Jump to content

The Coaching Staff


NUFC

Recommended Posts

I don't think he's a bad coach by any means, just he's had a whirlwind of a career path and I think people are perhaps realising that the reputation around this prodigy of a coach is perhaps a bit of a myth. He shotgunned out of Dundee to Rio/Valencia because he got on well with Nuno on a coaching course. I got the impression that he's a great text book coach with a ton of theory. I still wish him well though.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe he would have been better taking a smaller job first and learning the man management side of the job.  Massive difference between coaching and being an effective manager on that side of things and it's not really something you can learn on a course.

Link to post
Share on other sites

http://www.thefootballlife.co.uk/post/163574190511/george-weahs-cousin-is-ian-cathro-doomed-at

 

 

George Weah’s Cousin - Is Ian Cathro doomed at Hearts?

 

The tale of Ali Dia is perhaps one of the most entertaining bits of entirely innocent skullduggery in the annals of modern football. Player tries to get a club in the UK, ends up in non-league looking out of his depth after failing at trials at various lower league English clubs. Soon after, one of Dia’s mates calls up Graeme Souness, says that Dia is the cousin of then international superstar George Weah and that he should give him a look. Souness, doesn’t give him a look and, instead, signs him to a one month deal doesn’t see him play a reserve game due to weather and, instead, puts him on for his debut in a Premier League game, replacing Matt le Tissier as a sub, gets subbed himself and then is quickly released after Souness realises he’s been had.

 

It’s an undeniably funny tale, made all the more entertaining by the fact that it happened to Graeme Souness. And some could be forgiven for thinking that it’s happening in Scotland. Ian Cathro might have brought with him extensive references from Rafa Benitez among other football luminaries, but if you were to tell Hearts fans he was a journeyman who had never and would never make it, then many of them might just think that you were right. Is this the right hand man to Rafa Benitez and a man who sowed the seeds for a near impeccable generation of Dundee United youth talent. Or is this some chancer who locked that guy up in a cupboard, made a pretendy CV and is actually some lookalike called Steve, from Coatbridge who is second cousin to Garry O’Connor?

 

There has certainly been precious little evidence that Cathro is anything approaching even a managerial mediocrity, never mind a managerial genius. This has been a stick used to beat the statistical community with, which is wrong - Cathro’s methodology is sound, but how it is put into practice has varied between ham-fisted and cocked up. The enigmatic recruitment of his first transfer window ended in a mess and the recruitment of his second is all sound on paper, but on the pitch it has led to embarrassing losses to Peterhead and Dunfermline in the League Cup.

 

That isn’t necessarily enough to condemn him on - for Hearts and many clubs, the BetFred Cup group stages is a way through pre-season, rather than to be the finished article from day one. To fire a manager based on having a poor BetFred Cup group would be akin to Manchester United sacking Jose Mourinho because they had a poor International Champions Cup campaign - call it proper competitive fixtures all you like, everyone knows that it’s not quite the real deal.

 

But, as omens go, it’s not exactly a good one. Hearts’ Tynecastle refurb puts them away from home for the first four games, and none are especially nice trips. Pencilling in the first Edinburgh derby of the season as Cathro’s D Day is starting to approach the realms of wild-eyed optimism - it’s going to come a fair way earlier than that.

 

The problem for Cathro isn’t his past performance - some of that is excusable. It’s not the current performance - making a team takes time. It’s that if you conjure up a name, you can imagine they’d do better than Cathro is right now. Robbie Neilson? Definitely. Paul Hartley? Probably. Gary Locke? 50-50. Richard Wilson, writer and opinion breather of thefootballlife.co.uk? Even that bell-end would stand a chance of doing better than Cathro.

 

With the greatest of respect to Cathro, the problem Hearts have isn’t just that they now, on paper, have all of the pieces together, it’s that even if you don’t get those pieces working together as you’d like immediately, you should still be beating a part time side like Peterhead with consummate ease. Their deficiencies now defy explanation save to say that Ian Cathro, however good a coach or different an interpreter of the language of football he is, simply doesn’t have the knack for being the leading man. It is not a question of “will the real Ian Cathro please stand up” - he’s already standing yet simultaneously on his knees.

 

That Cathro simply doesn’t have it is no criticism, nor is it a bad thing. It’s not even something that can be backed up with facts or quantified or analysed. xG or xA can’t explain away why Hearts’ performances have been x-rated. Whatever the human element or characteristic that one needs to be a good manager, Cathro simply doesn’t seem to have. He remains a proven high-class coach and a top analyst.

 

Yes, unquestionably, he deserves a chance to put whatever plan it is that he actually has into effect. But also, unquestionably, we are beyond the point where we can reasonably expect that plan to materialise itself in some sort of cogent manner.

 

Hearts, as mentioned in their season preview on this site earlier this week, will have a good season - either Cathro will come good or someone else will come in, take a team which is undoubtedly a highly talented one, and get them playing.

 

Even now, the balance seems to be tipping inexorably towards it being the latter that will happen and not the former.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Was a lost cause there because of the PSFM that immediately opposed his appointment

 

The results didn't help like

 

Genuine question, do we know if he is any good? Sure I read he was supposed to be in charge of defending when McClaren was here and we were hopeless at defending that season (although I doubt that was all his fault). Obviously Rafa rated him to keep him on so I guess he must have something about him but he was hopeless at Hearts

Link to post
Share on other sites

Was a lost cause there because of the PSFM that immediately opposed his appointment

 

The results didn't help like

 

Genuine question, do we know if he is any good? Sure I read he was supposed to be in charge of defending when McClaren was here and we were hopeless at defending that season (although I doubt that was all his fault). Obviously Rafa rated him to keep him on so I guess he must have something about him but he was hopeless at Hearts

 

I thought he was more in charge of attacking? Either way we were shit :lol:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Cathro always reminded me of another coach I know, who if you put him in a room with kids he'll have them doing dribbling with the ball, ronaldo chopping, etc. within minutes even if they haven't kicked a ball before. He knows his stuff inside out and is an amazing coach, but you put him in a room with anyone over the age of 16 and he just goes blank and shuts down. He's suddenly out of his comfort zone and not sure what to do, or how to act.

 

STARSTRUCK.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Wonder if he'd even fancy coaching again now he's had a taste of the top job. Couldn't do any harm getting him back here but Rafa has his own team and I doubt he'd be arsed.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...