Good luck to him. I've no idea of the ability of our backroom, academy, etc staff, but always felt it was a little bit of an "old-boys" club for ex-players. Hopefully his replacement is picked on talent rather than Norwich appearances.
With McNally in charge its not going to become a "old boys club" I know Hucks has a coaching role but I think that he's a good choice for a coaching role.
That's what I'm hoping will be the case. I think the 'old boys club' feel might be a hangover from our last board, but if you look at the list of those on the city pay-roll, an awful lot are ex-Norwich players, and I don't believe they were all the best men for the job. I'm trusting in McNally to rectify this, and fill our coaching staff with talent too.
Because he's a good player but he also comes across as charismatic, reasonably intelligent and very proactive. He also seems to genuinely enjoy working with the young players and i think he's a good role model for them.
I was living in Lincoln when Hucks first burst onto the stage, he always had time to speak to the fans, he was always a quiet, unassuming lad who just loved to play football, when Kevin Keegan took him to Newcastle for an enormous amount of money, he could have had his head turned, but no, not our Hucks, he retained that attitude of humility and gratitude, which, I'm sure, is no different today!
Without meaning any disrespect to Hucks, is that enough though? Is filling the academy with ex-players to act as role models the best way to maximise the potential of our youth? Southampton's is the type of academy we should be striving for, and their academy is managed by a guy call Matt Crocker. As far as I'm aware, he's not had a playing career of note, but served an apprenticeship in youth coaching at Cardiff before joining Southampton to lead their set-up. Going through the rest of their academy set-up, ex-players doesn't seem to be the way to go. If we want an academy to produce Premier League players, then we don't just need a wider catchment area, we need the best coaches around. Sure, I accept working with Hucks will be attractive to young City fans, but we need more than that. We need to build an academy where it's reputation alone is enough to attract people, and that comes from having quality coaches. We've shown a ruthless streak of late in terms of player signings, but we need to continue this and poach the best coaches we can. Our facilities are good, the area is nice, and we've got the highest academy status, so we shouldn't struggle to attract the right people to the club. If Hucks wants a role in the club, that's good. But I'd much prefer him to prove himself elsewhere, "on loan" if you like, and come back to us as a fully-fledged, experienced youth coach, with the extra allure of being an ex-player.
When I listen to him I get exactly the opposite. Its always struck me that he doesn't communicate at all well. I'm not being funny but we need coaches that can teach the skills, Huckerby was not a great technician, and he doesn't strike me as someone who could get this across.
Oh I'm not saying Hucks should be running the academy, he's not intelligent enough, and to be honest I gave no direct evidence as to how good a coach he is I'm just saying from what I've seen of him I imagine he squire good in the role. On the academy as a whole it is very important and we do need to assemble an excellent team running it and I'm sure lots of money is going to be invested.
Just seen the article on the BBC and there's an inset picture used to profile his playing career, except the inevitable mistake has been made and the image has been labelled "Grant Holt".
