Would you prefer an academic IT Manager, one with all the right papers and qualifications, who is very familiar with all the buzzwords, but who cant roll up his sleeves and solve intricate tech problems? I am sure most of you have met this kind of IT manager, and remember him/her well, and not for good reasons.

or would you prefer a person born and bred in the trenches, who has seen and done it all, but happens not to have all the shiny papers.

Because, IMHO, people who have both are either self employed, not available or too darn expensive.