Backroom & executive staff

[RS]

4 minutes ago, Rafalove said:

Saying what exactly?

Owners clueless. Leaks from the club a joke. Howe the wrong choice and fan expectations-every season (from that ex villa gimp that looks like dobby).  Calling the players a shambles . Calling the club a mess (true)

backroom staff stalling appointment. Pretty shit reviews all round from the panel. 

 

[Kimbo]

I wouldn’t want an appointment to have a positive reaction from the media, they would only be positive about someone from the British managers luncheon club.

[manorpark]

3 hours ago, RS said:

Owners clueless. Leaks from the club a joke. Howe the wrong choice and fan expectations-every season (from that ex villa gimp that looks like dobby).  Calling the players a shambles . Calling the club a mess (true)

backroom staff stalling appointment. Pretty shit reviews all round from the panel. 

 

 

Thank goodness !!!

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

Appreciate the rapid turnaround on the takeover, but a sporting director really should be in place now. 

 

[Scoot]

3 hours ago, RS said:

Owners clueless. Leaks from the club a joke. Howe the wrong choice and fan expectations-every season (from that ex villa gimp that looks like dobby).  Calling the players a shambles . Calling the club a mess (true)

backroom staff stalling appointment. Pretty shit reviews all round from the panel. 

 

 

Wonder why they never said any of this during the 14 years of Mike Ashley which is why we find ourselves where we currently are the fucken thick cunts.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Scoot

[The Prophet]

Interesting that Paul Merson who passionately advocated that Everton apppint Gary Rowatt, simply because he was young and English, now thinks that Eddie Howe is a bad fit for Newcastle United.

[SUPERTOON]

 

[Ben]

3 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Interesting that Paul Merson who passionately advocated that Everton apppint Gary Rowatt, simply because he was young and English, now thinks that Eddie Howe is a bad fit for Newcastle United.

 

TBF if I wanted advice off someone, Merson would not be the top of my list.

[Sean]

I see Eddie Howe as a gamble...one that has every chance of paying off but still a gamble none the less. Would be really encouraging to see a DOF and high level executives with experience of working in successful set-ups, the like of which we would hope to emulate/improve upon in the coming years. Michael Emenalo would be a good fit I feel. Just please not Richard Hughes.

[Guest HTT II]

3 hours ago, Sean said:

I see Eddie Howe as a gamble...one that has every chance of paying off but still a gamble none the less. Would be really encouraging to see a DOF and high level executives with experience of working in successful set-ups, the like of which we would hope to emulate/improve upon in the coming years. Michael Emenalo would be a good fit I feel. Just please not Richard Hughes.

I think any manager whatever the calibre at this stage is a massive gamble, Howe ticks the boxes probably more short-term for me and seems capable of ticking a few long-term too. Although I think we will go down this season, I’m positive good times are coming in the next few years and I’m confident Howe will help us on the way in that respect and be a good appointment, short-term mainly and hopefully long-term. 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2021 by HTT II

[BigValley]

6 minutes ago, HTT II said:

I think any manager whatever the calibre at this stage is a massive gamble, Howe ticks the boxes probably more short-term for me and seems capable of ticking a few long-term too. Although I think we will go down this season, I’m positive good times are coming in the next few years and I’m confident Howe will help us on the way in that respect and be a good appointment, short-term mainly and hopefully long-term. 

 

Quote

 

 

A lot of dead meat can be trown away, sold and so on. Its one way things can go fastere with chanching the squad. IT is not ideal, but the club Will do a lot that year in championchip. 

[Doc]

What he said.

[Bishops Finger]

22 hours ago, Ben said:

 

TBF if I wanted advice off someone, Merson would not be the top of my list.

Same, unless I wanted a canny bag of coke then he might come in useful

[SUPERTOON]

 

[joeyt]

 

 

 

 

[Chapo]

Nee cunt wants to work for us. 

[Dokko]

1 minute ago, CFlan said:

Nee cunt wants to work for us. 

 

Plenty do, just the very best have alternative options. It's good were aiming high though even if that will mean initially some disappointment.

[The Prophet]

Yep, better to aim high and be shot down, rather than settle for mediocrity.

[cosmic]

There was some mention (can't remember where) of the Consortium wanting to have 2 Directors of Football; modelled after Brentford. I found an article that describes how Brentford is set up. Despite PIF's riches, from a business perspective, they will want this to be a self sustaining model in long run.

https://offthepitch.com/a/we-went-working-seed-investor-late-stage-investor-brentford-success-so-much-more-just-excellent?ta=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJlbWFpbCI6InJpYW5hd2FuZ3NhQGdtYWlsLmNvbSIsImlhdCI6MTYzNjM2MDc3M30%3D.NTc0YjdlYTRkZDU4N2FmNTliYWJjYzAwNDkyZGQ4N2NjZmJkYWNlNmExOTk2ZDNlM2JkZTVkNTdhMzgwNWI2OA%3D%3D

"We went from working as a seed investor to a late-stage investor" - the Brentford success is so much more than just excellent recruitment
 

KASPER KRONENBERG [email protected]

"People tend to look at us and tend to explain our relative success with our recruitment model. It is true that we have a good track record identifying undervalued players and selling them with a big profit, but that is just part of the story. I think our player development model is as important as recruitment. The young players we bring in are very rarely the finished developed package from day one, and we spend a lot of resources and money on developing those players once they enter the building.”
 

Rasmus Ankersen, co-director of football at Brentford FC, is fully aware that the Brentford story being told all over Britain - and probably all over Europe - is a story about using data in a different way to recruit players.

And, basically, he doesn't care how people explain the progress of the club - a club with one of the lowest revenues in the Championship - as long as the progress continues. But when asked to explain the strategy behind the progress - many observers would say that they are punching above their weight - he feels that all the people working with player development at the club, in particularly at the B-team, deserves some credit for their hard work.
 

"The B-team is a vital component of our progress over the past few years. The way we organize ourselves in terms of player development is quite different to the traditional academy model.”The summer of 2016 saw Brentford taking a significant step towards finally generating some return on the £2 million investment they made every year in the academy.
 

95 per cent will never survive

"Using investment language you could say that we went from working as a seed investor to a late-stage investor. From investing money in very unmatured talent, players as young as seven, to suddenly not recruiting anyone under the age of 17. If you are a seed investor, you know perfectly well that when you invest money in early stage start-ups, most likely 90 or 95 per cent of those companies will never survive.

"And, basically, you can apply that way of thinking to young footballers when they become part of academies all over the country. The vast majority of them won’t play in your first team and therefore won’t generate a return on investment. The one or two players that get through the eye of the needle will need to pay for investment you’ve made in everyone else," he explains.

According to Ankersen, Brentford were in a difficult position because, even though their academy did a decent job in developing players, quite often the most valuable players - or assets - left the club when they turned 17, leaving Brentford almost empty-handed.
 

"We were competing against the likes of Manchester City, who probably spend more on just youth scouting in London than we did on running our academy. Put on top of that our geographical location with big club neighbours like Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal. So, we were in a difficult position and we felt we had to do something different to be able to compete. Looking at different opportunities, we ended up with the decision to close our academy and create a B-team structure instead.

"That’s where we moved to become a late-stage investor recruiting more mature players at age 17 or 18. The idea is that when you invest in a 17 year old player you pay more for him than when he was 7 years old, but it is justified by the fact that you also have a lot more certainty that he will have a successful career. Looking back at the last three years we are very pleased with that decision," reflects Ankersen.
 

No reason to hide that

Looking at the numbers, Brentford used to spend £2 million a year on running the academy - now they spend £1-1.5 million on their B-team instead. Since the start of the summer of 2016, 16 members of the B-team have made their debut on the first team.

"When you do elite youth development there are mainly two ways to measure success. Are you developing players to play in your first team? And can you sell the players you develop with a profit? At the end of the day talent development is a business, and like in any other business you want a return on your investment.”

 

“When we closed our academy we got a lot of criticism for thinking about it as a business because it involved young people. I acknowledge that an academy can serve other purposes, for example to play a role in the community, but an academy is also a business, and there is no reason to hide that. At Brentford FC we have a very successful community trust that makes a huge difference within the community. That’s not a business, but an elite academy is.”

He explains that to create a B-team was just part of the strategy implemented four years ago by Brentford FC, who are currently in fourth position in the Championship and pushing for promotion - presumably via the play-offs as WBA in second place are ten points ahead.
 

We wanted to break with that model

"In the traditional English club model there is a manager in charge of pretty much both short term and long term decisions at the club. We don’t think that’s particularly good for player development because a manager on average has his job for 14-16 months. If that’s your average life span, how far are you going to think ahead? Probably until next Saturday. Are you going to take a risk playing a young prospect rather than buying an experienced player even though that might be the right decision for the club in the medium to long term? Probably not.“

That is why Brentford have a first-team coach, not a manager, and the responsibility of the B-team is on the shoulders of the two sporting directors.

 

“At Brentford we wanted to break with that model and therefore we don’t have have a manager, but a head coach. His job is to win the games on Saturday, and he needs to be very good at that, but he is not in charge of recruitment and the academy model at the club. That responsibility sits with myself and Phil Giles, and our job is first and foremost to secure that Brentford is successful not only this season but also in five and 10 years.”

“The same goes for player development. You want to take a long term view on that too. When you buy a player, how do you want him to develop?

What kind of player do you want him to be in 1-2 years? It is very difficult for the head coach to take such a long term view on players because the main part of his job is to win on Saturday, and that’s one of the main reasons why we decided a few years ago to appoint an individual development coach who basically has one job and that is to focus on developing our 6-7 biggest player assets.”

A first team without being a first team

“The individual development coach is one example of how we have tried to build a structure around player development that fits our business model. The core of our business is to make a profit every year on player trading so we need not only to be able to find players with potential, but also to increase their value by developing them while they are in the building.”

A key part of Brentford’s player development model is their investment into the B-team which travels all over Europe to play some of the top teams on the continent.

"Our B-team is the closest you get to a first team without being a first team. The number of staff and specialists that help these players develop matches what you see in many first team environments”, says Ankersen.

 

The recruitment at the B-team focuses primarily on two type of players: rejects from the UK and top talents from overseas.

“When we recruit players at the age of 17 or 18 years old it is difficult to attract the best English talent, so instead we are focusing on picking up some of those players who have been released by the big clubs or don’t see a pathway to the first team there. One example is Paris Maghoma who we recruited from Tottenham some months back. We believe he is a player with lots of potential, but making it into Tottenhams first team is very difficult.

"In that way I actually think our B-team is playing an important role for the whole eco-system of youth development because we pick up some of those talented players who are late bloomers or who has got stuck at a big club.”
 

Diverse games programme

“Our second focus in terms of recruitment is small and medium sized countries within Europe. Here, we have a very good story to tell to some of the most talented players. Brentford can be their pathway to the Championship or even Premier League. At the moment we have players like Jan Zamburek and Mads Roerslev who started playing for the B-team but have now broken into the first team. They are both youth internationals for Czech Republic and Denmark.”

Ankersen says that basically what they try to do is to differentiate their product.

“If you are a company in any other industry you need to think about how you can be different and how you make your product unique. The B-team model is our answer to that”

Brentford's B-team play matches against reserve teams from all over the country, and quite often they also travel to the Continent to play reserve teams from clubs like AC Milan and Bayern Munich. Ankersen believes that playing against continental teams will develop the players because they constantly need to adapt to new and varied opponents.

 

"If you are a player in a category 2 academy in England you pretty much only play against other category 2 players in the same age group. We don’t believe that’s the best way of developing players. The key for us is to create a diverse games programme where you play against many different styles of football and different age groups. They might play a classy midfielder from Bayern Munich one day, and a few days later they will play a team in the London Middlesex Cup - where they play semi-professionals on lousy pitches.”

Proximity of role models

Another thing which is very different at Brentford FC is the way they mingle the first team and the B-team. Most clubs "protect" the first-team players by creating an environment in which they are relatively isolated - but Brentford do it very differently.

 

"Some years back I went to Kenya to study why a small town there produce the worlds best marathon runners, and what I saw was that the young talents every day trained alongside some of the biggest stars in the world. I mean, if you run 10 strides behind the guy who won the world championship last year there is a good chance you think: “If he can do it, why can’t I?”.

That proximity of role models is very powerful in a talent environment, but unfortunately in football we are very busy separating our first team players from everyone else because we want to remove all distractions. They almost never see each other, and we tried to change that with the B-team. The B-team players are around the first team players all day long. They eat together, they are in the gym together, and it helps creates belief among the B-team players because after a while they realise that the first team players are just human like themselves. I guess you could say that proximity helps demystify what it takes to become really good," says Ankersen.

--------

FACTS: Brentford set-up

Brentford FC closed their academy at the end of the 2015/16 season and started the B-team in the summer of 2016.

 

The previous set-up:

Brentford FC ran an academy from under-8 to under-16 and then had a Youth Team (under-17 and under-18) and a development squad (under-23 officially).

 

Current set-up - first team and B-team:

22 players on "B-team contracts" for the second half of the 19/20 season, including the two players on loan from Danish side FC Midtjylland.

 

Staff involved with the First Team and B-Team:

Brentford have specific B-team roles for Head Coach, Assistant Coach, Technical Lead, Goalkeeper Coach, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Analyst, Kit Manager and Assistant and Communications Lead. 

 

Facilities:

The training ground has five full size pitches and other grass areas to work in. The B-team have their own dressing room, boot room and gym.

 

Where do the B-team players come from?:

The current 22-player squad has five from England, three from Denmark, three Scots, three Welsh youth internationals, two from France, two from Sweden, a Latvian youth international, a Cypriot youth international, one from Finland and one from Czech Republic. 

 

16 B-team players have made their first team debut the last four years.

 

[The Prophet]

 

[MagCA]

3 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

anybody able to copy + paste pls

[Kid Icarus]

Northern Echo claiming that Michael Edwards is the leading candidate. Good to see that that names being thrown around are all elite level. 

[Manxst]

Very happy if it’s Emanalo 

 

“On 8 July 2011, Chelsea appointed Emenalo as Technical Director of the club. He completely restructured the club's academy, scouting, loan and women's team setups, and is credited as a key figure behind the club's success having overseen the scouting and transfers of key players including Juan Mata, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, N'Golo Kanté, Eden Hazard, and Cesc Fàbregas.”

[SUPERTOON]

He’s very highly rated as is Edwards, both have great knowledge of the league so would be excellent choices 

[MagCA]

5 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

He’s very highly rated as is Edwards, both have great knowledge of the league so would be excellent choices 

fuck it, get both in