Pat Nevin says Eddie Howe must bring 'connections' to Celtic if he is to stand any chance of succeeding in Scotland.
The pundit believes the 43-year-old and incoming chief executive Dominic McKay can also forge a strong bond by drawing the battle lines from day one.
The former Bournemouth boss wants Richard Hughes as his sporting director at Parkhead with the pair working closely together in the south coast.
With McKay set to take charge in the boardroom, the three men will have to strike up a quick understanding as they look to rebuild Celtic after a season to forget.
And Nevin, who served as CEO of Motherwell before resigning in 2002, says responsibilities must be communicated clearly from the start.
The former Chelsea star, speaking on Sportsound, said: "The director of football can be a myriad of things. It depends on what they want from him," Nevin said on Sportsound.
"Part of it might be recruitment but there's a lot it can be.
"Before you make that decision, you have to make sure you know and everybody knows where the lines are drawn.
"If you don't know where the lines are drawn, there will be arguments, there will be fights, there will be confusion and there will be falling out.
"Make sure you have those in place, and if you do that, then it's a very do-able thing.
"But you've got to make sure the chairman has a relationship with the manager. It's so important, and if you don't get it right, you're just designing problems for later."
He went on to outline Howe's credentials, but says he will have to bring more than just his coaching nous if he is to get it right in Glasgow's east end.
With a number of new faces needed in the playing squad, Nevin reckons Howe's connections will be as important as his managerial skills.
"He could be the Arsenal manager just now if he wanted to be," Nevin went on. "He's very highly-rated and very capable.
"But it's the other things you look for. The technical stuff and knowledge of the game, fine, but they might be looking for something else.
"What can you bring with you, who can you bring with you in terms of players and links.
"Looking at Celtic and Rangers recently, sometimes you need to have guys who know the right people in the right places that can get loans.
"If you can do the right thing there, that's a big thing to bring with you."
