Fred Atkins, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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LONDON - The resignations of Kevin Keegan and Alan Curbishley illustrate why managers must be given the final decision in transfer dealings, the chief executive of the League Managers' Association said Friday.

"Having a director of football working on player transfers can only work when a manager has the final say on everything," Richard Bevan told The Associated Press. "At Newcastle there were three or four conductors of the orchestra. That system can only work when the final decision is the manager's and in the case of Kevin Keegan and Alan Curbishley that clearly wasn't the case."

Both Keegan and Curbishley cited an inability to dictate their clubs' transfer policies as a reason for quitting Newcastle and Charlton, respectively, this week.

Newcastle's player transfers are handled by the club's head of recruitment, Dennis Wise, while Gianluca Nani is in charge of West Ham's dealings.

Bevan believes that having a manager working in tandem with a football director can succeed in some cases.

"Our members have varying opinions," he said in a telephone interview. "It does take away a lot of the paperwork and frees up time for managers. The director of football system, or the continental system, isn't necessarily a bad model, but it comes down to good management and a good structure."

The role of the director of football has come under scrutiny after a series of high-profile failures.

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp knows the pitfalls better than anyone, having had to collaborate with Vladmir Zelic and Avram Grant at Portsmouth and the former England rugby coach Clive Woodward at Southampton.

He is now relieved that he answers only to club owner Alexander Gaydamak and chief executive Peter Storrie.

"I love it at Portsmouth and I have one big advantage over a lot of Premier League bosses these days," Redknapp told the Sun on Thursday. "I've got an owner who lets the manager manage.

"That might seem obvious but, believe me, pretty soon the whole managerial situation will have changed beyond recognition. You only need to look at West Ham and quite a few others. Players are bought and sold without the manager's consent - and even knowledge in some cases. How can you do the job like that?"

When Grant moved to Chelsea in July 2007 as director of football, it immediately prompted speculation that he had been drafted in by Roman Abramovich to replace the incumbent Jose Mourinho as manager - which he did within two months.

And though Luiz Felipe Scolari now enjoys the title "manager" at Chelsea, he freely admits the club's transfer activities are someone else's problem.

"It's not my business," he said. "It's the job of the money men."

The system has also had mixed results at Tottenham.

"When Frank Arnesen was director of football we spoke together about the players to bring to the club," former manager Martin Jol told The Independent.

But Arnesen left to join Chelsea and Jol criticized his successor, Damien Comolli, for spending 30 million pounds (C$56.5 million) on Darren Bent, Younes Kaboul, Adel Taarabt and Kevin Boateng in the August 2007 transfer window.

"I did not have the same relationship with the next man (Comolli)," Jol said. "I felt the squad would be unbalanced with these signings. I think the club wanted to invest in younger players because they wanted to make money on them in the future. The decisions were not being made for football reasons. I knew that in the summer and I realized my position was becoming very difficult."

One reason clubs employ directors is because they don't trust managers with money, yet for all the talk of a so-called "bung" or kickback culture, so far only George Graham has ever been sacked for financial irregularities.

The former Arsenal manager was dismissed in February 1995 after accepting what he claimed was an "unsolicited gift" of 425,000 pounds (C$803,000) from agent Rune Hauge after the transfers of John Jensen and Pal Lydersen to the Gunners.

Since Graham's dismissal, Arsenal has been England's most successful club after Manchester United. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Man U's Sir Alex Ferguson answer only to the club's owners.

"Our managers have got to learn to modernize, to adapt and to cope with the demands of the modern game," Bevan said. "We're not against or for directors of football, but they can only work effectively when there is a clear chain of command, with the manager in charge."