Mitchell hired Poch at Southampton. When Poch came here, he wanted Mitchell on board. Mitchell arrived, Levy drove him to drink, and he tendered his resignation in the middle of a transfer window. Poch was very sorry about this. In terms of hiring a DoF/replacement for Mitchell, Poch probably feared a replacement would either be hamstrung by Levy's interference (as Mitchell was), or simply be Levy's man.
We had the right man in Mitchell. He was headhunted by Monaco (they want to implement the Red Bull model), and now they have turned their fortunes around in amazing fashion.
I don't think Poch is against the idea of a DoF, per se. I mean, he is working with one now, is he not?
Anyway, it took him a long time, but Levy finally admitted he was sidetracked by the stadium over the last few years. Said he took his eye off the ball, which is exactly what was driving Mitchell and Poch around the twist, and I can dig out quotes, if you like.
In saying all that, I don't think Poch is an elite coach. Neither am I sure about his eye for a player, so I am not suggesting we'd have a few league titles in the bag if we had kept the squad from rotting, but we'd probably have competed better, yes. Maybe we'd still be potless, but maybe not in a position where we need 4-6 transfer windows to do the necessary surgery on our squad.
