Must be a good appointment, I've had a Derby supporting mate and some Rangers (Glasgow variety) fans congratulate me on getting him in
I've just heard from a source at Rangers (Glasgow) that Kevin Thomson is going to be his No2... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Thomson Thomson worked with former club Rangers as a youth coach before being appointed as manager of Kelty Hearts on 28 May 2021, replacing former team-mate Barry Ferguson, who left Kelty to become manager of Alloa Athletic.[48][49] Thomson guided Kelty to the 2021–22 Scottish League Two championship, before he resigned on 31 May 2022.[50] Kevin Thomson: Kelty Hearts accept manager resignation after historic title win please log in to view this image Kevin McDonald and Kevin Thomson led Kelty Hearts to Scottish League 1 for the first time Kelty Hearts have accepted manager Kevin Thomson's resignation - only two months after leading them to their first Scottish League 2 title. The 37-year-old had been linked with vacancies at Dundee, Dunfermline Athletic and Raith Rovers, with the latter two jobs going to others. Now Kelty have revealed that Thomson and assistant Kevin McDonald have "tendered their resignations". "Over recent weeks, it became apparent that Kevin's aspirations lay away from Kelty Hearts Football Club," the Fife club stated. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61652006
Villa have appointed Critchley, manager at Blackpool and another ex Liverpool youth coach, to replace Beale.
It will be interesting to see everyone's prediction as to where we will finish on the table, next season. I think it will take more than a season to see some much improved results and l'm ok with that. An overall movement north with a good team harmony is where l'm hoping we will finish, mid to in and around the play-offs would be nice.
In line with Clive's write up, if you offered me 11th right now, but with one player sold for £10m, a good replacement for the sold player, noticeable improvement in the likes of Dozzell, Dykes, Dunne et al, and one or two youth team players pushing for starts, I'd be very happy. He needs multiple years.
Who knows, he might have the immediate impact that Cooper had at Forest. It will obviously depend on who we can get in with whatever budget he's given and on the loans we can acquire. I'm hopeful we won't be selling more than 1 of our main assets , keeping Willock and Dieng will be pivotal.
I'm hoping he gets to bring in 2 strikers that are better than Dykes. If he can then Dykes would be a useful back up off the bench or cover for injuries and suspensions !
His preferred formation is 4 3 3 so I'd expect us to be playing with 1 out and out striker, we might see a couple of wingers or Willock and Chair deployed alongside the main striker.
Not sure Pep could make a decent player out of Dykes, let alone a goal scorer. Clean slate for everyone next season though.
I’m disappointed Dykes didn’t step up a level last season. I know he had injuries for a while but he hasn’t ‘lit the touchpaper’ for us. This is a very important season for him - possibly make or break at this level. If we have one up top I don’t really believe that Dykes can do it. He’s a worker but his primary job is to get 20 goals for us. Does anyone believe he can make it?
Hopefully MB has a chance for a chat with him then decisions have to be made. If Barbet feels he wants to leave then so be it. We can’t undo the early poor decision not to tie him down earlier. We move on.
DIRECTOR of football Les Ferdinand has explained QPR’s head coach recruitment process in detail following Michael Beale’s appointment on Wednesday. Beale, 41, has signed a three-year contract at Loftus Road, replacing Mark Warburton in the W12 hotseat. Similar to the process which led to Warburton’s appointment in 2019, much time and consideration went into Beale being selected – from deriving statistical-driven data to identify targets, to conducting interviews and background checks on candidates. With the club looking to develop players, play an entertaining style of football and also make QPR a success on the pitch, some 24 individuals were initially identified. “I think the whole process was always going to be exhausting given how we want to take the club forward,” Ferdinand told www.qpr.co.uk. “We looked at a lot of data and algorithms initially, taking into consideration how we like to play and who was the right person to take us forward. “We have spoken to a number of excellent candidates, but we had to whittle them down to one and believe that we have the best individual that we spoke to in Michael. “Twenty-odd candidates is a high volume of people to speak to, but this was a process driven by what we were looking for. “In years gone by, we may have been contacted about speaking to certain managers, and interviewed them as a result. However, now, we identify who we’re after and won’t speak to anyone who isn’t where we need to be as a result.” Les added: “Michael scored really highly in terms of all the data – then it was about myself, Lee [Hoos] and the owners speaking to the final six candidates, asking our own set of questions. “You have to do your investigations and speak to people who have worked with Michael or seen Michael at work. The feedback was excellent, in terms of the type of coach he is and the way he goes about what he does – how much people have enjoyed working with him. “It was important that any candidate had worked in a development background and knew what that was all about, while understanding how we work. “The individual also needed first-team experience, which Michael has in abundance following spells with Steven Gerrard at both Glasgow Rangers and Aston Villa. They’ve had success but they also know how to progress players. “We’re not saying we want a team full of homegrown players – however nice that would be. “You can have young players in a team, but the important question is, ‘are they developing?’ ‘Is there a pathway for them to make it into the first team?’ “That’s all we’ve ever spoken about. We’re not unrealistic in that we think every player in our development teams are going to play in our first team. We know that’s not the case. “But you have to have a pathway. We were able to attract the likes of Ebere Eze, Ilias Chair and Chrissy Willock to QPR because they felt that there was a pathway at this football club to progress. “Yes, they didn’t come through our academy initially, but they came through the door because of what we’re doing here. You’ve seen how Ebere has kicked on in the Premier League with Crystal Palace, for instance.” While Warburton was given the title of manager upon his appointment in 2019, Beale is now head coach. However, Ferdinand insists Beale’s responsibilities and how the club now operate are exactly the same – with the change in title sought to clearly define the head coach’s duties. “Nothing has suddenly changed here,” Ferdinand said. “Football has changed a lot through time and so has the terminology. “People talk about a high, low or medium block. When I played the game, you defended high, you defended in the middle of the pitch or you defended deep! That’s just the way talk has changed. “A lot of clubs now have a director of football and a head coach. And what they want is for the head coach to concentrate on coaching, developing and picking the team. “I never get involved in that or tell him which team to pick. That’s his decision. We’re here to support him. “Of course, the head coach also has an input into player recruitment, but everything else is down to me and the rest of the staff in order to alleviate some of the pressure – so that he can get on with coaching and picking the team. “As I said, he has an input into first-team transfers. You don’t want to bring a player in who won’t be selected. That’s a waste of time and we haven’t got the resource to waste. “But nothing has changed. Everyone knows how we’ve come to operate in recent years and the collective effort that now goes into recruitment with the structure that we’ve put in place here. “I’ve heard that it’s ‘Les’ agenda’. It’s not my agenda. This is not the Les Ferdinand show. “Of course, we’d all be happy if we had millions of pounds to spend. But this is the way we simply have to operate. Financial fair pay dictates what we’re able to do. For us, and the resource we have, being self-sufficient means we have to develop players. “It’s about bringing the likes of Eze through the door. In an ideal world, we’d have loved to keep Ebere, but we couldn’t because selling him made the most financial sense for the football club. “That’s where we are – that’s just where the football club is. “The facts speak for themselves. If I left this football club tomorrow, I’d like to think that it’s in a better place than it was when I came through the door in terms of the culture we now have here, the structure in place and the way we develop players.” The target for next season? “We will try to improve on what we did last season,” Les continued. “Everyone at the club felt we had a team capable of reaching the top six, but we didn’t quite get there. “First and foremost, we want to be competitive in every single game. That’s what we’ll aim to be next season. “We’re extremely excited about next season and moving this club forward. All I want to do is help this club be as good as it can be. “One day, we want to be back in the Premier League but we have to do it in the most holistic way possible. That’s about developing what we have here and trying to add the quality to try to take us there.”
