Manageren og hans backroom staff

[GeirO]

Fint at klubbene mine utveksler trenere, blir Bielsakondis på Godset i år.....

https://www.dt.no/26-aringen-stortrivdes-i-leeds-men-sa-kom-godset-treneren-pa-besok-kjemien-var-bare-fantastisk/s/5-57-1308980?access=granted

[GeirO]

Var vel pluss-stoff, så her kommer teksten:

DRAMMEN: Henrik Pedersen dro ikke på studietur til Leeds United i desember i fjor, kun for å lære mer om hvordan det jobbes i klubben som forsøker så hardt å rykke opp fra nivå to i England.

Han skulle også møte Aaron Horne, som jobber som fysisk trener ved klubbens ungdomsakademi.

I flere timer snakket de om fotball og fysisk trening. Da Henrik Pedersen også hadde fått observere hvordan 26-åringen jobbet på treningsfeltet, var han ikke i tvil:

Han hadde funnet Strømsgodsets nye fysiske trener.

â€" Jeg møtte en ung mann med et riktig bra hode, som er veldig sulten og har mye å tilby. Kjemien var bare fantastisk, sier Godset-treneren, til Drammens Tidende.

Kunne ikke si nei

Aaron Horne har jobbet på fotballakademiet til Leeds United i to og et halvt år. Han har utdannelse som fysisk trener fra Leeds Trinity University. Som læring jobbet han gratis som fysisk trener for Bradford City AFC før han arbeidet halvannet år for Burnley Football Club.

I Leeds jobbet han med alle de aldersbestemte lagene. Han har også hjulpet enkeltspillere på førstelaget med å forbedre den fysiske formen når det ikke har vært sesong. Han kjenner også tidligere SIF-trener Dag Vidar Kristoffersen, som nå jobber som lærer ved toppidrettslinja på Drammen videregående skole.

Etter å ha pratet med Henrik Pedersen, ble rådet fra en god venn i Leeds utslagsgivende for at Horne pakket sekken og dro til en norsk klubb han ikke vet så altfor mye om ennå.

Vennen fortalte Horne at han hadde blitt komfortabel i Leeds. Ønsket han å utvikle seg raskere og bedre, så burde han gripe muligheten Strømsgodset hadde tilbudt han.

â€" Han sa jeg kunne få til dette, og jeg vektlegger meningen hans veldig høyt, forklarer 26-åringen.

Horne har vært involvert i Godset siden midten av januar, men er nå formelt klar for å gjøre sitt for at Herman Stengel, Lars-Jørgen Salvesen og de andre spillerne blir bedre fysisk rustet.

Får mye ansvar

Engelskmannen overtar rollen til Torstein Dalen-Lorentsen som valgte å slutte i SIF etter fjorårssesongen.

For Henrik Pedersen har det vært viktig å finne en fysisk trener som forstår hans måte å spille fotball på, og hva som kreves fysisk for å mestre systemet. Dansken er heller ikke interessert i personer som ikke har et brennende ønske om å utvikle seg.

â€" Vi sier vi vil ha unge sultne spillere med høyt potensial. Her har vi en sulten ung mann, sier Pedersen og kikker på Horne.

Han forklarer at Aaron Horne blant annet får en viktig jobb med å følge opp spillerne individuelt.

â€" Han skal forlange veldig mye.

[Asbjørn]

Rob Price har de siste årene vært Leeds' Head of Medicine and Performance. Han fikk gjennom  bl.a. at Leeeds var skikkelig i forkant når covid kom, da var Leeds' planer allerede klare når andre klubber måtte hive seg rundt...

Etter forrige kamp offentliggjorde spillerne et bilde der de uttrykte støtte til Price 'i en tøff tid'.



Nå har Price selv gått ut med at han mistet begge sine foreldre til covid - i løpet av bare 10 dager!



Det er bare å kondolere til familien, og uttrykke samme støtte og sympati som spillerne allerede har uttrykt!

[Asbjørn]

Tidligere i år kom meldingen om at Daniel Arnott tok turen fra Leeds-akademiet og til Strømsgodset og Drammen.

Plutselig er det mulig å intervjue en av de som er tettest på Bielsa.
Leeds-Live tok muligheten med Arnott.

* Bielsas generaler er veldig vennlige personer
* spillergruppens innstilling overfor U23-gutta...

Living at Thorp Arch, 85-hour weeks and Robbie Gotts's socks:
Inside Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United
Former Leeds United coach Darren Arnott talks exclusively to LeedsLive about life under Marcelo Bielsa at Thorp Arch, working for him and how he has transformed the club


By Beren Cross Leeds United club writer  08:00, 28 MAR 2021

Marcelo Bielsa during the Premier League 2 match between Leeds United under-23 and Wolverhampton Wanderers under-23 at Leeds United Academy on September 18, 2020
Marcelo Bielsa has transformed the way Thorp Arch works (Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)

"I can't tell you."

Darren Arnott pauses, beaming.

"No, I can't tell you. Maybe next time."

The former Leeds United coach's smile betrays his affection and respect for what Marcelo Bielsa means as a football coach to him.

Speaking to LeedsLive from his new base in Norway, Arnott has been asked about his first meeting with the Argentine after his summer arrival in 2018.

The 34-year-old is pushed for the memory and his grin only whets the appetite for how powerful an anecdote it must be, but he won't budge.



It's not the first example of someone proving reticent when asked about personal experiences in Bielsa's company.

The head coach has such an aura about him and touches people, especially within the sport, in such a way they do not give up those moments easily.

Drammen, Norway is not the first place you would expect to find a Scarborough native earning his keep, but Arnott has not taken the conventional route in his pursuit of a career in football coaching.

Stints in the United States, York, Scarborough, Spain and Leeds ultimately took him to Stromsgodset, who play in Norway's top flight.

Arnott has not been afraid of being outside his comfort zone and took the plunge in January this year despite the challenges posed by a global pandemic.

It's the two-and-a-half years with Bielsa which, of course, stand out for Arnott, who spent the majority of his time at Thorp Arch with the under-23s and Carlos Corberan.

That first meeting with Bielsa came after a year away on secondment with Spain's Atletico Astorga, one of the Aspire Academy clubs led by Ivan Bravo.

Like many aspiring coaches, Arnott had studied Bielsa's methods, his Chile team and grown to idolise him. Keen to make an impression, he made a bold call upon his return.

"I came back at the same time Marcelo arrived and he's someone I'd studied in America in 2010, so for me it was a great opportunity," he said.


"To the point [where], behind the first-team training pitches, I got an apartment there so I could just move in and be ready to go, but if anything was ever needed, I was there.

"That was a good decision and a bad decision because I was always on call, but I was also working 85-hour weeks because I was close enough to do it.

"Unbelievable, invaluable experience. Really, really intense, but fantastic."

The year in Spain, working within a different culture, a different process with a different language proved a solid foundation for what was to come working closely with Corberan, through what proved to be a title-winning season with the under-23s.

The Astorga experience built Arnott's confidence, but little could have prepared him or anyone for what was to come at Thorp Arch under Bielsa's vision. Eighty-five hour weeks were only the start.

"He has the presence, an aura, around him of how revered he is, really, in the coaching world and he demands immediate respect from anybody, especially a nobody like me who's lucky to be there, just to pick up the pieces and things I'm told to do," he said.

"When he's on the grass, he is the manager, the leader and when he's off the grass he has a softer personality where needed.

"You see how he interacts with people around the training ground from the cleaning staff, the kitchen staff, the kit men. He's just a really, really top guy.

"That's where he demands respect even more, because of how he treats people.

"When he pushes people on the grass they're willing to go above and beyond.

"I wouldn't say I've been starstruck by anyone, but immediate respect for the things he's done and what he can bring.

"I don't know how to vocalise it. The realisation I have to be on everyday here to make sure I'm doing my job, providing what I have to provide to the highest level possible.


"It was 'we're here, we mean business now and I want to be part of this'."

Bielsa would smash down any barriers between the under-23 and senior set-ups. It has become a fluid relationship with players going in and out of each group on a daily basis depending on the needs for that day.

It was a new way of working for everyone at the club. Arnott describes it as a shock to everyone's system, but something everyone involved looks back on with pride given what was achieved then and what is still being built now.


"Carlos played a really big role in that, bringing that through," he said. "You're always going to have push-back internally on anything when something changes, it's a natural human reaction.

"The staff in the under-23s, especially that first year, it was tough, it was a shock to the system and I look back on some of the work we did, the hours we put in.

"It was a shock for the players as well, much more stressful on the physical side, but it was reaping rewards.

"That first season was so transitional for everybody, when you look back, the staff from the first team down, it was a shock to the system.


"It's never smooth sailing all the time, but everything was that one goal. The work done was unbelievable. You can see that now with the players.

"You can see that with the lads who have come through and the ones who are performing. That first season was a bedrock for what's gone on since.

"You can only give credit to the people involved with it. I look back and even [remember] overhearing some conversations or the extra bit of video that's been done with a player, or someone's up until 2am doing this extra work just to give that extra one per cent to a lad on the bus.

"Everyone pushed themselves to do that."

Bielsa can not only be credited with transforming footballers' lives with the coaching he gives them, but also the transformation in the professional lives of his staff.

Under his stewardship, the coaches, as Arnott says, are driven to their working limits with analysis and time on the grass, but under that pressure comes knowledge and an eye for detail they did not think they had.

Danny Schofield, now at Huddersfield Town, was one of the coaches alongside Arnott with the under-23s at the time.

"Danny and I used to sit side by side for hours," said Arnott. "We'd go through the games, sit there and be like 'what are we looking at, what are we looking for, what are we doing'.

"I watched hundreds of hours of football. I could tell you how long Robbie Gotts's socks are, to the centimetre, it's just ridiculous.

"Now you look back and realise what your eyes are trained to see in terms of the systems and what the manager wanted us to see.

"We then saw them (clicks his fingers three times in a row) in a game that fast. That was the training for us.

"We didn't know that at the time, so it was difficult, but now I see that faster because of what's gone before."

The players at Leeds have always stressed the distance Bielsa keeps from them. There is a professionalism to what he does and clear boundaries he will not cross with them, especially off the field.


It is not too dissimilar with the coaches. There is a chain of command and a close circle of lieutenants who have the most contact with the Argentine.

Pablo Quiroga, Diego Flores and Diego Reyes were the major faces who arrived with Bielsa and proved to be the main link between the likes of Arnott and the head coach until Corberan got up to speed.

How was it for the likes of Arnott and those already in the building when Bielsa rocked up with his legion of underlings?

"It's super professional," he said. "The guys are fantastic. They're a brilliant group of people as well. They'd do anything for you. Really, really friendly off the pitch.

You can customise the app to your own preferences and stay across everything you need to know, while joining the debate with Leeds fans in our comments section. Download the app by clicking here https://smarturl.it/YorkshireFactbox

"When we're working, we're working. I do remember the first time Diego Flores was sent down and he really showed us the standards.

"Carlos was in that and he was learning at the same time, initially and at a much quicker rate than we were.

"That was a shock [and showed us there was] no second free."

Arnott maintains the greatest thrill in the job is seeing players achieve their goals, helping them to meet their targets and, at Leeds, seeing under-23 prospects successfully make the transition into the senior unit.

One of the core features of Bielsa's tenure has been the debuts handed down to those coming through the ranks at Thorp Arch.

Arnott watched the work done with the youngsters at first hand on the pitches at the training ground and had praise not just for the head coach, but the characters in the current senior squad.

"The integration, it's proved how strong it's been," he said "It's not just the footballing side, it's the senior pros seeing the quality of the younger players.

"It's the way the senior pros speak to the younger players. They know when to go hard on them, they know when to go soft, they know when to give them some experienced advice, they know when to pull off them.

"For the younger players coming through, to have the confidence to even go into tackles, to fizz passes in, to make those lung-busting runs, to follow a Jack Harrison the length of the pitch and show he can keep with him.

"Those are psychologically really big moments. That's really underrated in the integration because it's powerful."

Pascal Struijk is evidently someone close to Arnott's heart and a central figure in the aforementioned under-23 silverware won in 2019.

The way the defender has settled into Premier League football this term has delighted him.

"Pascal's a fantastic story because I think back to some games in the past where he's struggled and you know he's got the quality, you know he's got the physical stature, so intelligent and such a good person," he said.


At the bottom of this page you will find our comments section in which we throw it to you to take part in the extended debate. Agree with what we had to say? Or do we need putting right? Share your thoughts with us and join the conversation.


"He's a fantastic footballer and you're just wanting him to take that opportunity. You see a couple of games he played in the Championship and he maybe wasn't giving the best account of himself.

"The fans have maybe put question marks on him and you're just hoping he can come through that period.


"Now you look at him and of course he's had fortune in his opportunity coming, but he's doing everything he can to take it.

"He's looked fantastic, as he should."

Arnott made the switch to Norway in January and after spending 10 days holed up in a hotel while quarantining he's finally strung together seven weeks of coaching with his new charges.

Eliteserien, the top flight over there, is one of the divisions still trying to get its house in order before getting its teams back out onto the pitches for competitive action.

For now, Arnott continues to acclimate to his new surroundings and look to make his mark in yet another country.

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/thorp-arch-bielsa-leeds-united-20271633

[Asbjørn]

Tydelig at Leeds ser annerledes i prioriteringen av lån...
Det er jo en slik stilling Tore Andre Flo har hatt i Chelsea i en årrekke nå.

Matty Hewitt
@MattyJHewitt

Andrew Taylor has left his role at #SAFC to become the new loan manager at #LUFC.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/andrew-taylor-loan-manager-leeds-21210417

[Reaney]

RENÉ MARIĆ NAMED ASSISTANT HEAD COACH

Whites make key appointment to coaching staff.
Leeds United are delighted to announce the appointment of René Marić as our new assistant head coach.

https://www.leedsunited.com/news/team-news/30149/rene-mari-named-assistant-head-coach

[Asbjørn]

RENÉ MARIĆ NAMED ASSISTANT HEAD COACH

Whites make key appointment to coaching staff.
Leeds United are delighted to announce the appointment of René Marić as our new assistant head coach.

https://www.leedsunited.com/news/team-news/30149/rene-mari-named-assistant-head-coach

29-åring overtar som assistenttrener.

Tipper at herr Fjell har brukt tid på å sjekke bakgrunnen hans, òg at han er positiv til dette...

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/young-coach-declines-european-options-to-become-leeds-uniteds-new-assistant-to-jesse-marsch-3788037

(Ksnskje drømmen hans om Pochettino blekner nå? )

[Asbjørn]

Nå har Henry McStay rykket opp og overtar Rob Price's gamle stilling (han dro - noe overraskende for meg - til Derby etter 6 sesonger i stillingen i Leeds.

Da Stuart Dallas la opp priste han begge disse for rollene deres under skadeoppholdet:

"I truly believe we have the greatest medical team around and special thanks must go to Rob Price, Henry McStay and Ruben Crespo who have worked around the clock to give me the best medical attention that I have needed," he said.

Henry McStay til høyre her:

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/new-leeds-united-appointment-confirmed-29518352

Fysioterapeut Henry McStay spilte på Leeds United i sine unge dager, for dem som husker ham:



When one door closes another opens for Leeds United and Henry McStay


Henry McStay won the Victory Shield with Northern Ireland the Olympic Youth Tournament with the Republic
     
Andy Watters
21 February, 2018 01:00
Topics
David O'Leary Harry Kewell Henry McStay Leeds United Portadown FC Republic of Ireland
WE’VE all heard stories of lads who played with Roy Keane, or Gazza, or Harry Kane. Bad luck, bad timing or bad decisions shot down their football dreams and they came home with great stories and memories, but very little else.

Henry McStay could have been one of those lads. He became one of David O’Leary’s ‘babies’ when Leeds United won the race for his signature in 2000.

Financial meltdown at the club saw him released and injury problems ruined his playing career, but the resourceful Lurgan native retrained and has returned to Elland Road as the first team physio. Andy Watters spoke to a man who refused to give up on his football dream.

Teenage kicks: Leeds United, 2000

HENRY McStay was 15 when he arrived at Leeds United.

The Lurgan teenager â€" a penalty-taking, ball-playing defender who was equally at home at right-back or centre-back - was invited to join a football academy that rivaled Manchester United as England’s finest.

Previous graduates in the first team included England internationals Jonathan Woodgate and Alan Smith, Republic of Ireland stars Gary Kelly, Ian Hate, Stephen McPhail and Alan Mayberry and Australian superstar Harry Kewell, who was seen by many as the best of the lot.

McStay, who had come through the ranks at Lurgan’s Sunnyside and was spotted by scouts while playing for Armagh in the Milk Cup, had chosen Leeds ahead of offers from Tottenham and Celtic and was determined to make his mark.

“I liked the feeling at the club,” he recalled.

“There were a lot of Irish lads there at the time, so it was the one I picked.”

At 17 he signed as a professional and moved into the halls at the Leeds training ground Thorp Arch. By that stage he was an Olympic Youth Tournament winner with the Republic and was pushing for place in the star-studded reserves.

“If you were playing well they’d put you in,” he says.

“I had the chance to play with James Milner, Stephen McPhail, Nick Barmby, Lucas Radebe on occasions… It was brilliant playing with those guys.”

And the Boys in Green like Kelly and Harte and Robbie Keane - just arrived from Inter Milan â€" all helped him settle.

“Gary Kelly was fantastic for all the Irish lads,” McStay recalled.

“There was him, McPhail, Robbie Keane, Ian Harte…

“They were very good with me and boys like Paul Keegan, Alan Kinsella and Andy Keogh. Leeds had a great interest in Irish players then.

“They would give us boots and just look after us. Anything you needed, those boys were there to help out. They were just really down-to-earth fellas. They had brilliant careers â€" they played in the Champions League and the World Cup â€" and they were very good role models for any kid coming through.”

Shades of green

AS his career progressed at Leeds, McStay’s services were in demand back home. He’d been a Victory Shield winner with Northern Ireland at U16 level, but switched to the Republic under Brian Kerr.

“I’d been to watch the Republic loads of times,” he explained.

“My da used to follow them home and away with Derryhirk Supporters’ Club in Lurgan and when the time came I was approached and I said I would be interested in playing for the Republic of Ireland, so when I turned 16 I decided to switch over.

“Brian was the manager and we won the Olympic Youth Tournament - the first tournament I played in with them - and then it was into the qualifying for the U17 European Championships and we just missed out on qualification because of a last minute goal against Serbia.

“It was quite a successful team and there was maybe seven or eight of us at Leeds playing for the same Republic team, so that’s one of the major reasons why I went down south. Looking back I’d do the same thing but I support the Republic and Northern Ireland and it’s good to see them both doing well.”

A fall from grace: Leeds United 2003

IN 2000 Leeds appeared to be on a countdown for blast-off into a new and lasting football orbit. But the club was actually heading towards the brink of financial ruin and went into a decline from which it has yet to fully recover.

Reaching the Champions League semi-finals in 2001 briefly papered over alarming financial cracks in the club’s bank accounts and things rapidly turned sour.

After failing to secure a place in the Champions League, O’Leary was sacked by big-spending chairman Peter Risdale at the end of the 2001/02 season.

Terry Venables, Peter Reid and Eddie Gray all came and went and one by one the stars were sold to service crippling debt.

By then McStay had gone on loan to Halifax Town to get first team experience.

“There was a lot of competition,” he explained.

“I had people like Rio Ferdinand and Jonathan Woodgate in front of me. Looking back on it, it was an impossible task to break into the team.

“I was good at a young age but as I got older, I dunno… I didn’t fulfill my potential at Leeds.

“The club had several different managers and it was hard to build up relationships with them to put trust in a young fella coming through, especially when they were going down the leagues.

“They always seemed to opt for more experienced players.”

By the time McStay returned from his injury-ruined stint at Halifax in 2005 Leeds had been relegated, Kevin Blackwell had replaced Gray as manager and the unstable club was no longer in the business of bringing through young players.

Blackwell broke the news that he was being released.

"It was very hard to hear at the time,” McStay admits.

"He just said it how it was: They were looking for more experienced players and I wasn’t (experienced) at that stage so they weren’t going to renew my contract and I could look for another club.”

The next chapter: Portadown FC 2005

LIKE thousands of young Irish footballers before and since, McStay came back from England with his Match of the Day dreams unfulfilled.

“It’s a very difficult thing when you’re released at the end of a season and there are several thousand other players in the same boat as you,” he explained.

“They’re all vying for contracts and going on trials, so it’s all up in the air.

“A lot of the boys in the Leeds reserve team had already been told they were going on trials from Christmas onward. But Leeds kept clinging on to a few of us, they were saying ‘oh there might be something there for you, or there might not’ but in the end they just said we were getting released.”

Unlike many, McStay had a Plan B. A capable student, he had heeded the club’s advice and continued his studies at Leeds and when Portadown manager Ronnie McFall came calling he decided to combine football with college.

"Henry McStay's a real good lad," said McFall.

“We were looking for a centre back and we knew he had come back home.

“We got in touch and signed him. He read the game well, he was comfortable on the ball and confident enough to bring it out of defence and get moves going. He was a good player.”

A few years previously, McFall had welcomed Wesley Boyle, an FA Youth Cup winner with Leeds, to Portadown. He understands how difficult it is for young players to return home and make their way in “the real world” when professional football hasn’t worked out.

"When they go over to England and it doesn’t work out they come back to the real world,” said McFall.

"They have to get themselves a job and start getting up at 7 o’clock in the morning when they’ve never worked before. When they come back here it’s a bit of a culture shock to them.

“But Henry has done super.”

In his first season at Shamrock Park, McStay enrolled at Belfast Met and by the end of the year he had been accepted onto a degree course at Sheffield University.

He studied there during the week and flew back home to play for Portadown at weekends and his form won him a third cap with the Republic of Ireland U21s.

St Mirren offered him a trial and while he was there Warren Joyce, former youth team manager at Leeds, rang to say he’d taken a job at Royal Antwerp in Belgium and wanted to sign him. McStay went on a two-year deal but played for just six months.

“It was quite difficult there, the main language is Flemish and I couldn’t get to grips with it,” he explained.

“Playing in Belgium was a great experience, it was just the fact that I was living on my own and couldn’t speak the language. Training was brilliant but then you went back to the house and you couldn’t really communicate with anybody else…

“Lucky enough the manager told me that Morecambe had been on the phone and I had a chance to go there.”

Back in the game: Morecambe FC 2008

NORTHERN Ireland legend Sammy McIlroy had been the man on the phone so McStay said “Vaarwel” to Antwerp and packed his bags for the north-west of England.

At the end of the 2007/08 season ‘the Shrimps’ signed him on a two-year deal and the 22-year-old flourished in the hurly burly of League Two.

But once again he planned ahead.

“I went back to do my degree in physiotherapy,” he explained.

“The PFA ran a course at Salford University and I was going three times a week doing that while I was still playing full-time rather than just sitting at home wasting my time.”

The end: The Riverside 2010

AS soon as he landed he knew something was wrong. McStay climbed to win a header against Middlesbrough and his knee “gave way” when he hit the Riverside turf. Scans showed that surgery was required and so he spent another six months on the sidelines, but this time there was no way back.

The offer of a new deal at Morecambe was shelved and McStay retreated to Portadown hoping for football and fitness.

“I was flying back at the weekends but my knee kept swelling up like a balloon every time I trained and I wasn’t able to compete at any decent standard. I wasn’t fit enough to get in the team.”

He retired aged 25.

A new beginning: Leeds United 2010

ONE door shuts and another opens. McStay might have cursed his luck as he hung up his boots but he channeled his frustration into carving out a new career.

He finished his degree and soon found himself back at Leeds working as a physio, first with the academy teams and now with the first team.

“I had no other choice, I had to call it a day and I went back to university and finished my degree and then I had the opportunity to come and work for Leeds,” he explained.

“I had kept in touch with some of the staff and the head physio Harvey Sharman was there when I was there as a player.

“When I qualified I started doing part-time work with some of the academy teams as physio and a job opportunity came up and I went full-time as a physiotherapist in the academy and I’ve been here ever since.

“I was promoted to the first team when Harvey left two and-a-half years ago to work in baseball in America.

“I’d always wanted to stay within football so this is probably the perfect job for me. It’s challenging at times with all the traveling and trying to get players fit and keep them fit, but it’s the next best thing to playing.

“I’m still involved in football, I always loved playing football and I love Leeds. My wife is from Leeds, my two boys are Leeds fans, and it was always my goal that when I stopped playing that I would come back and work in some capacity within the club.

“Obviously now that’s in the medical team and it’s a dream job for me and it’s very fulfilling.”

Marching on together: Leeds United 2018

IT’S never dull at Leeds United. A fortnight ago Paul Heckingbottom became the club’s seventh manager since 2014 after Thomas Cristiansen was sacked.

The club still has an Irish connection through Derry born Republic international Eunan O’Kane and Northern Ireland star Stuart Dallas. This season Conor O’Shaughnessy has broken into the first team while Eoghan Stokes has been around the fringes.

“There aren’t as many Irish as there used to be but we’re still well represented,” McStay explained.

“Over the last five or six years Leeds has based their recruitment of young players more on a local basis because of the financial restraints on the club.

“But the new ownership are now looking a bit further afield so hopefully in the future I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a few Irish lads get the chance to come over.”

And despite disappointing results, McStay insists that the future is bright at Elland Road.

“Every year we’re getting better. Mr Radrizzani has come in and bought the club and everything is very positive,” he said.

“The club is being run right and it’s very exciting times. We’re pushing to get in the play-offs and setting high standards â€" it’s a good time to be working for Leeds United and hopefully we can get back to where we want to be because Leeds is a massive club and hopefully we’ll get back to where we belong in the Premier League.”

If everyone has Henry McStay’s mentality, Leeds United has a chance.

[auren]

Rob McGo og Henry McStay. Slik er det 

auren

[Asbjørn]

Omstruktureringer i hvem som dealer med incomings og outgoings...

Har hatt inntrykk av at teamet som overtok Victor Ortas gamle jobb har levert på overgangsfronten. Selvfølgelig treffer man ikke på alt (ingen klubber gjør det) men det ahr vært ok rekrutteringer...

Nå blir det altså omrokeringer. Steinsson forsvinner bortover i 49'ers-systemet og skal jobbe mer bredt innen konsernet og USA-basert. Hans nærmeste medarbeider forsvant med ham (husker ikke navnet).
Nå forsvinner en ny kar (Jordan Miles) forsvinner også.

Last week, The Athletic revealed that technical director Gretar Steinsson is to leave the club and move into a role within the 49ers global business, while head of recruitment Jordan Miles is also leaving.

Så skrives det at Nick Hammond skal gradvis redusere sin arbeidsmende i klubben...

Alt dette kan være greit nok, men på meg virker det som alt bare skal erstattes internt,

Alex Davies — head of recruitment
Davies has been at the club for 13 years working in a variety of roles including in the performance analysis, scouting and recruitment teams. Since February, he has been head of recruitment operations and worked closely with Miles.

Adam Underwood, som har vært i klubben i utallige år skal igjen å en ny rolle.
Adam Underwood — head of football operations
As part of the recent changes within the recruitment team, Underwood not only continues in his role as head of football operations but will take the lead on player trading, assisted by Hammond. Underwood was promoted from his role as academy director in July 2023 and his position is vital at the club's Thorp Arch training ground, with responsibilities that include working with medical and coaching staff.

Så har vi altså Farke som har en viktig rolle i rekrutteringen, og Kinnear som er linken inn mot det økonomiske totalbildet - og Hannah Cox som skal ha kontroll på lovverket.
Completing the team is Hannah Cox, who continues her role as head of football administration. Her role, based at Elland Road, sees her take care of legal matters relating to transfers and player contracts.

Mulig det gamle systemet hadde litt for mange med sterke meninger, men kan ikke dette bli litt for tynt og internt...

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5919278/2024/11/14/leeds-united-recruitment-structure-explained/

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/leeds-united-confirm-another-recruitment-exit-and-further-changes-4860559

https://trainingground.guru/davies-promoted-to-head-of-recruitment-at-leeds-after-miles-exit/

[Asbjørn]

Neineinei, Asbjørn. Steinsson jobber fortsatt mht Leeds United, ifølge 49'ers.

Leeds United will remain at the heart of Gretar Steinsson's new role for 49ers Enterprises, despite departing his technical director position.
Steinsson's exit from the day-to-day business of Elland Road and Thorp Arch has not removed him from the Whites picture.

The YEP understands that Steinsson, who had a major hand in the last two summer transfer windows, has taken up a similar role to his previous one in 49ers Enterprises' global football structure.

What that means is that his scope has expanded to developing talent in order to help Leeds in their short term promotion aims and beyond. 49ers Enterprises sources say he will focus on industry research, new technologies and potential academy partnerships.

Any new footballing projects that arise would also fall within the former Iceland international's new remit but 49ers Enterprises insist there are no concrete plans besides their Leeds United focus for the short or medium term future.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/brand-new-leeds-united-remit-for-49ers-enterprises-man-revealed-after-elland-road-departures-gretar-steinsson-4868014

[Asbjørn]

Gårsdagens presser var første anledning til å spørre Farke om ..omstruktureringen på toppen. Det ville vært sensasjonelt om Farker kom med kritikk her, offentlig, men han kunne latt være å si noe såpass positivt...

Martin Diggle, poached from LIverpool in February, is the club's academy manager. He was reserved special praise by Farke, along with under-21's boss Scott Gardner. The German values their intelligence and absence of any selfish motives in their crafting of the club's storied talent factory.

"I always take responsibility for these decisions, but it's always helpful and beneficial if you have top-quality people in the right positions," he said. "I also have to mention Martin in the academy.

"For example, we have a really good relationship and also how we talk about players. Also, Scott, for example, with our under-21s. We speak a lot about players and what is necessary.

"It is always beneficial when there is an understanding and not in a selfish way. 'No, I just want to bring this player through because I like this player so much.'

"They understand 100 per cent what is necessary and it's always beneficial and helpful when you work with intelligent people and people who don't have that much of an ego. It is more like they have white blood running through the vein and also thinking 'It's not about me.'

"It's more like about what is beneficial for the club and what I can say is the people we have here in the club are really excellent and, again, testament to our key people who were there with these decisions, who put them into these roles, our managers and the academy, our key people in the academy.

"I like to work with them a lot so because they are quality, but also really good human beings. If it would be in a different way, it wouldn't be possible to bring so many young lads through and create so many values with them, either with us in the first team or sometimes also, like with trading of a young player.


"This for us, as a club, is not like we can waste a million amount of money, so to develop our own prospects, our own talents will always be a cornerstone in our philosophy. Not just because of money, but also because of identification and how we want to be as a club."

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/leeds-uniteds-liverpool-steal-already-30434522

Dette sitatet fra presseren fant ikke veien inn i artikkelen, gett

Recruitment changes
In general, these are decisions for our key people. I do not run the club, I run the sport. No comments in public on my time. Internally, I give my thoughts to these topics. What affects me is the step up of Alex and Adam Underwood. I have worked with them in the past, and Adam a bit more with the academy.

Charlie Crew, Chambers, Debayo, Archie Gray. Adam played key role in these developments. Worked with Alex on scouting. Good relationship. Work even closer and more intensely. A testament to what the 49ers are doing and what Paraag is doing. Quite often, they take their own people into crucial positions, but we have two lads with Adam and Alex who are working for this club for decades. They have white blood in their veins. It';s a good sign they want to develop what they have in the club already instead of finding someone new in these roles.

Not up to me to judge it. I run the football, but in general terms, it's an important picture.