Haven't forgotten the Pozo transfersoap story, and how Genk got manhandled, and I think Manning hasn't either.
He has learned, he has been very respectful of Napoli in how they have handled this. I give him full marks for that.
In the meantime, I acknowledge the majority view on the database issue, which is, to paraphrase Zhou En-Lai (the Chinese Premier under Mao): "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice". Tanenbaum (and Masai?) told Manning to get something big done, and he got something big done. Who cares if his way of figuring it out was to google it? Kudos to all.
I think the database issue is subtle and confusing, and it's not black or white. But it gets to the heart of leadership, vision, strategy, and the skill sets associated with winning (a different question than signing players). This is a bigger issue than TFC or sports, in terms of how and when "data" is used, by whom and for what purpose.
If I get into the mood I will make the case on what worries me about that. Maybe later.