, with a record of 2 wins and 2 draws.
Coach Gong Oh-kyun was suspended from directing the match between CAHN Club and Binh Duong Club.
Unlike CAHN Club, HAGL has not "checkmated" the head coach (Kiatisak Senamuang), but has appointed Mr. Vu Tien Thanh to the position of Technical Director, just a few days after Mr. Thanh took over as director of HAGL Academy. More notably, HAGL assigned Mr. Vu Tien Thanh to co-lead HAGL Club with Kiatisak in the match against Hanoi Club on February 27.
Thus, HAGL will have two "generals" at the same time on the coaching bench. Although in theory, Mr. Kiatisak is still the head coach, but the actual power must be divided in half for Mr. Vu Tien Thanh.
Two events with different personnel changes, at different teams, but converge at a common point: the complexity of the position of Technical Director.
In top football leagues, the Technical Director holds a senior management role, in charge of non-football aspects of the club, including business, image, transfers, and regulating relationships between the board of directors, coaches, and players. Meanwhile, the head coach has full authority over football coaching.
It is quite normal for the Technical Director to sometimes have conflicts with the Head Coach. However, these are two separate roles, "river water" does not interfere with "well water". Each person has a task, and each task requires a very specific set of professional skills to operate effectively.
Coach Kiatisak under pressure after HAGL's 8 winless matches
However, in many Vietnamese clubs, the position of Technical Director has a different role. The person appointed as Technical Director is, in fact, no different from a backup coach, ready to take the coaching seat in case the head coach is fired. The head coach then either leaves the team, or can be reappointed to the position of... Technical Director that has just been vacant.
The rotation between technical directors and coaches has been going on for a long time within the V-League. The late coach Le Thuy Hai was the technical director of Binh Duong Club (2013 - 2015) or Thanh Hoa Club (2016), although his influence was no different from that of a head coach.
Mr. Le Huynh Duc, when joining Saigon FC in the second leg of V-League 2022, also took the position of Technical Director, while Mr. Phung Thanh Phuong took on the position of Coach. But perhaps it is difficult to deny the professional role (although it seems not to be the right role) of Le Huynh Duc.
Or coach Tran Minh Chien, after not achieving good results with Ho Chi Minh City Club, was transferred by the team's leadership to the position of Technical Director. Recently, The Cong Viettel Club appointed Technical Director Thomas Dooley as head coach, and coach Thach Bao Khanh took the position of Technical Director to replace Mr. Dooley.
Unpredictable fluctuations
Arranging a potential coach to be the Technical Director to be ready to replace when needed is a solution chosen by many teams because of its outstanding advantages. That is, that person will have time to observe the team's operation, get acquainted with the people, so that when sitting in the head coach's chair, he can work immediately.
On the other hand, the vacant Technical Director position can then be filled by the head coach who has just lost his job, as a... compensation.
Coach Thach Bao Khanh lost his position as "captain" and was transferred to the position of Technical Director of The Cong Viettel Club.
Looking at previous developments, we can predict an uncertain future for the current coaches at CAHN Club and HAGL Club. Mr. Gong Oh-kyun has not lost his position yet, but with last season's coach Tran Tien Dai now taking the position of Technical Director, the swap could happen at any time.
Similarly, letting coach Vu Tien Thanh, despite being the technical director, have equal command authority with Kiatisak, could also be a hidden message that the HAGL leadership sent to the Thai strategist.
Normally, teams always hope to change their "general" to change their fortunes. But in V-League, this is not always true, sometimes it is counterproductive.
CAHN FC, after replacing Mr. Tran Tien Dai with Gong Oh-kyun, has failed to win 4 consecutive matches in the V-League. Viettel FC just lost 1-4 in the first match under coach Dooley.
The V-League coaching scene will continue to change, especially after the upcoming 50-day break. However, after the change, will the situation be better for teams changing coaches? It is impossible to know.
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