Notts County’s shock Director of Football exit is less about chaos and more about course-correction.
The decision to part ways with Roberto Gagliardi so soon after the window shuts reads, at first glance, like turbulence.
Look closer and it resembles a deliberate reset designed to protect the football side, sharpen recruitment, and give Martin Paterson clean air to shape the squad before January.
Why move now?
The timing appears abrupt but it is, in fact, pragmatic. Once the window closes, clubs can assess the true balance of their squads, the success of their targets, and the alignment between the head coach and the recruitment department. If the ownership concludes that process or personnel are not aligned, acting early in the season avoids six months of drift.
It also creates a long runway to identify and appoint the right successor in time to influence the next window, rather than scrambling in December when prices rise and availability tightens. From a governance standpoint, this is the least damaging moment to make a change.
The recruitment picture
No club gets every signing right, but the pattern matters. When a team loses senior difference-makers and the replacements look piecemeal rather than planned, pressure naturally falls on the recruitment lead. The broader issue is not any single addition, it is the overall squad profile.
League Two campaigns are decided as much by robustness, aerial competence, and repeatability as by flair. If the summer left the squad with congestion in some positions and thin cover in others, that signals process errors: role definition, prioritisation of targets, or the hand-off from scouting to negotiations. Removing the DoF at this stage suggests the owners saw enough red flags to intervene before those choices calcify across the season.
Protecting Paterson’s football
Martin Paterson’s arrival reset the tone in the dugout, and clarity around the technical structure now becomes essential. Head coaches succeed when the recruitment pipeline mirrors their football ideas: the distances they ask players to cover, the type of pressing they prefer, how they build from the back, and what they accept out of possession. If those ideas are mismatched with signings, the team lives in compromise.
The club’s message that scouting and recruitment will continue uninterrupted is important, because it implies internal frameworks, data, and shortlists are already in place. That continuity should insulate Paterson from disruption, while the owners consider whether to appoint a like-for-like DoF, elevate a head of recruitment, or adopt a leaner structure through to January.
Either way, the emphasis must be on serving the head coach’s game-model rather than asking him to bend to the market.
What the replacement must deliver
The profile is straightforward. First, League Two and League One street-smarts: knowledge of which profiles survive Tuesday winter nights, not just which ones test well on data.
Second, dealcraft. The January window is thin by definition, which means relationships, pre-work, and creative structures matter. Loans can be powerful, but they cannot become a crutch. The new lead must bring balance: left-right symmetry, set-piece height, a goalkeeper who fits the build-up picture, and depth where load is highest.
Finally, alignment. The next appointment must share a playbook with the head coach on athletic benchmarks, character filters, and injury risk tolerance. If the successor drives those principles into every shortlist, the squad will look coherent by spring.
Short-term priorities to steady the season
The immediate to-do list does not require a grand unveiling. Codify the depth chart now to avoid over-recruiting one band of the pitch again. Park speculative profiles and prioritise repeatable actions: defensive duels won in the box, decisive set-piece delivery, and transitional pace that translates away from home.
Audit the loan strategy so loanees complement, not define, the core. And tighten the goalkeeper decision pathway so technical fit and reliability trump late-window expediency.
On the training ground, support staff should focus on set-piece yield and rest-defence positioning to squeeze marginal gains while the recruitment architecture is refreshed.
Reading the owners’ intent
This is not a vanity swerve. The owners have consistently presented a club that is method-led and medium-term in outlook. If they felt summer recruitment undershot budget, targets, or tactical fit, moving swiftly is an admission that the model counts more than any one hire.
It also signals confidence in internal processes. The scouting stack remains, the communication line with the head coach stays open, and the door to a smarter January is left ajar. In that light, the decision stops looking like panic and starts looking like governance.
The bigger picture
A DoF departure can become a loud storyline, but results will ultimately quieten the noise. If performances consolidate, if January yields two or three high-utility additions in priority roles, and if the squad regains balance, this moment will be remembered as a sharp turn rather than a skid. T
he lesson for the next hire is clear. Notts County do not need grand promises or glossy dossiers. They need a practitioner who can translate a clear on-pitch identity into targeted, resilient recruitment, work in lockstep with the head coach, and build a squad that looks the same on a wet Tuesday as it does on a sunny Saturday.
Make that appointment, and this week becomes a footnote on the way to a stronger spring.
