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Backroom & executive staff


SweMag

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On 21/12/2021 at 17:32, rgk_lfc said:

 

Have to disagree a bit on that statement. Once FSG fired Kenny Dalglish, their first real appointment was the manager of Swansea. That was also the time they setup the current version of LFC transfer committee. Members of that include Edwards (who was number crunching at Portsmouth and Spurs before that), Julian Ward (Played for Morecambe, scout for City and had a informatics background), Graham (Phd in Physics background and working in a sports analytics company and was at Swansea for sometime I believe).  Did not exactly scream elite. Those appointments along with Klopp set the foundation for our league and CL win. 

 

British unis are doing high tech research in data analytics, machine learning etc. Not just Oxbridge, but universities at all levels have high level data mining researchers which are producing graduates with top level data skills. This has led a number of talented young folks who are applying these skills to things they are passionate about like football. Michael Edwards for example had a Bachelors in Information Science. One of the reasons for our success is the analytics team setup at LFC which are primarily these young graduates combined with football folks who understand data.  In terms of scouting and performance analysis,  there is no need to search for them in places like Bayern or Sevilla or Madrid or Dortmund. If you are looking to employ smart scouting, folks like Edwards and Ashworth are as good if not better than anywhere else in the world. 

 

Also appointment of these folks doesn't mean the owners are not going to spend money. It doesnt mean you are trying to get things done on the cheap.  Klopp first choice for left attacker was Gotze. Gotze was showing reluctance to come to England. Edwards and team convinced him to spend more money on Mane. Similarly Brandt was Klopp's first choice. The scouting team strongly advised him to consider Salah over Brandt. Again, we spent more on Salah than what we would have on Brandt. Klopp was reluctant to spend a world record fee on VVD and Allison. The transfer committee pushed for both these transfers. Appointment of folks like Ashworth and Edwards, ensures that you have value and consistency in the transfers, whether you spend 10 or 100 or 1000 million. Their role is not just to get a a 40 million player for 25 million. These are the kind of folks who will state rather than spend 25 million on this player, spending 40 million on the other will have more impact. 

 

 

 

 

Nepotism or not, this is relevant here.

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Just now, ManDoon said:

Can't exactly go to the next Howe family christmas and be like "yeah sorry binned off Andy, the guy was gash!"

 

Howe himself will probably get binned off before his nephew if he's bad at his job. 

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2 minutes ago, ManDoon said:

My massive issue with it, is if he is doing a bad job, Howe is not going to want to sack his nephew. It shouldn't be allowed full stop imo, it's clear conflict of interest. If you were a scout working for Newcastle right now and you'd done a good job then the manager hires his nephew immediately, how does that make you react?

Also, what happens when we get a DOF and he wants to get rid of him due to wanting people with higher reputation or better resumes? Its too iffy for me like.

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1 minute ago, ManDoon said:

My massive issue with it, is if he is doing a bad job, Howe is not going to want to sack his nephew. It shouldn't be allowed full stop imo, it's clear conflict of interest. If you were a scout working for Newcastle right now and you'd done a good job then the manager hires his nephew immediately, how does that make you react?

I presume once we get a DoF appointed, then Howe will have much less of a say. Plus I can’t see him sacking staff - just having a say either way - that’d more be owners etc, no? 

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4 hours ago, ManDoon said:

My massive issue with it, is if he is doing a bad job, Howe is not going to want to sack his nephew. It shouldn't be allowed full stop imo, it's clear conflict of interest. If you were a scout working for Newcastle right now and you'd done a good job then the manager hires his nephew immediately, how does that make you react?

 

I wouldn't think Eddie's influence would stretch to keep the fella place if he was doing a terrible job.

 

I just think we're over analysing something rather than judging the fella on his merits (the nephews), which if you look at Bournemouth over his ten years, he didn't do bad, despite Eddie's ending there.

 

 

Edited by Bimpy474

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It's a basic scout position, not head of recruitment ya? He will just be one of the clogs in our scouting network. Who knows, maybe he can find the next talent from Bournemouth or something.

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He's hired someone he knows and trusts. Nothing wrong with that. I think you'll have to remember our recruitment team is on the bones. We probably need another 30 like him to compete with any of the big clubs. 

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Just now, ManDoon said:

I think it creates a conflict of interest no matter what, I'm just not a fan of people hiring their family honestly. He took him to Burnely as well.  I don't have any strong opininons on  his ability as a scout, I presonally just do not agree with people hiring their immediate family into senior roles. I don't beleive in it really.

 

You gave a fair point, I'm still of the mind we're over thinking it though.

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3 minutes ago, ManDoon said:

I just don't see how any kind of fair recruutment process was followed for this postion? It's basically "my nephew is good?'. I'm not a fan of it in any kind of arena really.

It was that when he hired him 1st time round but this guy has been doing it for a decade now and Bournemouth decided to keep him on after eddie left. 

 

He's his own man now, just the same as Howe bringing in tindal etc...for me.

 

 

Edited by Dokko

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3 minutes ago, ManDoon said:

"Leading recruitment position" make of that what you will I guess.

 

Hmm, thing is we have no idea how good he is. If he is an excellent scout, we should have him whether he is a Howe or a Bruce.

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Some of the criticism over stuff like this really surprises me when you consider where we're starting from. The threadbare corporate structure, the skeleton staff and the absolutely desperate position in the league table has meant the owners had to (at least in the short term) invest in a more traditional 'manager' setup - as opposed to DoF + Head Coach, which is obviously the long-term intention. I'd bet that they're currently relying on Howe to undertake certain roles that they wouldn't ideally have preferred from the person in his position, such is the situation. 

 

So that means appointments get made which don't necessarily align with the long-term vision - in order to address the short-term issues. And I think we can feel okay about that and not worry about how it might reflect (or not reflect) our ambitions of some day competing for Champions League positions, etc.

 

As for the appointment itself, the fact that it's a relative of the manager becomes mostly irrelevant providing the guy is capable of doing a good job. What I find most curious is whether or not this has any bearing on this window.

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42 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

From here on in we're going to receive criticism, no matter what we do and it's only going to get worse the more successful we become. Our fans really need to grow a thicker skin when it comes to the opinions of opposing fans.

I don’t give a shite about other supporters - and I doubt this will hit their radar.

 

Jobs for the boys is never a good look - it’s PFM shite, to be honest.

 

Again, I’ve no idea if the lad would get a job on merit

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I worry that we’re recruiting the wrong way round. I’d rather install a CEO, DoF and other senior roles first and then work down the chain to the manager.

 

This appears to be that we’re giving Howe a huge amount of say (based on some of the reported transfer targets coming from him and now this). That’s not a problem, as long as Howe and the people he surrounds himself  are actually good enough to kick us on.

 

Could work out well, could go belly up. But that’s the case no matter what they do it. I’m not totally convinced by Howe but happy to see how we grow under him and see what he brings next season assuming we stay up. The target would be a midtable season well safe with no relegation fears.

 

I worry with Howe that he’s very safe and bringing in all of his already knowns from Bournemouth and Burnley. That doesn’t align with a club as others have said with aspirations of challenging for the title in 5-10 years.

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