Appointing a manager is an incredible gamble but the risks can be mitigated, especially at a club which is successful or even pointing in the right direction. In this case, clubs should look to build upon whatever platform they have. Bringing in a new guy with a team development strategy which is completely different from the existing plan accentuates the risks.
This is why the boot room strategy is successful over any extended period. Build on what you have, sign players needed by the squad and who have been scouted extensively. The new man may or may not prove to be the world’s best coach but at least he’ll have a successful infrastructure to insulate the club from lurching into oblivion.
When Gordon Strachan succeeded Martin O’Neill, Gordon picked up a scouting folder, flew to Poland and got on with the development project, much as Martin would have, had he stayed. Celtic were technically no less successful when Tony Mowbray took over in 2009 but the team, and strategy, were tired. A change of direction was appealing, we couldn’t continue to sign Hibs players, although the execution of the new strategy was flawed. The writing was on the wall from the moment we signed £3.9m Marc-Antoine Fortune.
Neil Lennon was an enormous gamble when he was appointed in 2010. He was a rookie, had never signed a player, won a trophy (as manager), or deployed a game plan in anger. There were a few facts in his favour. He’d worked with the other coaches at the club, as well as chief scout, John Park, and Peter Lawwell. For years, they shared a development vision. Celtic retreated into a strategy closely aligned to the vision of the remaining technical staff.
Despite the Scottish Cup semi-final debacle against Ross County Neil got the job, spent much of the next year learning a few painful lessons and hasn’t looked back since. The club gambled on the guy with ultimate responsibility, but they knew he was not about the step out on a ledge.
The time to have a root-and-branch clear-out is following a John Barnes-type season. The manager was wrong, as was tactics, scouting and team development plan. Martin O’Neill brought with him radical and necessary change. This worked at Celtic but, if anything, it is even more risky than appointing a rookie. The lower leagues of England are full of clubs who have gambled unsustainable money on a manager only to come a cropper.
There are gems out there, Pochettino and Simeone, for example, but finding them is a challenge. Pochettino pitched up at Southampton after being sacked by a hugely underperforming Espanyol, and Simeone got the Atletico Madrid job after several years of average-to-poor returns.
Big Davie Moyes was a good manager at Everton but watching him at Manchester United was a bit like watching him 30 years ago in a Celtic shirt. He started by dismantling whatever platforms were in place and served notice he would be following a Haphazard and Wasteful player recruitment policy on the final day of last summer’s transfer window by blowing all his pocket money on a guy he didn’t need and refused to sign for less money a few weeks earlier. He had to go.
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1
my first
Top 3?
pod
God Bless Wee Oscar
let me thank…….
Get in?
LG will score goals in Europe
Afternoon,all.
I’ve sent out updates for the dayoooot/hootenanny to as many people as I could find on my contacts page.
Still on May 10,but a wee change to starters orders.
If anyone hasn’t received it-and I apologise!-or would otherwise care to join us in a carefree afternoon of revelry (warning:alcohol may be involved,but is not a requisite) please mail me at
bmcuwp@gmail.com
Cheers,hic….
Hail Hail Top 10
KINGLuBO
Has anyone heard anything re The CQN Aberdour Golf Day?
JJ
Aidybhoy,
The CH trolls are here. They aren’t talking about football. They are talking about footballs.
Still reckon young Stevie May could do us a good turn, and the price will be right tooo
KINGLuBO
KITALBA
DONTBRATTBACKINANGER asked the other day if you would mail him,please.
Good to see ya back on,bud b
Pope acknowledges Philvis
THUNDER ROAD
Enjoy yer day,mate.
Birthdays don’t happen every day.
It just seems that way as we get older….
BMCUW
What do you mean here? Is it separate from the, ` Sorry ,bud.` bit?
“Sorry,bud. I’ll proxy that from JJ too…”
JJ
BMCUW:
Thanks and thanks.
I’ve just replied to him.
btw… I never got an invite.
Not sure if Van Gaal is the answer. His best work was 20 years ago at Ajax.
The following is the 2nd reply I received from my MP re Armed forces day at Ibrox. It seems that some internal action was taken by the Armed Forces:
You may recall that we corresponded about your concerns at this event last year, which I raised with the Secretary of State for Defence and also with Major General Nick Eeles and had sent on a reply to you from the Minister for the Armed Forces.
The response from the Minister for the Armed Forces made clear that the MoD were concerned at the behaviour of some of the Armed Forces personnel which, at that point, were the subject of disciplinary action within the army for those affected and that there would be careful consideration about how any further events would be conducted in the future.
Earlier today I met with Major General Eeles to underline the concerns you expressed – and with which I completely agree – about the need for the Armed Forces to act in a non-prejudicial way in protecting the public from all parts of the UK. While we no longer have troops serving in Northern Ireland in the same way as had been the case in the past, the way in which such incidents are viewed in Northern Ireland remains a sensitive issue. Major General Eeeles undertook to me that the seriousness of the way in which some of the Armed Forces behaved, and also interacted with some of the crowd while pitch-side at Ibrox, was appreciated and understood by the Armed Forces, and that action had been taken in relation to individual personnel even though Police Scotland had not laid any charges. I also reiterated concerns about future events of this sort – and that while it may be entirely appropriate for Armed Forces Day related events to take place (I have attended the flag raising ceremony in Hamilton alongside veterans and elected members from all parties in the last couple of years) the need for any events (if there are any – and nothing has been confirmed for this year as yet) at Ibrox or any other sporting venue to be planned and undertaken with rigour to ensure there is not a repeat of what happened last autumn. I was given reassurances that this was well understood and appreciated by the Army in Scotland specifically, as well as by the forces more generally.
Although it is some time since you wrote to me, I did want to update you on my meeting with Major General Eeles as I appreciate it is something you feel strongly about.
BMCUW
I replied to your email details re the cqn hootenanny, I’m looking forward to it amigo HH
BMCUWP,
Mailed you bud…time to download something to watch on the nightshift.HH
Media sources suggest that David Moyes lost the dressing room, aye right! He never had it in the first place by my reckoning. Make no mistake, Moyes is a good manager. The loss of his job is down to the players, well 90% of it was. I’m no lover of Man U but watching them play without giving 100% is nothing short of disgraceful. They lose the ball, do they try to get it back? No, someone else will get it for me is the thinking, a scandal. Moyes biggest error of judgement was giving Rooney the new OTT contract. How many of the Man U team would get in Barcelona, Real, Chelsea or Liverpool I wonder? Not many, yet a couple of years ago, these same players may have done so.
Strange, very strange!!
KINGLuBO
KITALBA
I don’t have your addy,but I would be honoured if you made it.
JUNGLE JIM
AIDYBHOY complained about a non-footballing post.
I was guilty. The post after his was yours.
About golf!
BMCUW … I would love to make the hootenannay but my daughter is making her First holy Communion that day so i will be otherwise engaged. Have a great Day Oooot everyone.
VMHAN
Got it,bud.
Thanks very much.
Might see you at the Aberdeen game if yer there. Depends on whether I can escape my sisters’ shackles….
Bobby Murdoch
My annoyance was at Billy Bhoy 05, no-one else. Fed up coming on here and he is trying to turn every topic into a referendum debate.
No offence was meant to anyone else. :)
beatbhoy
12:35 on 22 April, 2014
Thunder Road (repost)
Didn’t think you were, mate. I can understand people getting fed-up with it all. I’ve said my piece, and don’t intend to keep pointing out what I see as ‘Sevconian Incorrectness’ to fellow Celtic fans, who basically have the same feelings about this whole farce as I have.
Students can be at Paradise for a fiver against Caley Thistle
By: Newsroom Staff on 22 Apr, 2014 07:31
IN a season that has seen the likes of Darnell Fisher, Liam Henderson and Eoghan O’Connell graduate from Celtic’s Youth Academy to make their mark on the first-team, we’re giving students the chance to come along and enjoy a match for just £5.
This Sunday, April 27 the Champions play host to John Hughes’ Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and if you’re a student you can take a break from your studies and come along to the match at Paradise for just a fiver.
This great offer follows on from this week’s announcement that 2014/15 Celtic Season Ticket prices includes a special Student Ticket at £199 – the equivalent of just £9.48 per match – details of which can be found at celticfc.net/because
To take up the offer for the Inverness Caley Thistle each student must present their valid matriculation card when purchasing and can buy up to two tickets each from the Ticket Office at Celtic Park or selected Celtic stores in Argyle Street, Sauchiehall Street, Clydebank, Coatbridge, East Kilbride.
Alternatively, students can buy ONLINE* or by phone on 0871 226 1888**.
Those choosing either of those options will be required to pick up their tickets from the Ticket Office at Celtic Park upon presentation of their valid matriculation card up until the 3pm kick-off on match day.
There are a limited number of Student Tickets available at this special price so make sure you buy yours early to avoid disappointment.
The good news doesn’t stop there, Standard Tickets are also available at a reduced price for this match with Adult tickets just £20, Concessions £10 and Kids Under 13 at £5 also.
Glasstwothirdsfull
Yes, very strange. Think that was the reason for the ‘temporary’ membership. The terms of the ‘transfer’ had still to be decided at the time of the Brechin game.
I was encouraged yesterday that the news that George Peat & Gordon Smith’s opposition to Mike Mulrany’s proposals must mean the Alloa man is doing something right.
But then, I looked to see what the proposals were and it does look like a money grab. It is popular and populist to deride the “blazers” and “placemen” which populate the committees of the SFA, an organisation with a long history of doing our club down.
So, why am I uneasy?
Well, I remember the lengthy unpaid hours undertaken by match secretaries, disciplinary committees and referee organisers in clubs the length and breadth of the country, representing schools teams, church teams, development league teams, pub teams, amateur teams, juvenile and junior teams. Even before we reach the legitimate target of the characters who thrive in the upper echelons of the SFA, we have slandered and diminished the activities of countless grassroots activists who keep football going in this country. These are not masons, placemen or incompetents; they are ordinary blokes prepared to give up a couple of evenings a week, in addition to their weekend playing commitments, to provide Scottish boys, girls, ladies and men with a game to play.
I link an article from the Herald this morning, which should give us pause to reflect on this issue. Have the pro clubs and pro Youth set up achieved great things for player development in Scotland? They have, in the past, been guilty of churning up players, hoovered from other clubs, and spitting them out as disillusioned and bitter players.
I am prepared to give the Mulrany proposals serious consideration but I’d like to see them first before I decide that they must be good because Peat & Smith oppose them.
Herald article on grassroots football
Kit
If you make it to BMCUWP’s do ye might no’ get back tae Brisbane….hic
‘There were a few facts in his favour’ – not least the fact that nobody else wanted the job.
BMCUWP- thanks to you and ole Old Tim excellent CQNer Kitalba and I are in full contact.
My youngest is going to work in Queensland for a year from September, so I’ll have to go out and check the dunny for spiders ;/)
Waiting until the end of the season to deal with Leigh Griffiths is a disgrace if he gets a ban we lose him for the start of the new season rather than if he is dealt with now any ban would be completed by the end of this season another disgrace in my opinion.I am sorry to see David Moyes losing his job at Man.Utd.given time im sure he would have turned it around my bet to replace him is the special one and it will cost Utd. a fortune. H.H.
All Moyes needed in that team was the likes of van dyke, Biton, and lee Griffiths , and he would have made the top four next season in a canter.
Ok CQN.
My wee healthy, never-smoker, clean-living 69 year young Mum started chemo and radio yesterday for stage 3 lung cancer.
Not fair is it. And nothing more than a nagging cough as a symptom.
The odds aren’t good. But she’s a wee fighter in her own demure way.
And she’s profoundly religious as is my Dad.
So could those of you who pray give her a wee minding in your thoughts. And for the heathens among you, if ye dinnae cross yourselves you might think about crossing your fingers and toes for her!
Thank you.
HH jamesgang
ST Renawal pack received.