“Done properly it’s an entire division of experienced people covering all the bases,” Derek Rae

Respected Bundesliga Broadcaster Derek Rae has followed up on his tweets from yesterday on the Jesse Marsch to Celtic story by posting a detailed thread on what Celtic need to do in order to attract a modern. high quality coach and it perhaps also explains how we managed to lose Brendan Rodgers to Leicester City.

Having a read through this thread, which we’ll highlight below, and the immediate thoughts are 1). it sounds awesome, the way Celtic really need to go in order to develop and re-establish ourselves as a viable force in European football and 2). it’s going to take time, maybe a few years but would the support be patient, would we still sell-out on season tickets for a 60k capacity at Celtic Park. This would be an essential requirement that would need to be in determined before Celtic could undertake such a fundamental overhaul.

🗣️ "I've always put pressure on myself, as a player and a coach, to maximise what I do whatever the role may be."

Watch John Kennedy's exclusive interview in full on @CelticTV ⬇️

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) March 18, 2021

Many of the more vocal among the support have been arguing, very convincingly, that this is exactly the way that Celtic need to go. But is this the view of the wider support ie would the silent majority go along with this if it meant a few years in the development stage before the benefits become apparent. That could see for instance no title win for a few years. Imagine theRangers going for 4IAR? Could we stomach that?

That’s not to say that the new way of running Celtic would not bear fruit sooner than that, but we really need to consider the downside of it taking time and allow it that time rather than toys out the pram protests and such like.

The collapse this season has at least made us all aware that change is essential. That gives the new Celtic CEO the leg-room he needs to implement a modern football department structure into the club and incidentally that probably means that many of the existing staff such as John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan can be retained.

Here’s how Derek Rae has explained how Celtic could develop…

Mentioned to Celtic fans yesterday, a future task is identifying coaches on the way up. But to do that you need an experienced sporting division. Stuttgart for example have that. Sven Mislintat and his staff (ably supported from the top by ThomasHitz.)

What do the sporting team do? They set the tone for club DNA, way of playing, scouting, youth, making transfer policy work in football & financial terms, style. The coach is the extended arm of that overall philosophy. He has to fit those values & that style.

2/ What do the sporting team do? They set the tone for club DNA, way of playing, scouting, youth, making transfer policy work in football & financial terms, style. The coach is the extended arm of that overall philosophy. He has to fit those values & that style.

— Derek Rae (@RaeComm) March 18, 2021

So enter Pellegrino Matarazzo, relatively unknown American who had been on the staff at Hoffenheim. Stuttgart decided he was a fit for their way of playing, beliefs. No worries about his inexperience as a head coach at a high level. They saw a fit for themselves and acted.

Stuttgart fans this season have been rewarded with eye catching and lethal counter attacking football. That was the fit they wanted. They researched, identified, believed and acted. They got Matarazzo before he became a name.

4/ Stuttgart fans this season have been rewarded with eye catching and lethal counter attacking football. That was the fit they wanted. They researched, identified, believed and acted. They got Matarazzo before he became a name.

— Derek Rae (@RaeComm) March 18, 2021

Matarazzo does and talks first team tactics (as an applied maths grad at Columbia University he’s proving very adept at that!) He’s a coach not a manager. He doesn’t do transfers, overall philosophy, scouting, bigger picture. That’s left to the sporting division at the club.

Some day Stuttgart may lose him. But will they tear up who they are by giving the keys to the kingdom to a “manager” with his own ideas and signing targets? No, of course not. They’ll have done their homework in terms of which coaches fit Stuttgart. Continuity of philosophy.

6/ Some day Stuttgart may lose him. But will they tear up who they are by giving the keys to the kingdom to a “manager” with his own ideas and signing targets? No, of course not. They’ll have done their homework in terms of which coaches fit Stuttgart. Continuity of philosophy.

— Derek Rae (@RaeComm) March 18, 2021

The main point is it seems to me many is Scotland think all you need to do it have a “DOF.” Alas it’s not one job. Done properly it’s an entire division of experienced people covering all the bases, singing from the same hymn sheet. The coach is the last piece of that puzzle.

Some will say, that sounds really expensive. But it Germany they would say what’s too expensive is rolling the dice on a new manager with new ideas of his own whenever things go awry. Besides what makes a good coach an expert in sustainable transfer models that can add value?

8/ Some will say, that sounds really expensive. But it Germany they would say what’s too expensive is rolling the dice on a new manager with new ideas of his own whenever things go awry. Besides what makes a good coach an expert in sustainable transfer models that can add value?

— Derek Rae (@RaeComm) March 18, 2021

People often ask if there’s a good German coach who would take the Celtic job? There are plenty of great German coaches but they would want to know – what is the underlying philosophy, project, structure? Remember their experience is as coaches under a sporting division.

So if you’re going to do it this way, needs to be done rigorously. That means no sporting appointments because someone played for the club at the highest level, etc etc. It’s a high pressure role with a different skill set. Do homework and get a sporting team with know how.

10/ So if you’re going to do it this way, needs to be done rigorously. That means no sporting appointments because someone played for the club at the highest level, etc etc. It’s a high pressure role with a different skill set. Do homework and get a sporting team with know how.

— Derek Rae (@RaeComm) March 18, 2021

I realise this represents a sea change and no one likes change. But it’s not so long ago people scoffed at the idea of specialist coaches for individual aspects of Soccer ball. Hope this has helped shed light on a model that works for clubs at all levels in a country to learn from.

11/ I realise this represents a sea change and no one likes change. But it’s not so long ago people scoffed at the idea of specialist coaches for individual aspects of ⚽️. Hope this has helped shed light on a model that works for clubs at all levels in a country to learn from.

— Derek Rae (@RaeComm) March 18, 2021

COMING SOON…