Looking at the mess across in the east end of Glasgow got me thinking over the weekend, I hope we have a succession plan in place to cover the inevitable departure of Steven Gerrard.
Thankfully, we have Ross Wilson in place, a man who was part of Southampton’s “black box” where everything from players to coaches were analysed and assessed so that they already knew who was next in line whenever anyone left for pastures new.
What we’ve learned since Gerrard has been in charge is that it’s not just down to one man anymore, whenever he has won personal accolades he has been quick to hail the success of the coaching team as a unit rather than take sole credit, this, however, does have it’s downside.
There is every likelihood that when the gaffer moves onto his next club, he will want to take those that he trusts most with him, replacing a manager is one thing, replacing an entire staff is another, especially one that is as highly regarded as ours.
One option is that you replace the individuals in each role and create a “team” – a set piece specialist, a fitness coach, a tactical genius but making sure that they fit the ethos of what the club is trying to achieve. There is no point hiring someone who has spent their career at clubs that play “direct” football if your squad is designed for a possession based style or fast counter-attacking.
The other is to replace the whole team, scout managers and clubs that have a similar style of play so that when they are hired, the team doesn’t have to be ripped up and rebuilt, look at Southampton as the best example, very rarely do you see them needing a massive overhaul or wasting money on underperforming players.
It’s a plan that seems relatively obvious, well, it is to some anyway…