Couple things I'd like to pick up on along the analytics theme. There's a bit of misdirection with the wideboy Khan scion in that he actually is very analytics-minded - but in a splashy USA way indulging all sorts of fly-by-night spreadsheet jockey consultants that has been perpetually at odds with the managers it's meant to serve and the competitive situations the club finds itself in. The lack of cohesion and stability has resulted in several potentially canny signings going astray, similar I'd argue to Villa round about the Sherwood era where they had Adama Traore, Gueye (now PSG), Amavi, Veretout (now Roma) Gollini (just signed for Spurs) unsuited and undeveloped, or even Liverpool's early teething troubles with the likes of Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto who went on to have great careers. (Little time capsule here:
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-klopp-beware-
Now on the other hand, take Cardiff, who I'd disagree have embraced modernity and departed from traditional models in any substantial way - BUT would argue are counter-intuitively "progressive" nevertheless.
Thing about them is: they are the one club who have gone wayyyyy out of their way to maintain continuity and minimise wastage post-Warnock success. The unlovely style of football has disguised the fact they actively and non-obviously lasered in on Harris and Mick (who no one else would have hired, or will hire after) the exact same way Barnsley have scouted Austrian coaches. It's also the case that picking up lower league gems with resale value like Wintle and Ng is something Mick has a great track record with, despite data still only being something he gets the mop & bucket out for. In a funny way it's like they don't need a director of football, precisely because the "traditional model of having an experienced manager and letting him get on with it" has been boiled down to its most narrow, predictable, and crucially, repeatable essence.
So similar to what you're saying about "this idea that there’s one true way to play football", one could argue that the perception of being a forward-thinking modern club in terms of structure and recruitment has become distorted by the currently dominant signifiers of science, pretty football and cosmopolitanism.
https://loftforwords.fansnetwork.co....contenders/#13