Been having a bit of a ponder about Le Bris this morning. As most know I will seek the positives in a coach and support them. Some say overly so, maybe that is true. But being a coach is far harder than I suspect some might imagine, and to be honest Le Bris looks a smart appointment to me.
We seem to have widely different views on coaches from academy football becoming first team coaches on here. I have coached in some, and they are elite environments. You dont coach in them unless you are top of your game. There are no cone carriers. For Le Bris to have as much experience in that environment is a massive plus. Then his long stint as B team manager adds a lot of experience too.
Academies now are thr biggest part of any professional football club. Coaches in that evironment are highly likely to progress into first team jobs over time. Look at Still, for example, Farioli, McKenna. There are lots of coaches coming through that system. In years gone by that route didnt exist so coaches tended to start down the ladder and work their way up. Arguably though, and it is only my opionion, you get a better understanding of how to coach if you start at younger age groups. You learn how to simplify your delivery and embrace player mistakes.
Le Bris having such an experience in academies will only help us. Our academy is our crown jewel. We must have a coach who embraces that and his background suggests he will.
He is a few years older, and I like that. World earned wisdom is no bad thing. Our players, I hope, will react well to an older head who was seen most things. They seemed to with Mowbray.
I can easily believe he would have been on a long list back in Feb. His reputation last summer was very high after his first full season. Leeds held an interest as did Nice. He was a coach clubs would have been monitoring into this season undoubtedly. Is the relegation a concern, yes of course, but the list of good coaches with relegations on their CV is long. What better learning curve than to fail early in your career.
Re his playing style I am quite relaxed about what it has been or will be to honest. Again I look at academy coaching and whilst we stick to an overall philosophy there is a lot of encouragement to have players learn different formations and tactics. It may just be his depth of experience in that space has instilled a fluid approach to his own playing preferences. I cant see somebody with his experience coming in, looking at our players, and saying low block at all costs. I can see the counter attack a low block sets up, but I can also so he him wanting to hold the ball more and play side to side. Time will tell on that, but I am happy to see how he settles and develops.
As with any coach coming in, unlike some think, I think he may well like working with Dodds as a coach. His reputation is good, Mowbray liked him and trusted him. Not saying he should be hugely influential, but he is a very good 1st team coach I believe.
Now he is going to a leg up by the board. The players we have are not promotion challengers as a squad. We ard short. Lets now start focussing on making us a much more balanced squad with more cohesiveness week to week in terms of style of play.
Haway the lads, and Haway Regis lad (can I just call him Big Cyril?)