Rousseau

Like Martin... ?

As a hipster, statto VL, of those names, I'm in favour of Martin, Rose, Marsch or Muscat. They have a history of implementing a proactive style of play and of winning league titles - or at least their teams dominate.

Now that a Sporting Director has been announced, next up should be a new manager. I thought I'd create a poll to see where our preferences lie. These are the managers with the shortest odds with the bookies. 'Ave at it! Multiple choices allowed.

St Mirren 0 - 1 Rangers FGS Dessers

St Mirren vs Rangers

A snippet of an Athletic article from February: A director of football does far more than just manage transfers, even if some fans still mistake them for heads of recruitment. Thelwell oversees the medical and sports science departments, the academy and women’s teams and data/analytics. Three years in, his fingerprints are evident across all of them. Jack Nayler, formerly of Chelsea and Real Madrid, was appointed head of sports science in September 2022. Gareth Prosser, Thelwell’s former colleague at Wolverhampton Wanderers, became academy director and Carl Darlington, previously of the Welsh FA, joined as head of coaching. Former player James Vaughan initially returned in the new role of loan pathways manager and now also heads up academy recruitment. There have been promotions for the highly-rated Dan Purdy, now head of recruitment, Charlie Reeves (head of insights) and Matty Hawkes (head of first-team analysis). Data has been moved to the start of the recruitment process, while Reeves produces game reports to be presented to managers and coaching staff. Under Thelwell and Vaughan, Everton’s loan strategy has been revamped, with the focus shifting from winning youth matches to player development. Loans are used for different purposes — to give players the necessary exposure to secure a deal elsewhere and help Everton recoup some money, or to help a potential future first-team player like Harrison Armstrong, who moved to Derby County last week, take the final leap into the senior set-up. Deals contain penalty clauses if a certain threshold of games is not reached. Everton sold Tom Cannon and Ellis Simms for a combined £15m in the summer of 2023 after successful loans in the Championship. Also factoring in the departures of Ishe Samuels-Smith to Chelsea and Gordon to Newcastle, they have made around £70m from academy graduates in Thelwell’s time at the club. They would not have wanted to lose all of those players, but PSR and the financial situation dictated that they had to make difficult decisions. After consultation with staff across all levels, Thelwell, Prosser and Darlington have produced a ‘game model’ to be implemented by every Everton side, with the aim of improving the pathway to the first team. There is a feeling strides have been taken, but an acceptance stocks will need to be replenished at academy level too if Everton are to compete again. It is a familiar picture across the board. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6134154/2025/02/14/kevin-thelwell-everton-future-transfers/

Now that you mention it... Come on down Russell Martin!

To be fair, it wasn't aimed at you. It was aimed at @Yorkie Bear

I'm surprised, but then again, not. He doesn't have a good record in the PL. He's better when his teams can dominate. I wouldn't mind Rangers having a look if he is sacked - I actually had him on my list before he was appointed Leeds manager.

I'm surprised, but then again, not. He doesn't have a good record in the PL. He's better when his teams can dominate. I wouldn't mind Rangers having a look if he is sacked - I actually had him on my list before he was appointed Leeds manager.

I think the reason he's leaving Everton is that (a) the new owners are looking to implement more of a committee structure - a la Liverpool under FSG (outwith Klopp gaining more power latterly) - and (b) his contract is ending. I don't think there's much more too it. Of course, who am I to stand in the way of the doom-mongerers...

I agree, and yet Everton fans themselves seem to be disappointed he's leaving. I found that encouraging.

Sarcasm?

You need to sort out your priorities.

Another point: I do think Celtic have been very lucky with a couple of good managerial appointments, and I also think that they will be on the dip over the next couple of years. Rodgers usually implodes once he has a couple of seasons to bring in his own players, which he doesn't have a good record with (last time he jumped before it got bad). They would need another stupendous managerial appointment. I'm actually quite pleased to see them punt £11m on players. They won't get all of them right and it will quickly cut into their cash pile. This is the time. Get our plans in place and see it through.

Once again we're getting entrenched in a binary argument, when both are valid, IMO. On the one hand, it's certainly true that we are an impatient lot, that are generally unwilling to go through the necessary rebuilding phase and get hooked on a quick fix. We are financially unsustainable. Despite knowing it was front-loaded, we overspent stopping their 10IAR and yet most were still expecting us to keep spending. On the other hand, I do think the solution can be as simple as getting the right appointments and the right structure in place. I do think a good coach solves most of it. I have been of the opinion that we've been dragged one way and the next in terms of planning and rebuilding because we've had too many voices in the boardroom - exacerbated because the fans are too impatient to see anything through unless it bares immediate fruit. I'm hoping the takeover will solve most of these issues.

An xG rolling chart? Woke nonsense. Mine is better...

If you're looking at that record and think it's bad, then we'll have to agree to disagree.

I see your mistake: Koppen only arrived January '24. If I'm being really harsh, I'd say the dud-rate is 5/14. I don't think that's bad at all. (And that's before the clear out he has managed this season which I was happy with.)

In your opinion, of course. Your whole argument is based on 2 players out of 14. (And one of the two you cite I'd disagree with: Diomande is one of our best players, and will be sold on for more than what we paid, IMO.) If that's his 'dud'-rate, he's done better than even I'd argue.

I disagree. We've signed a lot of young, generally inexpensive, players with high potential. He also oversaw the clear out of over 14 players this season alone. Players like Jefté, Igamane, Nsiala, Diomande, Barron and Cameron are the sort of high potential signings we should be making. I'm also a big fan of Kasanwijro, who unfortunately got injured on international duty with the Netherlands. There's no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I think he's made a number of good signings, with the exact profile of player we need going forward. He's also been ruthless in offloading all the previous duds, reducing the squad and wage bill which was necessary. I've argued for a while that we now need to see the acquisition of quality first-team signings, which his clear out should now allow. Punting him would be short-sighted, IMO.

Nils Koppen should and will remain in place. He has been an excellent appointment, IMO.