New Head Coach - A different approach?

[RIP]

Could the whole structure of the football operation be up for grabs?
Will the new Director of Football and Head Coach roles have a knock-on effect to the other coaching roles at the club?
E.g.
1. Malky Mackay, DOF
2. New Head Coach with experience in forward play and goalscoring
3. David Gray, Assistant Head Coach. Up one level from his previous role as dead ball coach to train on defensive methods.
4. Guilluame Beuzelin, First-Team Coach. Promoted from Academy Coach to replace David Gray and train the midfield transitions.

The previous recruitment model was an expensive disaster. Signing a Manager resulted in THREE faces new to the club e.g. Nick,Sergio and Miguel. They tried to introduce an alien formation of 442 and playing out from the back that many in the team were unsuited to.

Instead of making better use of the squad they inherited, they convinced the Board that another squad churn was required. Meanwhile our rivals kept things simple, minimised player churn and focused upon building a settled team that fought for every point.

Why not bring in just one good, experienced Head Coach and let our home-grown Hibernian FC coaching team develop further under his guidance? Succession planning for the future.

[B.H.F.C]

Doesn’t matter what the title is, if you appoint someone external chances are they bring their own guys. Whether they are called the Manager or Head Coach makes little difference to that. Stubbs was Head Coach and brought his own guys in. Heckingbottom brought Stockdale. Lennon brought Parker. Ross was Head Coach and brought Potter and Craig Samson.

[Unseen work]

I get what you’re saying in theory and like the idea, but I think in reality a head coach/manager needs their own assistant in place and not having one forced upon them

[TrinityHFC]

Could the whole structure of the football operation be up for grabs?
Will the new Director of Football and Head Coach roles have a knock-on effect to the other coaching roles at the club?
E.g.
1. Malky Mackay, DOF
2. New Head Coach with experience in forward play and goalscoring
3. David Gray, Assistant Head Coach. Up one level from his previous role as dead ball coach to train on defensive methods.
4. Guilluame Beuzelin, First-Team Coach. Promoted from Academy Coach to replace David Gray and train the midfield transitions.

The previous recruitment model was an expensive disaster. Signing a Manager resulted in THREE faces new to the club e.g. Nick,Sergio and Miguel. They tried to introduce an alien formation of 442 and playing out from the back that many in the team were unsuited to.

Instead of making better use of the squad they inherited, they convinced the Board that another squad churn was required. Meanwhile our rivals kept things simple, minimised player churn and focused upon building a settled team that fought for every point.

Why not bring in just one good, experienced Head Coach and let our home-grown Hibernian FC coaching team develop further under his guidance? Succession planning for the future.

How many times do you need to start threads on the same topic?

[RIP]

I get what you’re saying in theory and like the idea, but I think in reality a head coach/manager needs their own assistant in place and not having one forced upon them

Thanks for your constructive feedback.

I get that the expected model when recruiting in a candidate from outwith the club is that he expects to bring in his own people? But what impact does that have on our own coaches that we have been developing here at the club?

Every time we recruit a manager we get a different playing style, a different philosophy, a player churn. How can we run a stable busihess when we empower a whole new coaching team to rip up the previous strategy and impose a new one every season?

Its a chaotic way of running a business. Surely we should already have a club strategy and the Head Coach's role is to train the team to implement that strategy with the coaching and playing staff already in the building?

The recruitment of a Director of Football surely allows us to move away from that broken model. To offer our own coaches an incremental promotion pathway, instead of, as with David Gray, considering him for a Head Coach role, before he has had experience as an Assistant?

[Jones28]

Does this ever happen? I’ve never seen an instance of a manager inheriting a full coaching staff before.

[RIP]

Does this ever happen? I’ve never seen an instance of a manager inheriting a full coaching staff before.

It has been a consistent at Celtic where John Kennedy has served under Ronny Deila, Brendan Rodgers (twice) and Neil Lennon.

Just like SDG, since ending his playing days, John has been developed into a strong and respected assistant who maintains continuity of club coaching philosophy and knowledge of player strengths and weaknesses.

In that same time period, our club has mostly been a model of how not to run a football operation. Maybe Malky has been studying the lessons learnt?

[greenlex]

I think in reality it would only really work if you could afford a really big name or alternatively regularly promote from within.

[Jones28]

It has been a consistent at Celtic where John Kennedy has served under Ronny Deila, Brendan Rodgers (twice) and Neil Lennon.

Just like SDG, since ending his playing days, John has been developed into a strong and respected assistant who maintains continuity of club coaching philosophy and knowledge of player strengths and weaknesses.

In that same time period, our club has mostly been a model of how not to run a football operation. Maybe Malky has been studying the lessons learnt?

I meant in the sense that manager/head coach comes in without a team of any description.

I think it's natural that clubs have their own coaches - Gray with us, Kennedy with Celtic - because otherwise there would be a turnover of 15-20 people every time a manager changed.

[GloryGlory]

Does this ever happen? I’ve never seen an instance of a manager inheriting a full coaching staff before.

ISTR that Hibs headhunted Derek Adams to be Calderwood's assistant. That worked out well.

[Jones28]

ISTR that Hibs headhunted Derek Adams to be Calderwood's assistant. That worked out well.

So it's almost as if it's better to have a pre-formed management team come in, rather than plonk individuals in to positions and say "there you go, work with that".

[matty_f]

We definitely should look at 'growing our own' coaches for the Head Coach position for years to come, create a bespoke development plan for them, give them the opportunity to go through their pro licences and get experience working with the first team, perhaps get them out on loan to other clubs etc with a view to having ready made succession plans when Head Coaches invariably move on.

It would need the fans to get on board with not having an exciting name every time there's a change, but in terms of developing the club over the long term, it's a no-brainer and I'm amazed more clubs don't do it.

[RIP]

I meant in the sense that manager/head coach comes in without a team of any description.

I think it's natural that clubs have their own coaches - Gray with us, Kennedy with Celtic - because otherwise there would be a turnover of 15-20 people every time a manager changed.

Aye but the difference is that John Kennedy has been a consistent No2 with a thorough knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the playing squad and where they are on the development pathway. Apart from very short caretaker spells, David has never been higher than a #3.

As I understand it, he was only covering dead ball tactics i.e. Throw-ins, free kicks and attacking corners. Sergio was in charge of formations coaching i.e. Back Third, Middle Thirrd and Transitions. Those advocating SDG as Head Coach are overlooking the fact that this would constitute a DOUBLE PROMOTION.

Signing a Manager and TWO coaches every 8-12 months has squandered millions in pay-offs since 2019. Our bloated squad is another dire consequence of devolving too much power to each year's management team to seek 'their own players'.

The tail has been wagging the dog for years under clueless owners and that's why the football operation has ended up the shambles of Bottom Six and a squad pumped with temporary loans. We needed to get the coaching and player recruitment back under a Football Director control before we plummeted further.

Why not adopt the Celtic model? They've not done too bad by avoiding signing three new coaches every year.

[B.H.F.C]

Aye but the difference is that John Kennedy has been a consistent No2 with a thorough knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the playing squad and where they are on the development pathway. Apart from very short caretaker spells, David has never been higher than a #3.

As I understand it, he was only covering dead ball tactics i.e. Throw-ins, free kicks and attacking corners. Sergio was in charge of formations coaching i.e. Back Third, Middle Thirrd and Transitions. Those advocating SDG as Head Coach are overlooking the fact that this would constitute a DOUBLE PROMOTION.

Signing a Manager and TWO coaches every 8-12 months has squandered millions in pay-offs since 2019. Our bloated squad is another dire consequence of devolving too much power to each year's management team to seek 'their own players'.

The tail has been wagging the dog for years under clueless owners and that's why the football operation has ended up the shambles of Bottom Six and a squad pumped with temporary loans. We needed to get the coaching and player recruitment back under a Football Director control before we plummeted further.

Why not adopt the Celtic model? They've not done too bad by avoiding signing three new coaches every year.

I think Celtic might have a few other advantages over and above their recruitment of coaches.

[Jones28]

Aye but the difference is that John Kennedy has been a consistent No2 with a thorough knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the playing squad and where they are on the development pathway. Apart from very short caretaker spells, David has never been higher than a #3.

As I understand it, he was only covering dead ball tactics i.e. Throw-ins, free kicks and attacking corners. Sergio was in charge of formations coaching i.e. Back Third, Middle Thirrd and Transitions. Those advocating SDG as Head Coach are overlooking the fact that this would constitute a DOUBLE PROMOTION.

Signing a Manager and TWO coaches every 8-12 months has squandered millions in pay-offs since 2019. Our bloated squad is another dire consequence of devolving too much power to each year's management team to seek 'their own players'.

The tail has been wagging the dog for years under clueless owners and that's why the football operation has ended up the shambles of Bottom Six and a squad pumped with temporary loans. We needed to get the coaching and player recruitment back under a Football Director control before we plummeted further.

Why not adopt the Celtic model? They've not done too bad by avoiding signing three new coaches every year.

The Celtic model is driven by commercial income, buying and selling players for profit (which we have lambasted the club for attempting), and being generally "big" in the sense they could buy and sell every other club in Scotland - including their neighbours.

The football operation needs work and there's no denying that, but the "Celtic" model is adopted by very very few clubs, and in fact other than Postecoglou I don't know if there's ever been anyone that hasn't taken at least 1, possibly 2 coaches with them.

The answer - IMO - is something that has worked for us in the past with George Craig as a Head of Football Ops, and is something we are actively looking to recreate with Malky Mackay. Then theres a core group of head coaching staff, with the background staff remaining consistent.

I'm prepared for the club to give David the big job, as long as experience is brought in around him and the recruitment is right. Patience may be required and I very much see this coming season as transitional.

What it's going to come down to is player turnover and recruitment.

[Trinity Hibee]

We definitely should look at 'growing our own' coaches for the Head Coach position for years to come, create a bespoke development plan for them, give them the opportunity to go through their pro licences and get experience working with the first team, perhaps get them out on loan to other clubs etc with a view to having ready made succession plans when Head Coaches invariably move on.

It would need the fans to get on board with not having an exciting name every time there's a change, but in terms of developing the club over the long term, it's a no-brainer and I'm amazed more clubs don't do it.

Definitely some merit in this. Otherwise the alternative is that the managerial merry go round continues. Having young coaches with fresh ideas and having experience of the clubs structure/philosophy sounds like a big plus.

[Trinity Hibee]

The Celtic model is driven by commercial income, buying and selling players for profit (which we have lambasted the club for attempting), and being generally "big" in the sense they could buy and sell every other club in Scotland - including their neighbours.

The football operation needs work and there's no denying that, but the "Celtic" model is adopted by very very few clubs, and in fact other than Postecoglou I don't know if there's ever been anyone that hasn't taken at least 1, possibly 2 coaches with them.

The answer - IMO - is something that has worked for us in the past with George Craig as a Head of Football Ops, and is something we are actively looking to recreate with Malky Mackay. Then theres a core group of head coaching staff, with the background staff remaining consistent.

I'm prepared for the club to give David the big job, as long as experience is brought in around him and the recruitment is right. Patience may be required and I very much see this coming season as transitional.

What it's going to come down to is player turnover and recruitment.

You are right it all comes down to recruitment. We’ve lambasted the club because our recruitment has been poor. It’s a model a club like us should be following but you still have to get the right signings.

[RIP]

It's certainly an area Malky should be looking at. We have hired and fired around 5 teams of 15 managers/coaches in recent years, lurching from playing style to playing style and ending up with a shambolically bloated squad.

Millions wasted in paying off all those coaches that could have been invested in the team.

From the stuff Hibs are leaking to the Evening news, David has been building his coaching team. I'd still prefer if it was an internal coaching crew, with SDG as #2 and an experienced Head Coach.

[matty_f]

It's certainly an area Malky should be looking at. We have hired and fired around 5 teams of 15 managers/coaches in recent years, lurching from playing style to playing style and ending up with a shambolically bloated squad.

Millions wasted in paying off all those coaches that could have been invested in the team.

From the stuff Hibs are leaking to the Evening news, David has been building his coaching team. I'd still prefer if it was an internal coaching crew, with SDG as #2 and an experienced Head Coach.

Setting a structure in place for head coach succession planning is one of the first things I would do if I was running a club. It takes time to get a Pro-licence and spaces on the course are limited but there is nothing stopping Hibs running that level of development internally or looking to see how you develop beyond a pro-licence to raise that bar further.

Figure out what club you want to be in terms of style of play with room to be adaptable within it, and develop coaches who can coach to that style and standard then as they move on, promote internally and repeat.

The benefits go beyond having continuity at the club, you start to be known as the club to go to for talented coaches, you attract better and brighter coaches whose own ideas enhance what you're doing, you move to an evolution not revolution model each time a Head Coach moves etc. so less cost, less upheaval, less need to tear up the first team with each new HC.

When we gave SDG and Daz 4 year deals as they reached the end of their playing careers, I thought it was a great move for this very reason and they've been developing towards this since Jack Ross was in charge.

That's why I'm very relaxed at the prospect of SDG getting the gig, it's a move that's been years in the making.

[J-C]

We ripped up a perfectly good model in Leeann, Craig and Mathie. When Ron took over, he employed BK to bring in extra investment but he never replaced Leeann, Craig and Mathie. Let's hope that MM can get that organisation back at the club.

[greenlex]

We definitely should look at 'growing our own' coaches for the Head Coach position for years to come, create a bespoke development plan for them, give them the opportunity to go through their pro licences and get experience working with the first team, perhaps get them out on loan to other clubs etc with a view to having ready made succession plans when Head Coaches invariably move on.

It would need the fans to get on board with not having an exciting name every time there's a change, but in terms of developing the club over the long term, it's a no-brainer and I'm amazed more clubs don't do it.
Liverpool did it in their halcyon days. Good enough for them etc……………