[madsteve]

MS, that sounds good in theory but the reality is that very few clubs have any sort of consistent philosophy.  If we are going to have anything remotely resembling a club philosophy then that has to come down from the top of the club and with all due respect to MM and PA, that is not their forte!!  If we are to do this then surely we need a Director of Football to oversea the whole club??

I still think a particular coach can instill his own style and methods onto a squad and get more out of the same group of players with a better formation and more progressive tactics.  I have no problem with 442 if we had the players who could play that formation, so in the absence of that we need a coach who can be flexible and adapt to whats best for the players at his disposal or who he can bring in.

By having a philosophy set up, all our teams from first team down to the juniors all play the same way which means that juniors can step up more comfortably when the time is right.

I remember Johan Cruyff doing this at Barcelona where he switched all the teams to 433. A formation they still use to this day. I also remember him throwing a 17 year old Pep Guardiola into the first team & he settled immediately because it was the system he was used to.