Harry Kewell

Think if Ange wants him here, then he’ll be a good addition, so looking forward to seeing what he brings!

There’s also too many comments to quote, but the DOF situation should have nothing to do with Ange tbh, that should be a board level hire.

We definitely need a DOF though, when Rodgers left we had nothing, when Lennon left we had less than nothing in place. If we have a DOF, we can have things in place for transfers and everything else around it. Yes they can leave, but we can hire a new one and still have things in place. The football should be run by football people not accountants.

 

But it is being run by football people. Obviously the behind the scenes roles had no structure, the youth set up has issues, scouting was/is limited and data analytics was non existent.

There has been massive changes already and that has been led by one of the biggest/crazy football guys of them all… Ange. Ange has been putting all this in place with the knowledge and contacts he has gained by being part of the CFG.

For those who are worried about there being nothing left if he leaves? Well the biggest complaint/criticism of Ange was he didn’t bring anyone with him, so why would he take everyone with him when he leaves? This line of thinking doesn’t make sense.

I believe he’ll put in a DoF as the last thing he does from his list of to do. Ange is building himself a legacy, he’s rebuilding the club from the core and he’s doing all this so that when he leaves, he leaves the club in a much better place.

As to when he leaves? I don’t think it’ll be anytime soon and he certainly won’t be leaving for an Aston Villa. Listen to Ange talk, he’s only ever wanted to manage a European club that’s draped in history and you can tell, he already thinks he’s at that club.

 

Absolutely on the money.

 

The football clubs is run by accountants, lawyers, etc. they make all the footballing decisions, so it is run by those type of people. It always has been.

We’ve never had a football department run by football people. It’s always been Peter Lawell and the manager making decisions. I thought that might change when the rugby guy came in but they had a fall out (or whatever) and we went back to the same approach as always.

Am I happy Ange didn’t bring a team in, no. But You’re saying that means what was here before will be here after and that that was good enough. What he had before was not * to be honest, it was not good enough for a club of our size and stature.

My concern also is not that Ange might leave, we all know that it’s a fact he will leave someday, that’s life and I’m ok with that. What I want, is for us to have a structure in place to help improve and bring us up to a modern level and also to be prepared for when the day Ange leaves actually happens.

Another thing you’ve mentioned, Ange putting stuff into place and using CFG, well how do you know that? We’ve had a link with them for years due to the Lawells but we shouldn’t be reliant on that at all, that should be a bonus or bit extra if we need it.

 

Being a manager and a coach are two completey different jobs

 

I could understand the clamour for a Director of Football when it appeared the board were overly involved in decisions and money was being spunked on expensive flops, but signs at the moment are that Ange is making the recruitment/football structure decisions and we're in a better place for it.

Having a DoF who kind of sets a consistent vision or structure for a club and a 'head coach' just focused on delivering that vision on the pitch is one way of doing it, but I don't think that would get the best out of Ange. As he's said himself, Ange has a very clear idea of how he wants his team to play and the players he needs for that to happen, and he seemingly has people around him in Nicholson and Mark Lawwell who work well with him in facilitating that. I think if anything, a DoF could detract from that.

 

Problem with that is Ange’s groupies are already talking him up for a move whenever they are interviewed on YouTube, so what happens when he leaves? Who appoints another suitable manager that is going to make use of all his signings?

 

The absence of a DoF doesn’t mean we don’t have a footballing department. It’s just a different structure at the higher level. The footballing department is and always will be run by the manager and his football staff. In the case of Peter Lawell, he’s taken it upon himself to get a bit dirtier.

Right here, right now, there’s no Peter Lawell. Ange is essentially running the football department as the DoF, with support from the CEO.

Rugby guy couldn’t hack it apparently and got binned. We are better off for it.

I am not saying what was here before will be here after, that’s a total misunderstanding by you. I’ve said what Ange builds here at the club will be left behind.

Ok, time to listen. Since Ange has been here, he’s restructured our scouting department, he’s modernised the data analytics by bringing in people, he’s convinced Mark Lawell who Ange knew from the CFG to come and join him as head of recruiting. This is why we are now scouting markets that we hadn’t scouted before.

The appointment of Harry Kewell has been done to releases one of the first team coaches to go manage the “B” team so that the “B” team has continuity in style of play, so that when our young players step up to the first team, they already know what is going on.

The CFG structure all their clubs under their umbrella the same for continuity. Ange has worked under this structure and seen it first hand. When Ange arrived, he did his own audit of the club, and you can bet he’s based his audit on the CFG model. So what I’m saying is he’s used his experience of the CFG model to put the structure in place.

To reiterate, Ange is already building the club to be in a much better place for when he inevitably leaves.

 

I reckon the answer to that is born through the history of who has replaced Ange. You think Ange was a controversial appointment

 

Totally agree with this.

And, even if some are clamouring for a DoF, do we actually NEED one when it seems to be that Ange and Michael Nicholson are totally in tandem? Why upset the balance?

 

Think the argument is because that’s short term thinking and not a long term structure, which we have been very guilty of in the past. Tbh but I’m not a massive fan of a DoF. Aye, a structure in the background to keep the club running a certain way but a DoF just seems like adding another potential point of aggravation above a manager…

 

We have a football department, obviously. But We don’t have a modern footballing department, that simply cannot be denied. We may have improved the department recently, which wouldn’t be difficult, but we don’t have a modern infrastructure at all. There is not setup for if Ange leaves, nothing in place. What if (hypothetically) Ange gets offered a top job and leaves tomorrow? We’d be *.

My main point for that though, is it shouldn’t be the board running the football department with the manager, they aren’t football people.

Maybe I’ve misunderstood some of what you’ve written, that’s fair but I still don’t agree with what you’re saying.

We use data and we have done since before Ange was hired (we started using data when Rodgers was the manager).

We have hired Anton McIlhone, I believe he replaced Jack Naylor who was head of sports science.

We’ve brought in Mark Lawell to replace they last head of recruitment (can’t remember his name), I’m not going to say it was or wasn’t an Ange signing but it could be. He’s the head of recruitment, maybe he’s making changes, we’ll see soon enough. Still, not an extra staff member.

And lastly (I think) we’ve hired Harry Kewell as a coach and moved McManus to the B team, so still the same number of staff. However, McManus will hopefully bridge a gap from B team to first team.

That’s only 3 appointments. That is not modernising the club and bringing it forward. We’ve possibly hired 1 more person on the data side, or we are trying to right now, which is great.

What happens when Ange leaves though? Rodgers had a reasonably similar setup and we went backwards to Lennon. All the staff may stay, but we still don’t have this proper setup, right now and we don’t have enough either for a club our size competing in domestic and international competitions.

We need a DOF to build a proper setup, a footballing person who will setup a structure for scouting, style of play, youth progression and so on. None of this should be Ange’s job in a modern setup. It means when he does eventually leave, we’ll never be in the same situation where a Lennon gets the job and sets us back a few years.

However, maybe you’re right and Ange will do all of this setup on top of all his managerial duties and leave us in an amazing position (hopefully years down the line) but I still believe we need a lot of change to help us as a football club and we shouldn’t be reliant on Ange doing all this.

Also, realise I’m probably taking the Harry Kewell thread way off topic, so I’ll leave it at that.

 

Our departments like data analysis and sport science are light years behind teams of a similar level.

Ange doesn’t have the authority to hire and fire everyone in the football department. A DOF would. Or should even.

If anyone at the club was serious about transforming us into a modern club with high standards and ambitions, in every single department, we wouldn’t have certain people in key positions we do.

Rodgers made far more changes to the club in the football departments than Ange did yet it was still nothing like what he promised. Deila made changes as well and was calling for * that we don’t have nearly a decade later.

 

I get the argument for a long term structure, but a "long term" structure isn't necessarily based on us having a DoF in place. We've gone...what...134 years with having only one person in that role (one that wasn't exactly a positive one) and have done not too badly. I get at times it could have been welcomed, but it isn't exactly a REQUIREMENT.

I was reading an article from Ange from last November where he basically ruled out having someone in that role. I don't see that anything has changed from a negative stance that would require them to change that ideal and require someone in to bridge the gap.

Got talking to someone who is related to someone very high up at Celtic currently in the coaching set up, said that relations couldn't be better within the coaching camp. Ange and Kennedy highly regard each other, Strachan is very well thought of, obviously Kewell has now come in at the behest of Ange, and quite interestingly McManus has been set the task of building a structure that will hopefully allow a conveyor belt from youth academy to first team - something which I think we can all dream of being a huge success.

Rodgers stated that he shouldn't need to go out and find a £10m player because he should simply look to his academy, that ideal really does need to be realised. I believe this will now become fruitful in the very near future, and that Ange and Nicholson alongside Lawwell will become the beacons at Celtic.

 

I agree mate, honestly I think if we do appoint one, Ange is thinking of leaving and handing over the reigns to a certain extent….



And that would be worst coach in the world here just cos he’s Lawwell’s buddy Kennedy eh

 

Very hyperbolic that lad. What exactly did Rodgers do that Ange hasn't?

 

Exactly.

Ange has already shrugged off suggestions he should get a 3/4 year contract. He's here for the long term (or at least imo 3 seasons) - things are picking up. We have a new CEO in Nicholson and things appear to be great on that front. A new head of sports science (McElhone), the portguese lad in the Data area, Lawwell coming in with his vast CV and contacts into the recruitment role and I believe we are still advertising for other folk in the data analysis role.

Things are good.

 

Gave Danny McGrain a job for life and Spoke to old Patsy every day..

 

Gave her a reason to live, I believe.

What a guy!



As for Danny, my father in law was actually sat beside him at the hydro gig when Rodgers was saying that on stage about Danny and overheard him saying, and I quote, "that never * happened!"

 

Rodgers done a lot of things that Deila tried but wasn’t backed to do.

Deila was the one who introduced analysis at a youth level but Rodgers is the one who started having proper sport science, physiotherapy etc. at youth level. Rodgers also upgraded the practical stuff dramatically like equipment and facilities to more ground staff and a better standard of pitches for training.

This is isn’t me even praising Rodgers. He left it all to rot by the end after a load of empty promises.